Pandemic likely to alter unions’ political push, but how? 

May 7, 2020 by

By Bill Moore, Special to The Union Advocate 

COVID-19 is disrupting life as we know it and may do so for a while yet. But Minnesota labor leaders are determined that it will not stop efforts to inform and mobilize union voters for the 2020 election.  

The Minnesota Labor 2020 campaign is alive and well – and ready to adapt to challenges and changing circumstances. 

“Our work this election year is incredibly important,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson said. “We have to engage as many union members as possible as voters and volunteers, not only to elect a president who respects and stands up for working families, but to assure worker-friendly majorities in both the Minnesota Senate and the U.S. Senate.”

Work to assure a complete count for the U.S. census is also important, Peterson added: “We need to be doing that now, and also working to make sure union members and retirees are registered to vote.” 

Minnesota AFL-CIO Secretary- Treasurer Brad Lehto reported that officers, leaders and political organizers from affiliated unions and labor councils around the state already have formulated a Labor 2020 plan. Now, they are working on contingency plans.  

“If things get better,” Lehto said, “we’ll keep moving ahead with the current plan. If things get worse we’ll have options.”  

Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council Executive Director Jessica Looman shares Lehto’s determination.  

“During this time of uncertainty, the AFL-CIO is working to adapt their voter education and mobilization plans to address many different contingencies,” she said. “The Minnesota Building Trades will also work to ensure that our members’ voices are heard in 2020.” 

Texting could be key 

As an example of adjustments that may need to be made, Lehto pointed to worksite conversations. They won’t be possible if worksites are shuttered.  

“Our whole worksite program would have to change,” he said. “One option we’re exploring is peer-to-peer texting, where worksite leaders could communicate via text messages with co-workers who are working from home or laid off.”  

The Service Employees (SEIU) developed and implemented this in the last election cycle and it worked well, Lehto added, joking, “We’re all going to become experts in tech.” 

Jamie Gulley, President of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and the SEIU Minnesota State Council said, “This pandemic has made clear how important it is to have elected officials who care about working people.  

“We know there may be challenges in our usual election plans that focus on person-to-person conversations with possible social distancing still in effect. Luckily, we have experience with texting, online ads, phone calling and relational organizing tools that will help make sure we do everything possible to elect candidates who support working people. 

“No matter what tools we end up using, we are going to have tens of thousands of conversations about electing candidates who see this pandemic not as a chance to divide us and give more to the rich, but as a sign we need to pass laws that put Minnesotans’ health before corporate profits, and to support our Unions for All agenda to make sure every Minnesotan – no matter our job, race, zip code or gender – can live a safe and healthy life.” 

Getting social – at a distance 

Another route Minnesota Labor 2020 planners are exploring to reach union members with relevant information in pandemic times is digital communications and paid media.  

Already in the works are some 15-, 30- and 60-second videos of union members from various unions saying why unions matter to them personally, and how working people need each other and won’t buy attempts to divide us by race, ethnicity or other differences. 

Door-knocking, too, is a traditional election year tactic that wouldn’t work if COVID-19 exposure testing and contact tracing don’t reach necessary levels and stay-at-home policies persist into the fall. Volunteers likely will be reluctant to risk exposure to the virus, and people won’t want to open their door to a stranger.  

Phoning is an option, but has proved less effective in recent years, and traditional phone banks often involve bringing volunteers together in close quarters.   

“If phoners are unable to social-distance, virtual phone banking is a way around that,” Lehto said. “Volunteers can access a list on their home computer or, if they find that difficult, they can get a paper list to phone from home.” 

Regardless of how it gets done, the Labor 2020’s work is critical, Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy said. 

“While this pandemic may change the methods used to communicate with union members about the election, it underscores why the 2020 election is so important,” he said. “We need to elect leaders who will join with us to make sure no worker is left behind, and we emerge from this crisis stronger than before.” 

Retirees get early start 

Members of at least one Minnesota labor organization are on the phones already. The Minnesota State Retiree Council has launched an effort to make sure retired union members are registered to vote. “Comparing union lists with state voting records finds 6,000 Minnesota union retirees not registered to vote,” State Retiree President Ken McInnis reported.  

