Members of OPEIU Local 12 picketed outside Wilson-McShane’s offices in Bloomington.
The Wilson-McShane Corporation serves unions in Minnesota and across the Midwest as a third-party benefit administrator, but workers at the company say management is trying to shortchange their union in a surprisingly combative round of contract negotiations.
Members of Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 12 set up informational picket lines outside Wilson-McShane’s offices in Bloomington and Kansas City on Oct. 24. Organizers said it was almost certainly the first time that workers at the company, which works closely with organized labor, had resorted to picketing.
Deb Johnson, a claims administrator with 20 years of experience at Wilson-McShane, said bargaining is taking far longer this time than during any of the previous four times she served on Local 12’s negotiations team.
“Our contracts have always been settled, like, in three days,” she said. “This is uncharted water.”
Local 12’s previous contract with Wilson-McShane expired Oct. 1. Wages and benefits have been the primary sticking points in negotiations that began in August.
At the rally in October, Johnson said the company had only recently increased its initial offer of 50-cent raises to 55 cents in the first year, with smaller increases in the following two. The company also looked to slash short-term disability benefits.
According to OPEIU estimates, Wilson-McShane workers have seen their wages lose 12% in value as a result of inflation since 2010.
The union, which represents about 180 workers at offices in four states, appealed for solidarity in a letter to the company’s union customers.
“I wonder, do the other unions know what we have to do here, what our contract is?” Johnson said. “I’m not asking them to break the bank, but I’d like to be paid a fair wage. There are people in our bargaining unit who have to work two jobs.”
– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor
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