Union members rally in Minneapolis to end shutdown

January 10, 2019 by

Workers call on lawmakers to reopen the federal government – and put people back to work – during a rally near the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis.

 

Tomorrow, tens of thousands of federal employees won’t get their regularly scheduled paychecks. Today, their union family rallied in Minneapolis – and cities across the U.S. – to say that’s not OK.

Dozens of union members and retirees joined a demonstration along Hiawatha Avenue, just blocks from the Veterans Administration Medical Center. They called on President Trump and members of Congress to end the federal government shutdown and put federal employees back to work.

Gregg James, vice president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said lawmakers should “do their jobs and get the federal government back open – and not use us as pawns in their political game.”

An estimated 5,470 federal employees in Minnesota are affected by the shutdown.

Some are furloughed from their jobs. Transportation Security Administration agents, food safety inspectors, guards at four federal prison and other employees are working without pay.

Several workers from the VA Medical Center joined the rally over their lunch break. They aren’t directly impacted by the shutdown, as funding for their agency is in place through the end of the fiscal year. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t angry.

“I’m thinking about my brothers and sisters who are out there working for free and that are furloughed,” said Bryant Thomas, a St. Paul resident who works in sterile processing at the hospital. “There are 800,000, and I’m out here for them.”

AFGE, which represents some 670,000 federal workers nationwide, organized the rally, but members of several other unions – the Machinists, Education Minnesota, AFSCME Council 5, OPEIU and others – stood in solidarity with federal workers.

Brad Lehto, secretary-treasurer of the state’s largest labor federation, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, pinned blame for the shutdown on President Trump, who on Sunday told reporters he could “relate” to the struggles of federal workers going without pay.

“Donald Trump just thinks you can ask your father for money,” Lehto said. “It doesn’t work that way for everyone.”

Filed Under: Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , ,

In Minneapolis, hundreds rally against Social Security’s closed-door policy

August 28, 2014 by
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (R) leads a rally outside the Social Security office in Minneapolis, which has reduced its service hours.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (R) leads a rally outside the Social Security office in Minneapolis, which has reduced its service hours.

Doors to the Social Security Administration’s field office in Minneapolis were locked at 3 p.m. yesterday, and they could stay locked permanently – in Minneapolis and at field offices across the country – if the federal agency gets its way.

That’s the warning sounded by federal workers rallying on the street outside the Chicago Avenue office yesterday.

About 200 members of the American Federation of Government Employees, holding a convention in Minneapolis this week, rallied with federal lawmakers and local retirees, raising awareness of Social Security’s plan to close hundreds of local offices just as the number of Social Security-eligible Americans is about to hit its peak.

AFGE President David Cox speaks to the crowd in Minneapolis.

AFGE President David Cox speaks to the crowd in Minneapolis.

Already, the Social Security Administration has closed 80 community offices nationwide, AFGE President David Cox told demonstrators, and “they’re looking to shutdown all the rest.”

A report released earlier this year by the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging found the agency had shed 11,000 workers and closed 553 contact stations over the previous three years, and “had reduced or eliminated a variety of in-person services” at a time when Baby Boomers are filing claims in record numbers.

Social Security provides financial assistance to elderly, disabled, widowed and orphaned Americans, “people who through no fault of their own cannot provide for themselves,” Cox said. AFGE members who staff Social Security offices – and the Americans who rely on them – are baffled by dwindling federal support for “the most popular government program in our nation’s history.”

Marie Milsten-Fiedler of Minneapolis relies on face-to-face service provided by Social Security employees.

Marie Milsten-Fiedler of Minneapolis relies on face-to-face service provided by Social Security employees.

Social Security Administration officials have said office closures and staff cuts are part of a plan, known as Vision 2025, to transition most of the agency’s face-to-face services online and to call centers. But the plan does not sit well with Social Security beneficiaries like Marie Milsten-Fiedler of Minneapolis, who called it “pennywise and pound foolish.”

“Not all of us have the ability to pay for computers or Internet access,” Milsten-Fiedler said. Filing for benefits “is a major life changing event. It is extremely stressful, and folks should not be stuck alone in front of a computer screen. People should be available to help us through it.”

