Striking members of Workers United Local 150 walk the picket line at Twin City Tanning.
About 65 workers at a tannery in South St. Paul that supplies leather for Red Wing Shoes are in the second week of a strike for higher wages.
Members of Workers United Local 150 walked off the job Oct. 9, accusing their employer, Twin City Tanning, of refusing to bargain in good faith. The union’s previous contract expired earlier in the month after workers agreed to a temporary extension.
The two sides met with a state mediator Oct. 14 but failed to reach an agreement. Local 150 representative Esau Chavez said another session was scheduled for Friday, Oct. 17.
Picket lines will remain up from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day except Sunday until the strike ends. The union welcomes community support on the line, located at 501 Malden St. in South St. Paul.
[Click here to sign a petition to Red Wing Shoes demanding support for striking workers.]
Bargaining began in late August, and Chavez said union members presented their full proposal at the first meeting. But Twin City Tanning failed to respond until a third session in September.
That response was an insult: raises of 25 cents per hour in the contract’s first year, 15 cents in the second and 10 cents in both the third and fourth. Union members entered bargaining with a demand of $3-per-hour raises, plus an increase to the regular bonus workers receive for perfect attendance.
Both sides moved some in sessions that followed, Chavez said, but workers voted down the employer’s last, best and final offer, with annual raises that averaged 80 cents over a three-year deal.
“We think we made a modest, fair proposal given the hard work that’s done here and the inflation we’ve seen since our last contract,” Chavez said. “These guys deal with chemicals, toxins, cow hides. It’s not easy work.”
The union, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, was picketing from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day except Tuesday and Sunday.
Rallies on the picket line drew support from elected officials in the area and members of other unions, including United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189, which represents workers at Red Wing Shoes. Local 1189 had advised its members to honor Twin City Tanning workers’ picket line.
Twin City Tanning has been a union shop since 1990.
On the picket line, workers said plant management had turned over since the last round of contract negotiations. Mark Aufderhar, who has about 10 years of experience at Twin City Tanning, said the new plant manager may be “looking to make a name for himself by saving money.”
Aufderhar said he’s seen a similar approach – alarmingly – in his role on the facility’s safety committee. After a chunk of concrete fell onto the shop floor, he alerted the safety manager, but all the manager could do, Aufderhar said, “is write an email to the higher-ups just to cover their butt.”
“They just don’t want to spend the money on fixing these things,” he added. “This round of negotiations, it’s the same thing. It’s way different than the one before. It’s bad.”
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Twin City Tanning $1,920 for a “serious” citation in July.
– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor
Union Advocate 