Best of the Midwest: Local roofers sweep regional apprenticeship competition

September 25, 2026 by

Apprentices compete in “Best of the Midwest” at Roofers Local 96’s training center.

Roofers Local 96 hosted the “Best of the Midwest” regional apprenticeship competition at its training center in Ham Lake this year, and the local union’s apprentices made good use of the home-site advantage.

Local 96 members placed first in all three divisions of the Aug. 22 competition, and seven Local 96 apprentices finished in the top four among competitors in their group.

First-place finishers in each division – Local 96’s Connor Engholm in Year 1, Ethan Block in Year 2 and Luke Selander in Year 3/4 – will advance to the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers’ national apprenticeship contest in Boston next May.

Other Local 96 award placewinners included:

  • Montana Scepaniak-Eisenschenk, third place in Year 1.
  • Jordan Angove, second place in Year 2.
  • Dawn Plaisted, second place in Year 3/4.
  • Evan Bloom, fourth place in Year 3/4.

For Local 96, it was the union’s first time hosting “Best of the Midwest,” although the Ham Lake facility did host the national apprenticeship competition last year.

The Midwest region includes 17 local unions, and 10 participated in this year’s competition. Local 96’s training facility, which opened in 2019, left an impression on staff from visiting unions.

“When I walked in, I was astonished,” Joshua Cavazos, business representative for Indiana-based Roofers Local 26, said. “It’s big, it’s immaculate. This is way more than any Roofers union could ask for.”

Third-year apprentice Dawn Plaisted of Roofers Local 96 is one of three women who competed in the Year 3/4 division of the regional competition.

Cavazos and other local leaders from the Midwest region gathered with competitors and their families for dinner in the training center the night before the competition. For many in the room, the camaraderie was what they looked forward to most about the annual event.

“The most important thing is the brotherhood – all the locals getting together for the greater good of the industry,” Local 20 organizer Pedro Parra, based in Kansas City, said. “It’s what sets us apart as a union – most roofers don’t get any of the training and support that we get as union members. That’s why it’s so important for these guys to come in and show off their skills.”

Parra might call it a brotherhood, but the number of female apprentices competing in “Best of the Midwest” has increased steadily in recent years.

Year 3/4 competitors included three women this year, with Local 96’s Plaisted among them. Plaisted took second in the region this year after advancing to the national competition last year – and winning it.

“Meeting all the new contestants, that’s really what I look forward to,” Plaisted said. “You always hope to win, but it’s just fun to see how you stack up.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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Tradeswomen honored at local ceremony as Trump halts efforts to diversify industry

July 23, 2025 by

Union tradespeople from across Minnesota gathered at a White Bear Lake banquet facility June 5 to celebrate winners of the 2025 Women Building Success Awards, which recognize women forging careers in an industry long dominated by men.

Minnesota Building Trades unions founded Women Building Success (WBS) in 2017 to recognize and promote the achievements of women in their ranks, in the hopes of drawing more.

Experts have long argued that attracting more women to the construction trades would help reduce broader pay disparities, as skilled tradespeople – particularly union members – earn family-sustaining wages with access to health and pension benefits.

The kind of outreach, community-building, mentorship and support that WBS offers women in construction is critical to getting women to enter the skilled trades – and keeping them there, experts say.

Initiatives like WBS and Tradeswomen Build Nations, launched by North America’s Building Trades Unions 15 years ago, have helped drive an increase the number of women working in construction, by nearly 30% between 2018 and 2023, according to Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

But federally funded programs that look to build on that success face an uncertain future. Earlier this year, the National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues and five Building Trades unions issued a joint statement calling on Congress to maintain funding for the U.S. Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau and the Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO) program.

Both the Women’s Bureau and WANTO have been “instrumental” in creating pathways for women to enter male-dominated fields like construction, the organizations say, particularly in supporting pre-apprenticeship programs, which create opportunities to try out a trade before fully committing.