Retiree Council Election Work Coordinator Carol Freeman and other volunteers have asked for clearance from Minnesota AFL-CIO affiliated unions to call their retired members who aren’t registered to vote.  

Meanwhile, they’re calling everyone on retiree council mailing and email lists to learn how retirees are staying informed. If they’re not already subscribed to the Retiree Bulletin, Election Work Co-Coordinator Martha Johnson signs them up and also points them to the Retiree Council website, http://www.mnretired.org, and Facebook page, facebook.com/mnaflcioretired. 

Another retiree initiative is advocating for Vote-by-Mail legislation.  

The State Retiree Council passed a resolution urging the State of Minnesota to send a voter registration form, together with an application for an absentee ballot, to every unregistered Minnesotan who is eligible to vote, including pre-paid postage for return. The Minnesota AFL-CIO Executive Board adopted the resolution.  

“Given the current majority in the Minnesota Senate, I can’t imagine the measure will pass the Legislature,” McInnis admitted. “But if legislators really believe that voting is what democracy looks like, they’ll support it.” 

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Unions hold vigil for workers exposed to COVID-19

May 2, 2020 by

Lisa Weed of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota speaks at a vigil on the Capitol steps. Social distancing behind her are (L to R) UFCW Local 663’s Paul Crandall, the Firefighters’ Chris Parsons, MN AFL-CIO’s Bill McCarthy and MNA’s Mary Turner.

One thousand votive candles flickered on the steps of the State Capitol last night, a tribute to Minnesota’s essential workers who have fallen ill with COVID-19.

“To workers who have contracted COVID, this is for you,” Minnesota Nurses Association President Mary Turner said, opening the candlelight vigil as the sun set in St. Paul.

Statistics show health care workers make up about 18% of Minnesota’s 5,000-plus COVID-19 cases. Shortages of personal protective equipment nationwide have only increased the risks faced by people working in hospitals, nursing homes and other health services.

“Our members are fearful,” said Lisa Weed, executive vice president of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, which represents more than 35,000 health care and long-term care workers across the state. “We as one Minnesota have a responsibility to make sure health care workers are not being put in harm’s way, as well as the residents and patients they care for.”

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But the coronavirus has spread in other industries, too. More than 20 meatpacking plants nationwide have been forced to halt production, including Worthington’s JBS pork processing facility, where over 200 employees have tested positive for COVID-19, according to a report in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

Warehouse workers, retail clerks, transit operators, child care providers, corrections officers – the list of essential workers at high risk of being exposed to the pandemic is long.

Unions representing many essential workers in Minnesota – including United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663, which represents workers at the Worthington plant – took part in the vigil, which fell on International Workers Day, appropriately enough.

Local 663 Secretary-Treasurer Paul Crandall said at least 400 members of his union had contracted COVID-19. Chris Parsons of the Minnesota Professional Firefighters Association said lack of PPE creates a common fear among everyone who works with the public.

“The greatest fear among all of us is that we will bring (COVID-19) home to our families,” Parsons said.

Union leaders at the vigil said the best way members the public can help keep frontline workers safe is to follow state guidelines designed to contain the virus.

“Right now the best way we can prevent the increased spread of this illness is to stay at home,” Parsons said.

But Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy, head of the state’s largest labor federation, acknowledged those measures have created hardship for people working in industries like hospitality and leisure, who are making an “extraordinary sacrifice” during the pandemic response.

“As we pause this evening to recognize workers who have suffered and, in some cases, even died from COVID-19, we owe them action,” McCarthy said. “We owe it … to them not to simply focus on when we can reopen the economy, but rather how we can reopen it to ensure the health and safety of working people.”

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As mail volumes plummet, unions push Congress for relief

May 1, 2020 by

(file photo)

Perry Schmidt is used to delivering between 1,200 and 1,300 pieces of mail along his route each day. Now, the St. Paul letter carrier is delivering between 400 and 600.

He’s not alone. As the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the country, the volume of mail handled by the U.S. Postal Service cratered, prompting the agency to warn Congress it will run out of cash sometime this summer.

“It’s hard to say if we’re ever going to recover from this,” said Schmidt, a member of Branch 28 of the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC).

