Jul. 3—GRAND FORKS — About 40 people representing 10 unions rallied outside the Edgewood headquarters in downtown Grand Forks on Tuesday afternoon, July 2.

Members of United Steelworkers, along with allied unions, labor representatives and community members gathered in solidarity with union workers at the Edgewood-Sierra Hills assisted living facility in Cheyenne, Wyoming, who are in the midst of contract negotiations.

According to a United Steelworkers release, “management needed a reminder to take negotiations seriously.”

“Our union representation has already improved working conditions dramatically by involving the Wyoming Department of Health, but there is still a lot of work to do,” said United Steelworker negotiating team member and CNA Taylor Ewig in a statement. “We are also hoping to get safer staffing ratios so our residents are receiving the best possible care.”

Edgewood Healthcare is home to more than 3,700 residents in 63 communities across seven states. It is headquartered in Grand Forks.

Edgewood CEO Phil Gisi said he believes contract negotiations with the United Steelworkers are going well.

“I don’t have anything to say about it,” he told the Herald. “They have the prerogative (to rally). That’s fine.”

He added that very few people work in the downtown headquarters, as most staff in that office work remote.

United Steelworkers representative William Wilkinson said he believes Edgewood executives have been “dragging the (negotiation) process out.”

“It’s a powerful feeling to see workers in my home state of North Dakota standing up for these workers here in Cheyenne during negotiations,” he said in a statement. “All they want is a fair contract and safe working conditions, for themselves and for the residents of the facility.”