But since President Trump took office in January, the Labor Department has terminated WANTO grants, and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s budget request for 2026 would zero out funding for the Women’s Bureau, which she called a “relic of the past.”

WBS, self-funded by unions, isn’t likely going anywhere – and that’s a good thing for local tradeswomen, including these 2025 award winners, profiled below.

Apprentice of the Year

Ironworkers Local 512 apprentice Michaela Oelkers, 29, began welding at 18, earning a Certified Welding Inspector credential on her own time while working two jobs. When her boss at a non-union shop told her they didn’t need another CWI on staff, Oelkers acted on a friend’s suggestion to check out the Ironworkers.

Pete Teigland, the local’s apprenticeship training director, is glad she did. “Michaela represents everything we look for in an apprentice ironworker,” he said. “She has a great attitude, is hard working and wants to be good at whatever task is laid in front of her.”

The award came as a surprise to the third-year apprentice from Baldwin, Wis., but she left the awards ceremony feeling “hyped up,” she said.

“The women are all so positive and couldn’t be more supportive. I wanted to know, are there tips and tricks for how to keep your mindset so focused? And how the hell did they do it for so long?”

Oelkers said being the only woman on a jobsite can be “a pain in the ass sometimes,” but she keeps her sense of humor.

“I’m not going to lie, they’re big and burly, and frankly they’re kind of gross,” she said. “But the men I’ve worked with have been so good and willing to teach the next generation (of apprentices), so there’s an upside and a downside. And hey, women can be hormonal and annoying as well.”

Journey Worker of the Year

Heidi Loesch, 61, of Shell Lake, Wis., retired after a nearly 40-year career as an operator two years ago. The member of Operating Engineers Local 49 didn’t take the traditional apprenticeship pathway, instead attending technical college in Staples after graduating from high school to gain the skills she would need as an operator.

Loesch had no idea Women Building Success existed until Melissa Vandal, a dispatcher with Local 49, asked if she could nominate Loesch for an award. At the ceremony, another woman who, like Loesch, worked for Bolander Construction approached Loesch’s daughter, Megan, to say she had been hearing about her mother for years.

“It was interesting to learn that you were kind of mentoring everybody along the way – whether you knew it or not,” Loesch said. “No women were in the field when I started – that I ran across anyway.”

What kept her going? “I just loved my job, and I was pretty good at it,” she said. “And there are a lot of guys out there that will tell you that, too. If I was going to worry about the guy-girl ratio, probably I wouldn’t have gotten out of vo-tech.”

Women’s Advocate

Rachel Malmer, a member of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 110 who works at the wastewater treatment plant in St. Paul, is blunt about what attracted her to the trade: “money and insurance.” But the 33-year-old from Bay City, Wis., has thrived in several roles since joining the union in 2017, volunteering with the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus and representing members on several committees.

As a member of the executive board, Malmer sees new apprentices and members being sworn into the union, and she makes a point of reaching out to women taking the oath.

“A lot of times you’re the only woman on the job site, and let’s just say some people suck,” Malmer said. “So having someone to talk through that or work through things – people who have experienced it and know different ways to navigate things – it helps. I want them to know that they have a support system.”

A self-described “behind-the-scenes person,” Malmer was not eager for her moment in the spotlight at the WBS awards. “I was mad,” she said. “I don’t like getting up in front of people, let alone talking in front of people or talking about myself, really. I’m just doing what I feel like people are supposed to do.”

Tradeswomen in Leadership

Two tradeswomen shared the leadership honor this year: Erica Hartse of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34, and Colleen Bibeau, an instructor at the Laborers Training Center in Lino Lakes.

Hartse, a 32-year-old from Lindstrom, recently took an office job at Local 34 after working 10 years in the field, starting in 2014. That’s when she left her job as customer-service representative to join a pre-apprenticeship program. She joined Local 34 soon after, but said she wishes she had learned about career opportunities in the trades sooner.

“My biggest gripe is that it was never really posed as an option in high school, or maybe I would have taken a different path earlier on in life,” Hartse said. “Maybe I would have seen it as a viable option sooner.”