But postal unions aren’t going down without a fight. They have launched an all-out lobbying campaign (click here to sign their petition to Congress), warning supporters that, unless the USPS receives a lifeline in the next COVID-19 stimulus bill, critical public services could disappear. Among them:

• Prescription delivery. The Postal Service delivers about hundreds of millions of prescriptions to American households each year. In a pandemic, with people trying to limit their exposure to public places, that service is vital.

“As more and more people are at home, they have to get their prescriptions, and they have to get them on time,” said Todd Elkerton, president of the American Postal Workers Union’s St. Paul local. “That’s a big deal.”

• Voting by mail. Many states, including Minnesota, are considering measures to allow voting by mail as a result of the pandemic. That won’t be possible if the agency goes under.

• Rural service. President Trump has made no secret of his preference for privatizing the Postal Service, going so far as to convene a task force to make recommendations on the subject. That would be disastrous for many remote and rural areas of the country.

USPS typically delivers 470 million pieces of mail each day to all 159 million addresses in the country. Private companies likely would deliver only where they can turn a profit.

“We’re the lifeblood of these small communities,” Elkerton said. “Without a post office, there’s really not a town in some of these areas.”

In addition to providing temporary relief to the USPS, federal lawmaker should repeal the law requiring the agency to prefund its retirees’ health benefits 75 years in advance.

The prefunding mandate was a poison pill that privatization advocates successfully attached to a bigger spending bill in 2006, designed to make the Postal Service appear bankrupt. But no other public or private employer is subject to a prefunding requirement of the kind.

“If you took off the prefunding mandate, it would look like we were actually making money,” Elkerton said. “But it’s a hard thing to explain in sound bites. It’s hard to get that point across.”

Of course, their jobs aren’t the only thing USPS workers have to worry about right now. As essential workers during the pandemic, they risk coming into contact with the novel coronavirus every day.

Anxiety spread throughout the agency after two USPS workers from the same station in New York died after contracting COVID-19.

So far, Minnesota is faring better. At of last week, among 13,000 postal employees in Minnesota and western Wisconsin, which make up the agency’s Northland region, just four had tested positive for the virus, Elkerton said. Minnesota’s USPS workers had seen just one positive case.

“There’s a lot of fear and anxiety, but really we’ve kind of beaten the odds here,” he said.

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Unions move quickly to keep tradespeople safe on jobsites

April 28, 2020 by

St. Paul Pipefitters Local 455 delivered gang boxes filled with cleaning supplies and protective gear – and, yes, toilet paper – to its larger job sites last month. Smaller sites received supplies as well. “We want these job sites to stay open,” Business Manager Tony Poole said. “The best way to have our members continue to work is to keep them safe.”

 

Minnesota’s construction industry has not shut down during the pandemic, but it’s not business as usual on the job site either, as local Building Trades unions and their contractors make adjustments to prevent the virus’ spread and keep tradespeople healthy.

“Any time you work construction, there’s high risk involved. These are risky jobs,” Pipefitters Local 455 Business Manager Tony Poole said. “But this virus, it definitely changes the game.”

The outbreak prompted Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to declare a state of emergency in March, closing most public gathering places and ordering businesses to allow their employees to work from home if possible.

For tradespeople, of course, it’s not.

Construction unions worked with the governor to get their industry on the “essential services” list, allowing work to continue. Now, unions are working to give their members the tools they need to stay safe as they continue building the state’s critical infrastructure.

That starts with education.

The Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council has created a page on its website with an evolving list of resources on the virus and best practices for preventing its spread on the job site. Most craft unions also maintain COVID-19 resources on their local websites.

“We’re sending out communications through our website constantly, just about every day, with CDC recommendations and information about COVID,” Poole said. “And we’re sending mass texts to all members when something is particularly important.”

Unions also are working with their contractors to incorporate best practices into the workflow, LIUNA Local 563 Business Manager Joe Fowler said.

“We’ve been really working with the contractors on social distancing,” Fowler said. “Providing more sanitization stations. Requiring workers to break separately. Forgoing toolbox talks every morning, or doing them weekly instead of daily.”