Professionals also are needed to protect against Social Security fraud. Milsten-Fiedler said she had to show several forms of identification in order to begin receiving her Social Security benefits. “How’s that going to happen over the Internet?” she asked.

Dana Duggins, an officer with the AFGE’s Social Security branch, said 95 percent of claims submitted over the Internet result in error, and reports of fraud are on the rise.

About 200 AFGE members joined the rally outside the Minneapolis Social Security field office.

About 200 AFGE members joined the rally outside the Minneapolis Social Security field office.

“We think the agency has put the cart before the horse,” Duggins said. “They don’t have the safeguards in place to protect the public. What’s worse is that Social Security staff are expected to push this system, knowing that it is hurting the American public.”

As the rally proceeded, several people approached the Social Security office, only to turn around after seeing the “Closed” sign. Before the rally began, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison told demonstrators, he encountered a woman who had traveled by bus to the office from Plymouth, “which I’m telling you is not close.”

“We need to make sure people who need Social Security have an open door when they show up to get Social Security,” the Minneapolis DFLer said. “If they can give a big tax cut loophole to some oil company, then they can open this office.”

House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland also attended the rally. He thanked activists for standing up on behalf of “millions of people who worked hard, who made America great, who invested in the Social Security program and want to walk through that door during normal working hours.”

Filed Under: Politics, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Retirees, federal workers to Paulsen: ‘Shutdown has to stop’

October 16, 2013 by
AFGE members Vicky Sirovy, Gary Schabert (middle) and Jared Thyen ask U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen to end the federal government shutdown.

AFGE members Vicky Sirovy, Gary Schabert (middle) and Jared Thyen ask U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen to end the federal government shutdown.

Leaders in the U.S. Senate today unveiled a bipartisan agreement to end the partial government shutdown and extend the nation’s borrowing authority, but doubts remain as to whether the compromise will pass the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

As the spotlight shifted to the House, federal employees, union leaders and retirees paid a visit to Minnesota Rep. Erik Paulsen’s Eden Prairie offices this morning, urging the 3rd District Republican to stand behind public statements that he would vote for a “clean” bill to fully fund the government were it to reach the House floor.

Paulsen took heat for that very statement earlier this month, when Tea Party activists demanded he get on board with House Republicans’ plot to use the shutdown as leverage in an ill-fated attempt to defund the Affordable Care Act.

Now Tea Party Republicans are looking to exact steep cuts from Social Security and Medicare as ransom for extending the nation’s borrowing authority before tomorrow’s deadline. Retirees like Ilo Madden of St. Louis Park are hoping Paulsen won’t play along.

“Social Security and Medicare are my main sources of survival,” Madden said at a press availability following the meeting with Paulsen’s staff. “I wonder why the officials who we gave our faith and trust to in the form of a vote are doing this to us.”

[Click here to e-mail to Rep. Paulsen and ask him to support a clean bill to end the government shutdown.]

The delegation of about 15 people reflected the wide-ranging effects of the shutdown, now in its third week. Gary Schabert, a retired veteran from St. Paul, said he participated out of concern for his daughter, who is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in two weeks.

“This is for her, to make sure she has what she needs when she needs it,” Schabert said.

Other members of the delegation told Paulsen that the Tea Party’s political grandstanding in Washington was coming at the expense of federal employees and the citizens they serve, including veterans.

Jared Thyen, a Bloomington resident who works in the Minneapolis Veterans Hospital, said many of his colleagues at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System – the people who process claims and determine benefits – are working without pay.

“Morale at my office is extremely low,” said Thyen, 32, a chief steward of Local 1969 of the American Federation of Government Employees. “People are not able to pay their bills, like child (care). People my age and younger cannot pay their student loans. The bills keep coming.

“This shutdown has to stop.”

Federal employees are still reeling from three years of frozen pay and cuts to retirement benefits. Many workers have been furloughed up to six days per year as a result of sequestration cuts. According to AFGE, federal employees’ pay freezes and retirement cuts have contributed $105 billion in deficit reduction already.

“We have to put a stop to this,” Local 1969 President Vicky Sirovy said.

Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation Bill McCarthy urges Paulsen to support a "clean" bill to fund the federal government and end the 16-day shutdown.

Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation Bill McCarthy urges Paulsen to support a “clean” bill to fund the federal government and end the 16-day shutdown.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Expenses, stress mount for essential employees during Tea Party shutdown

October 15, 2013 by
Federal workers and supporters demonstrate against the federal government shutdown outside the Social Security Administration offices in Minneapolis.

Federal workers and their supporters demonstrate against the federal government shutdown outside the Social Security Administration offices in Minneapolis.

Gloria Jones and May Sy Lawrence won’t get paid for doing their jobs until Tea Party Republicans in Congress get serious about doing theirs.

Jones and Lawrence are essential federal employees – officially classified as “accepted employees.” As they have throughout the 15-day shutdown, they showed up for work today at the Social Security Administration offices in Minneapolis, but they won’t see their wages until members of Congress – who are getting paid – pass a clean budget to fund the government.

On their lunch break, Jones and Lawrence joined a demonstration outside the Social Security Administration, calling on Tea Party Republicans to end the shutdown and stop holding the economy – and the federal government – hostage. [Click here to add your voice.]

Republicans in the House initially allowed the government to shut down in an attempt to defund the Affordable Care Act. When that failed, they tried using the shutdown – and a looming deadline to extend the nation’s borrowing authority – to gain leverage in budget negotiations.

Jones said Tea Party Republicans might not be so cavalier about shutting down the government if their paychecks, like hers, depended on it.

“If they were in our shoes what would they do?” she asked. “They need to get their act together and end this now.”

About 19,000 federal workers in Minnesota – and 800,000 nationwide – are either out of work or working without a paycheck.

The strain is, perhaps, greatest on essential workers, who, unlike furloughed workers, must continue to pay for child care while they are at work, transportation to and from work, and other expenses – without the benefit of a paycheck.

Lawrence said the shutdown already has taken a toll on her family’s ability to meet its financial obligations. She called her mortgage company to ask for some relief from monthly payments during the shutdown, she said, and was denied.

“It’s pretty stressful,” Lawrence said, “especially when you have small children. We need to get it settled as soon as possible because it is affecting everyone.”

Lawrence, Jones and their co-workers at the rally today are members of the American Federation of Government Employees. Members of several other organizations joined them today, including the largest union of state government employees in Minnesota, AFSCME Council 5.

“At AFSCME, we’re familiar with shutdowns,” said Council 5 spokesperson Jennifer Munt, referencing a 20-day state shutdown in 2011. “We don’t like them because they hurt everyday people.

“We took Minnesota off the Tea Party choke chain. The Republican Party in Washington needs to do the same.”

Social Security Administration workers brave the rain to join a demonstration against the government shutdown outside their Minneapolis offices.

Social Security Administration workers brave the rain to join a demonstration against the government shutdown outside their Minneapolis offices.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Shutdown a ‘lose-lose scenario’ for veterans, furloughed workers

October 8, 2013 by
Stanley Walton, locked out of his job with the U.S. Veterans Benefits Administration, joins a picket outside the Whipple Federal Building on Fort Snelling.

Stanley Walton, a locked-out member of AFGE Local 1969, joins a picket outside the Whipple Federal Building on Fort Snelling.

Is Stanley Walton’s work essential? That depends on whom you ask.

Walton was one of 7,000 “non-essential” employees furloughed by the U.S. Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) today. He and about 150 others reported to the Whipple Federal Building at Fort Snelling, where they were handed letters instructing them to stay home until lawmakers in Washington had resolved the partial federal government shutdown that began Oct. 1.

Although the government considers Walton’s work non-essential, the homeless veterans who rely on him probably disagree. Walton says he connects “our most vulnerable veterans” with the housing, medical and other benefits they’ve earned as a result of their service.

That work doesn’t stop just because Congress can’t agree on a budget.

“It’s devastating,” said Walton, who served 25 years in the Army before taking a job with the VBA eight years ago. “I’ve received calls from veterans, and I have to let them know I can’t help you until the furlough is over.”

Others locked out today include workers who process appeals made by veterans claiming medical, job-preference or other benefits. These claims already can take more than a year to process, and the shutdown will only lengthen the amount of time veterans have to wait for a decision on their appeals.