Hartse, who serves as Local 34’s vice president, called the experience of winning the WBS award “overwhelming but exciting.” She said she appreciates the organization’s work to create space for women in the trades. “Seeing people relatable to you is so important,” she said. “I can hear a guy talking about careers like this, but to have that real success story in front of you, then it’s real.”

Bibeau, who lives in North Branch, joined the Laborers in 1999. She was working two jobs and raising three kids on her own, with no child support. “My kids needed to have a mom more,” she said. “I needed more money.”

She worked in the field until 2013, when she applied for an instructor’s position at the training center, teaching safety on the job.

“I love getting to work with apprentices,” she said. “I get to see a lightbulb go off every week with my students.”

Now 59, Bibeau has seen firsthand the how the industry has changed to become more inclusive of women, and she hears about it from the apprentices who come through her classroom, too.

“I ask them all the time, ‘How many women are working with you guys?’” she said. “And there’s always multiple women on the jobsites, which I’m so happy to hear.”

This article appeared in the August 2025 issue of the Saint Paul Union Advocate.

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Local 96 apprentices shine at Roofers’ nationwide skills competition

June 5, 2025 by

Local 96 apprentice Jesus Lopez-Meraz celebrates a national championship with Roofers International Secretary Treasurer Mitch Terhaar (L) and President Jim Hadel. (submitted photo)

Jesus Lopez-Meraz has set a high bar for himself over the next few years.

The first-year apprentice with Roofers Local 96 won the Phase 1 division championship at the National Roofing Apprenticeship Competition last month. But he’s already set his sights on competing in the competition’s next two phases.

“I want to make it three times like the first one – first place,” Lopez-Meraz said. “I’ve got kids, so I have to show a good example.”

Apprentices from across the U.S. traveled to Minnesota for the event, hosted by Local 96 at its training center in Ham Lake from May 13 to 15. They competed in three divisions, or “phases,” for first-year apprentices, second-year apprentices and third- and fourth-year apprentices.

The United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers launched the national competition last year. The international union’s three regions had long been organizing their own apprenticeship challenges, and the new event brings together their first-place winners in each phase.

Pictured are International Secretary-Treasurer Mitch Terhaar, Local 96 Apprenticeship Coordinator Andrew Richmond, Phase 3-4 runner-up Zachary Abfalter, Local 96 Business Manager Mark Conroy and International President Jim Hadel. (submitted photo)

Local 96, which represents workers in Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas, advanced two apprentices to the national competition. Lopez-Meraz won Phase 1, and Zachary Abfalter was the runner-up in Phase 3-4.

Event organizers ran the apprentices through several rounds of evaluation. Written exams tested their knowledge of safety rules, math blueprint-reading and more. On the shop floor, judges watched as apprentices tackled industry-specific challenges designed to test their skills.

At one station, apprentices used blow torches to install a roofing product. At another, they used hand signals to guide a crane operator delivering materials to be installed. Other challenges tested their proficiency in below-ground waterproofing, tar roofing and shingle installation.

Andrew Richmond, Local 96’s apprenticeship coordinator, said the nationwide competition is especially challenging because building materials vary from region to region. Developers in Minnesota tend to install different roofing products than in, say, southern California.

But that doesn’t mean the competition is any less intense.

“It’s a big deal not only for the apprentices who compete, but also for the locals,” Richmond said. “It’s bragging rights to see who trains the best.”

The judges revealed their results at a banquet to close the event’s final day. Officers of the international union presented winners with trophies – and cash prizes, gift cards and new tool sets.

Lopez-Meraz said it felt “phenomenal” to hear his name called. Seeing two apprentices take home trophies from the competition, he added, is a credit to Local 96’s training program and its staff.

“They give us support when you have a question or need an answer, and they have a lot of patience to train each guy and answer each question,” Lopez-Meraz said. “Many of us are Latinos, so we are short on English, but they provide support to help figure out how to help you. I feel comfortable in the union.”