In some cases, unions are supplying needed equipment to their members directly. Local 455 delivered gang boxes stocked with hand sanitizer, soap, disinfectant cleaner, paper towels, toilet paper, gloves, N-95 masks and more to several large jobsites across the east metro, after hearing from workers concerned about sanitation.

“If you’re working around somebody who’s not wearing a glove, and you’ve got to work on that same piece of equipment?” Poole said. “We want our members to be able to disinfect what they feel they need to disinfect. Rather than wait, the local took it upon itself to supply some of these sites with what our people need.”

Union leaders are taking COVID-19 – and their members’ concerns about the pandemic – seriously, Fowler added.

“We want to keep people working, but we don’t want any of our members working in an environment that they feel is unsafe,” he said. “If they feel that way, they need to reach out. We’re still open for business.”

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Workers Memorial Day: Walz issues proclamation, unions plan remote observance

April 28, 2020 by

St. Paul and Minneapolis Building Trades unions’ Workers Memorial Day observances on the State Capitol grounds, have been canceled this year due to COVID-19. (file photo)

Today is Workers Memorial Day, when unions of the AFL-CIO pause to remember workers who died as a result of workplace injury or illness, and renew the labor movement’s commitment to fighting for safe workplaces.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has forced unions to cancel their in-person observances, the crisis has given new urgency to the cause of worker safety.

Essential workers in Minnesota and across the country – many of them union members – are working every day to provide health care, emergency services and long-term care; keep our food chain intact; deliver the mail and other goods; care for and teach our children; build and maintain our critical infrastructure and more. And too often, they’ve been asked to do it without the personal protective equipment they need.

In a Workers Memorial Day proclamation issued today, Gov. Tim Walz recognized the importance of keeping Minnesota’s essential workers safe, and joined with unions in honoring their fallen members.

The Minnesota AFL-CIO, meanwhile, planned to livestream a remote Workers Memorial Day ceremony today at 6 p.m from its Facebook account.

St. Paul and Minneapolis Building Trades councils would have held their annual Workers Memorial Day event in the Workers Memorial Garden on the State Capitol grounds last Friday.

The following is a list of names that would have been read at that solemn ceremony – names of union tradespeople who died in the previous year as a result of work-related injuries or illnesses.

  • Cory Buerke, Cottage Grove, age 38, member of Bricklayers Local 1, construction accident.
  • Justin Duerr, Des Moines, Iowa, age 23, member of Laborers Local 563, auto accident
  • Tor Heglund, Waconia, age 43, member of Painters Local 386, auto accident on way to work.
  • Eric Koepp, Litchfield, age 48, member of Operating Engineers Local 49, construction accident.
  • Dennis “Denny” Moore, Clear Lake, age 82, retired Plumbers Local 15 business agent, Mesothelioma.
  • Mark Olson, Browerville, age 44, member of Operating Engineers Local 49, construction accident.
  • Zachary Pumper, Savage, age 34, member of Laborers Local 563, construction accident.

Their names would have been etched into white crosses, and representatives of their respective unions would have draped a black scarf over each cross as the deceased member’s name was called out, followed by the tolling of a bell.

The Dakota County Labor Assembly also canceled its ceremony, held each year at the Monument to Fallen workers in Lebanon Hills Cemetery in Apple Valley.

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In victory for unions, Trump administration leaves construction out of new apprenticeship rule

March 30, 2020 by

Matthew Price (R), an apprenticeship instructor with the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, led a crew of union apprentices in a community services project at the St. Paul Municipal Airport. (file photo)

Loud and clear, union tradespeople and their supporters delivered a message to the Trump administration last year: Don’t lower the bar when it comes to training, safety and labor standards in the construction industry.  

The administration listened. 

The U.S. Department of Labor last month issued its framework for expansion of a new apprenticeship model – Industry Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAPs) – in several sectors of the economy. Following the recommendation of North America’s Building Trades Unions, the new rule does not expand the model to construction. 

As the administration weighed new apprenticeship rules last year, Building Trades unions mobilized a historic public response. Some 325,000 people submitted public comments opposing expansion of IRAPs in construction – more public comments than the DOL has ever received about a rule, according to NABTU. 

“We are pleased that their voices were heard and that the final rule recognizes the protections for, and success of, registered apprenticeship in the construction industry,” NABTU President Sean McGarvey said.  

