About 70 Essentia Health-Deer River workers are currently on strike

About 70 workers who are members of SEIU Healthcare of Minnesota and Iowa are on strike instead of working at Essentia Health-Deer River. The strike began at seven in the morning on Monday.

As of 10:00 a.m., there were about 25 people on the picket. The meeting is scheduled for 12:00.

SEIU stands for International Service Employees International Union. The group includes people who work in nutrition, environmental health, nursing assistants, phlebotomists, pharmacists and many other technical positions.

The strike is expected to continue until Saturday morning at 7am.

The union said there was a low wage with more responsibility and that the proposed wage increase was not high enough.

Another meeting between Essentia and the union is scheduled for Wednesday.

Esentia posted on its website that patients can still seek care at the clinic, emergency room, surgery and long-term care.

Hear more tonight on The Five.