The American Federation of Government Employees, a union of 670,000 federal employees nationwide, represents 208,000 workers with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Alma Lee, president of AFGE’s National VA Council, called the furlough a “lose-lose scenario for federal employees and the veterans we serve.”

“Veterans sacrificed greatly to earn their benefits, and we need to be on the job to deliver them,” Lee said. “VBA is already critically understaffed and the lockout is only making it worse. Our veterans deserve better from their elected leaders.”

A handful of AFGE members, supporters from other unions and veterans joined a picket line outside the Whipple Building today. They pinned responsibility on House Republicans, who are using the shutdown as leverage in budget negotiations, hoping President Obama and other Democrats will cave to their demands – like defunding the Affordable Care Act – in order to reopen the VBA and other government agencies.

“We went through this 20 years ago when the government shut down,” said Craig Maehling, a disabled veteran from Minneapolis. “It was wrong then, and it’s wrong now.”

[Click here to demand House Republicans allow a vote on a clean bill to keep the government open.]

AFGE members and supporters from the labor community picket outside the Whipple Federal Building.

AFGE members and supporters from the labor community picket outside the Whipple Federal Building.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Ellison backs DoD’s civilian employees in fight against furloughs

May 1, 2013 by
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison

Plans to furlough 800,000 civilian employees in the Department of Defense will put the nation’s economic recovery – and its military readiness – at risk, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison said yesterday during a fiery speech to more than 100 members of the American Federation of Government Employees.

AFGE’s Defense Conference, which represents more than 270,000 civilian DoD employees, held meetings in Bloomington this week. Talks focused on how to beat back the 14-day furlough, scheduled to begin in June and run through September.

Ellison told workers their best strategy is reaching out to other groups resisting “the growing movement to take the public sector and weaken it.” He singled out letter carriers’ fight to maintain Saturday mail delivery, as well as efforts to prevent the privatization of Social Security.

“I want you to think of the larger frame of what’s going on,” the 5th District DFLer said. “If all you focus on is that furlough, we won’t be able to reach out to the thousands of other people being affected by the same thing.”

“We’ve got allies out there… We’ve got to see the connections.”

The furloughs are part of the Pentagon’s plan to meet spending targets required by sequestration, the automatic federal budget cuts that went into effect after Congress failed to meet deficit-reduction deadlines over the winter.

AFGE President J. David Cox, who also spoke at the conference, called the furloughs “foolish and reckless,” and said they would deal a “major blow to our economy felt by every American citizen. When 800,000 workers nationwide do not get a paycheck for three weeks, it will be felt by 1.85 million merchants.”

The furloughs will save the federal government about $2.5 billion – a small fraction of the Pentagon’s total sequestration targets. A better way to achieve spending reductions, Cox said, would be to review the “massive amount of taxpayer money” paid to private-sector defense contractors.

Ellison agreed: “We’re cutting off bone and muscle on one side, and leaving fat on the other side,” he said. “Why are we cutting the people we need the most?”

AFGE members expressed concerns that furloughs would deal a major blow to employee morale and retention. Civilian employees, who earn $50,000 on average, have seen their wages frozen for the last three years.

“I hear a lot of employees say, ‘What is my future?’” said AFGE Local 1441 President George Braunreiter. “We’re losing a lot of good employees. There’s just no respect for the people doing the job.

“These people are willing to work nights and weekends. They already make a lot of sacrifices, but they do it because they like what they’re doing and get a feeling of pride that they’re providing a necessary service to their country.”

Braunreiter’s local represents more than 225 St. Paul-based employees in the Army Corps of Engineers. Many of the workers are seasonal employees stationed on the locks and dams that facilitate barge and other boat traffic on the Mississippi River.

Braunreiter said the furloughs will “put a delay on barge traffic and increase costs to the barge industry, which will be passed on to consumers.”

“These cuts don’t just affect us,” said Dusty Hawkins, president of AFGE Local 1997, which services the Air Reserve station in Minneapolis-St. Paul. “It affects our military readiness, and it affects our communities.”

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , ,
«Previous Page