“We thank those in the administration who supported the construction industry’s high-road training standards that empower workers to reach and remain in the middle class. We appreciate the time spent by all – especially our rank and file members – who petitioned their government during the public comment period.” 

Allowing IRAPs in the construction industry, unions argued, would have created a shortcut around the rigorous standards of registered apprenticeship, in which programs must register with a governing agency.  

The governing agency regulates how long apprentices must spend learning on the job site and in the classroom, setting standards that ensure apprentices get supervision, mentorship, safety training and, not least of all, fair pay.  

Under the IRAP system, private organizations can write their own standards for apprenticeship. That may fit the needs of other industries, unions say, but it would undermine high standards already in place for apprenticeship programs in construction. 

“Building Trades unions’ apprenticeship programs are the most successful model of skilled job training in the nation, and this ruling recognizes the unique role they play in the economy, preserving high standards for the entire construction industry,” International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers President Lonnie Stephenson said. 

Locally and nationally, construction apprenticeships make up the overwhelming majority of registered programs. Most are sponsored by unions, which, in partnership with their employers, invest $1.6 billion annually of private funds into apprenticeship training. 

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Unions push pandemic response leaving no worker behind

March 19, 2020 by

(CDC image)

State and local officials are taking unprecedented steps to prevent the novel coronavirus from spreading in Minnesota. While the effectiveness of those measures remains to be seen, it’s already clear the COVID-19 pandemic is not just a public health crisis, but an economic one as well. 

The state’s highest-ranking labor leaders today sent Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders a to-do list of policy changes necessary, they say, to protect working people on the front lines of the pandemic response and those likely to suffer most from its impact on Minnesota’s economy. 

In the letter, the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s executive officers, President Bill McCarthy and Secretary-Treasurer Brad Lehto, back higher standards to ensure hospitals and fire departments provide adequate personal-protective equipment to nurses and first responders. They urge an extension of unemployment-insurance benefits and paid time off. And they call on lawmakers to pass bills guaranteeing school districts’ hourly employees get paid during closures and putting tradespeople to work. 

The letter also includes a warning: “Emergencies shouldn’t be an excuse to relax labor standards. Do not allow rollback of any labor rights or protections.” 

The dizzying number of demands included in the letter reflects the all-encompassing nature of the pandemic and efforts to combat it. Unions from all industries, from the public and private sectors, were bracing for the fallout – and scrambling to address members’ economic and health concerns. 

Kelly Gibbons, president of Service Employees International Union Local 284, called the last week “quite the nightmare.” 

Local 284 represents about 10,000 workers in 140 school districts statewide. Although Walz has ordered all schools to close through March 27, some Local 284 members are still reporting to work, helping provide care for elementary-age children of health care workers and first responders. Other members are furloughed with pay – for the time being. 

“There’s been a lot of confusion, but we’ll get through this,” Gibbons said. “We know this will pass.” 

In the days after he declared a statewide emergency last week, Walz ordered schools, restaurants, museums and other public spaces to close, hoping to limit community spread of the virus and prevent a surge of hospital visits due to COVID-19. But the governor also moved to ease the financial strain on working people impacted by those measures. 

In an executive order Monday, Walz made the state’s unemployment insurance program more robust, waiving certain restrictions and waiting periods so that anyone whose paycheck takes a hit from the pandemic – from layoffs, furloughs or schedule cuts – has swift access to relief. 

Walz also called on businesses that remain open during the pandemic to do their part to prevent its spread by making it easier for employees to work from home and, critically, stay home with pay when feeling sick. Leading by example, Walz granted emergency paid leave to any state employee impacted by the pandemic, and he suspended the waiting period typically required of new hires before they can enroll in health insurance coverage. 

That’s good news for many members of AFSCME Council 5, which counts state employees among its 43,000 members statewide. But Executive Director Julie Bleyhl said all Minnesota employees deserve the same guarantees. 

“AFSCME Council 5 is demanding that all employers in the state of Minnesota pay their workers in full during this time of crisis,” she said. “We must all be united and work together to ensure that no worker has to choose between their lives and a paycheck.” 

