SMRLS workers, joined by labor allies, support their bargaining team on Day 1 of negotiations.
Newly organized workers at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services entered negotiations on a first contract Wednesday in St. Paul, less than four months after voting to form a union with Council 5 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Workers held a brief, morning rally with supporters outside SMRLS’s St. Paul offices before the union’s elected bargaining team met with management at Minnesota’s longest-standing legal aid nonprofit.
Sarah Palm, a senior staff attorney based in Albert Lea, said increasing transparency at SMRLS was a main driver of the unionization push that began over a year ago, and it remains a priority in bargaining – particularly when it comes to wages.
“Nobody really knew what our pay scale is,” Palm said. “But we would like to get our wages to keep increasing. We’ve never had a COLA (cost-of-living adjustment).”
The union also hopes to establish basic rights in the workplace, codify benefits and remote-work rules, and expand holidays to reflect the cultural diversity in its bargaining unit, Palm said.
Bargaining could move quickly. The union’s negotiating team had sent management a full contract proposal before the two sides even sat down.
Negotiators modeled their proposal on existing union contracts at other legal aid providers, including Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. Workers there formed a union with Council 5 in January 2024 and settled their first contract, with 14% wage increases, last June.
SMRLS’s new “wall-to-wall” bargaining unit brings together over 70 workers, including staff attorneys, support staff, accountants and development professionals at the organization, which provides services to low-income residents of 33 counties in southern Minnesota, including the Twin Cities’ east and south metro, as well as agricultural workers throughout Minnesota and North Dakota.
Paralegals at SMRLS have long been unionized.
Mario Solis, a member of the bargaining team who works as an attorney in SMRLS’ Agricultural Worker Project in Moorhead, was a member of the paralegal bargaining unit for nearly 10 years before obtaining his law degree last year. Working under a union contract, he said, is better.
“It’s a lot of security – this beneficial state of understanding your rights, what you’re entitled to and what your benefits are. And I hope this doesn’t come up, but if things go badly I’d like to think there’s going to be solidarity among the workers and we’ll have an understanding of how things should be dealt with.
“I felt that security in the paralegal union, and I miss it. So I’m excited to get that back.”
– Michael Moore, UA editor
Union Advocate 