The Minnesota AFL-CIO, in its letter to Walz and legislative leaders, called on the state to mandate that employers provide 15 days of emergency paid time off to all employees, and that school districts continue to pay furloughed employees, who are not eligible for unemployment insurance, for all scheduled days.  

“To avoid impacting small businesses for 15 days off, we are calling on the state to implement a separate tax on the largest businesses in the state including Amazon, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, Target, Ecolab and others, and small to medium sized businesses can apply for a tax credit equal to 100% of the paid sick leave benefit they have paid out,” the letter reads. 

Other union demands – like a robust infrastructure jobs bill and extending unemployment benefits to a full year – look to soften the blow to Minnesota’s economy in the long term.  

A statement issued by the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council argues a strong bonding bill, with investments in roads, bridges, transit and public buildings, would “be the economic stimulus needed to jump start the economy, and especially the construction industry, after the worst of the coronavirus impacts have passed.”  

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Senators push back against Trump’s union-busting

March 11, 2020 by

Minnesota Senators Tina Smith (L) and Amy Klobuchar

In his administration’s latest swipe at federal unions, President Trump last month gave Defense Secretary Mark Esper unprecedented authority to strip collective bargaining rights from nearly 750,000 civilian workers at the agency.

Democratic senators, including Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith, urged Esper in a letter last week “to exercise great restraint” with his new authority and avoid setting a “dangerous precedent.”

Smith, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Democrats are committed to making sure the Department of Defense (DOD) continues bargaining with civilian workers, as it has for the last 60 years.

“As union members know, sometimes you have to fight to win fair treatment,” Smith said. “My colleagues and I are right there fighting with (union members), and that’s why we’re pushing back on the administration’s efforts to undermine collective bargaining.”

DOD workers potentially impacted by the new policy include janitors, firefighters, food-service workers, teachers, depot maintenance technicians, welders and other professionals. Their collective bargaining rights, Trump claimed in a document published in the Federal Register, could be “incompatible” with the agency’s “national security mission.”

Democratic senators aren’t buying it.

“There’s simply no evidence that this is true,” Smith said. “In fact, my Democratic colleagues and I believe having a unionized workforce actually enhances the security of our nation.”

In their letter to Esper, the senators point out that federal unions have helped expose health and safety hazards at the DOD, and rid the agency of “waste, fraud and abuse on the part of contractors.”

Federal employees gained the right to join a union and bargain collectively in 1962, when President Kennedy issued an executive order. Presidents since then have used executive power to narrow or, sometimes, expand the pool of federal workers eligible to join unions.

But a White House memo leaked last fall revealed Trump was weighing a much more drastic use of executive power: purging the federal workforce of unions altogether.

“Government unions impede the efficiency of federal operations and direct the government to put the interests of government employees first,” the memo reads. “Curtailing collective bargaining in government serves the public good.”

Nearly 500,000 DOD workers are currently covered by union contracts, including 300,000 represented by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). Everett Kelley, AFGE’s national president, called it insulting for the Trump administration to suggest the bargaining rights of civilian employees, who support the military during wars and other conflicts, somehow threaten national security.

“More than a third of these workers are veterans, and it’s an insult to these employees’ military service and their continued service to their country for the administration to claim that their union affiliation somehow threatens our national security,” Kelley said.

In their letter to Esper, senators note that collective bargaining has helped establish the department as an attractive employer, with fair wages and benefits, and attract highly skilled workers.

“In short, we believe that the Department’s unionized workforce has enhanced our security, not detracted from it,” the senators wrote. “President Trump’s Memorandum arbitrarily and needlessly threatens this positive relationship.”

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SPPS educators strike for schools their students deserve

March 10, 2020 by

The nationwide wave of #RedForEd strikes made a big splash today in St. Paul.

The St. Paul Federation of Educators called the city’s first teacher strike in 74 years after negotiations with the St. Paul Public Schools on union contracts covering 3,800 teachers, education assistants and other professional staff broke down overnight.

This morning, union members picketed outside 50-plus school buildings. By afternoon, they had consolidated outside Global Arts Plus school, where they were joined by parents, students and other community supporters.

Together, they formed a sea of red as they marched into West 7th Street and toward the district’s headquarters, where the presidents of both major U.S. teachers’ unions led a fiery rally calling on district officials to start listening to its educators.

“You give whatever it takes for your students to succeed, but you have a superintendent who tells you what you’re asking is too much,” National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen Garcia told union members. “Has that man ever told you you should hold back from your kids? Absolutely not.”

The teacher-led #RedForEd movement, fighting to reverse decades of disinvestment in public schools and the people who staff them, has sparked strikes across the country in recent years. Last year alone, some 237,400 educators joined strikes in North Carolina, West Virginia, Los Angeles, Chicago, Kentucky and Oregon, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

And now educators are striking in St. Paul, fighting for their student-centered contract demands. The union wants mental-health supports in every SPPS school, more support for multilingual families and special-ed teachers, and additional investments in restorative practices.

“I know all of you would rather be in school with your kids,” American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said at today’s rally. “But we are in the streets … and we’ve been in the streets for the last two years.

“Teachers, educators want what children need. You wouldn’t be fighting if you didn’t believe that.”

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Teachers will be back in the streets tomorrow, when the district plans to cancel classes for a second consecutive day. After picketing at school sites in the morning, SPFE will hold a rally and march beginning in Rice Park at 1 p.m. The union welcomes all supporters to attend.

“Tomorrow we’re going to be back on the picket line,” SPFE President Nick Faber said. “We’re going to be out there until we get … a contract that gives our students the support they need.”

Additionally, union leaders are asking supporters to email members of the school board and urge them to work with educators to reach a settlement.

 

The union also has put together a list of resources for parents and families impacted by the school closures, and is updating the list regularly.

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Mounds View paras stick together with strike vote

March 6, 2020 by

(SEIU photo)

More Twin Cities workers are making preparations for a possible strike.

The union representing nearly 400 para-educators in the Mounds View Public Schools today announced its members voted overwhelmingly to authorize a 24-hour strike if contract negotiations continue to stall.

Para-educators are the first district employees to take a strike vote in 40 years, according to their union, Local 284 of the Service Employees International Union.

“It’s sad we had to go this route,” said Local 284 member Melissa Grewe, who works with special-ed students at Reach Academy. “But we’re united, we’re standing together and we’re hopeful we can get this done.”

Bargaining with the district began nine months ago, but for union members, progress has been slow on key issues like affordable health insurance.

Para-educators pay a greater share of health-insurance premiums than other bargaining units in the district. Equity, para-educator Cathy Springhorn said, is long overdue.

“Paras are the people who always put others before themselves,” Springhorn said. “But now we’re standing up in a way we never have before. We deserve to get the same health insurance as everyone else, and we need the tools to make sure every student reaches their highest potential.”

Para-educators also are fighting the school district’s attempt to eliminate a provision allowing them to spread their pay over 12 months.

Other union demands reflect the changing nature of para-educators’ work.

Before bargaining began last June, Local 284 circulated surveys asking members to list their top concerns. Many said they lacked the time needed to keep up with new responsibilities, like third-party billing, communicating with families and filling out reports. Others felt they could better serve students with more time to plan and collaborate with teachers.

Contract proposals developed out of those concerns, Grewe said, have gone nowhere in negotiations so far.

“We have no time built into our day to get these tasks done, so a lot of people are either doing them after school on their own time or during their break time, their lunch time,” she said. “It’s frustrating, and members don’t feel respected or valued by the district.

“I think that shows by the number of people who came out to vote.”

About 90% of union members participated in the strike-authorization vote, held at school facilities earlier this week, and 80.7% voted “yes,” according to the union. Grewe said she hopes district leaders got the message.

“Come to the table and actually bargaining with us,” she said. “We do this because we love kids. And with a fair contract, we can make the kids’ experience even better than what it is.”

Para-educators have not set a strike date. They are required to provide the district with 10-days notice before going on strike.

The two sides are scheduled to resume mediated talks March 31.

Some 4,000 janitors across the metro and 3,600 St. Paul educators are in last-ditch negotiations this week. If they are unable to reach an agreement, janitors plan to begin an open-ended strike over unfair labor practices March 9. Educators would begin their strike a day later.

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