Richmond said Lopez-Meraz and Abfalter have bright futures ahead in the roofing industry. The Local 96 apprentice who placed second in the Phase 3-4 division last year landed an offer to become a foreman within days of the competition.

“This is opening doors for these young workers,” Richmond said. “It’s a great opportunity.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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Up for a challenge: Competitors test their skills at WBS Trade Games

December 10, 2024 by

Ashley Kula (L) and Anya Davis raced to finish Cement Masons Local 633’s challenge.

It wasn’t gold, silver or bronze, but there was plenty of metal in play during the Trade Games Challenge at St. Paul Pipefitters Local 455’s training center Nov. 21.

Hosted by Women Building Success (WBS) to celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, the friendly, hands-on competition drew nearly 200 participants in its second year.

“This event has hands-on challenge activities for each trade,” WBS board member Jenny Winkelaar, director of workforce and community development for Operating Engineers Local 49, said. “It is a fun way to showcase what the trades have to offer.”

Competitors included apprentices, journey workers and community members with an interest in exploring careers in the union construction trades.

Cement Masons apprentice Grace Olson checked out her virtual paint job.

Participants walked from station to station on the shop floor, trying their hand at challenges sponsored by different local union apprenticeship programs. Each union designed the challenge to reflect their unique craft.

At booths hosted by Plumbers Local 34 and Sprinklerfitters Local 417, instructors timed competitors as they followed the instructions for connecting pieces of pipe into a “pipe guy.” Insulators Local 34 challenged competitors to affix insulation to the proper place on a pipe structure, like a puzzle.

Some Trade Games challenges pitted competitors against each other. Laborers Local 563 held wheelbarrow races. At Pipefitters Local 455’s station, it was a chain hoist race, with competitors racing to raise their large spool to the finish point fastest.

Madi Jennings, a fourth-year apprentice with the Insulators union, tied rebar at Ironworkers Local 512’s station, clocking the second-fastest time of the event’s early session. Local 512 training coordinator Erik Hansen said that it’s good for apprentices like Jennings to gain exposure to other crafts – and good for apprenticeship programs’ recruitment efforts, too.

“We’re hoping this kind of becomes a word-of-mouth thing,” Hansen said. “OK, you’re already in a trade, but maybe you know someone considering their options, and you tell them, ‘Hey, check out the Ironworkers.’”

For competitors like Matt Segal, who learned about the event from a friend, the Trade Games Challenge also served as a career fair. After working in the tech industry for a decade, he’s looking for a change.

“I’m exploring my options and seeing what’s out there,” Segal, 34, said after splitting a pair of chain hoist races – hosted by the Pipefitters – with IBEW Local 110 member Marisa McAndrew. “I like working with my hands, and I’d like to learn some skills that I can take with me – that are applicable in my home and anywhere I go.

“It’s been exciting to be here and talk not only to trades instructors, but tradespeople, too.”

Dorlisa Squires (L), an apprentice with Local 49, and Glenda Tejada race to assemble a “pipe guy” at Sprinklerfitters Local 417’s challenge.
Rockett (R), who said she uses just one name, matched insulation with piping at Insulators Local 34’s station during the Trade Games Challenge.
Mahaila Houle (R), a career navigator with Operating Engineers Local 49, guided Plumbers Local 34 apprentice Karen Severson through the excavator event.
Ironworkers Local 512’s Erik Hansen timed Madi Jennings, an Insulators apprentice, as she raced to tie rebar.

For most attendees, though, the primary objective was fun and fellowship.

At Cement Masons Local 633’s station, that meant playing in the “mud,” as competitors raced to flatten and level wet cement, edge the sides and install control joints – the cuts in walkways or other slabs that allow for movement due to temperature or moisture.

Local 633 apprentice Grace Olson was not tempted to leave her craft behind after trying the virtual spraypainting booth, hosted by the Finishing Trades Institute, Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 82’s training arm.

“I think I did OK, but I probably could have done better,” the third-year apprentice laughed. “I think I over-sprayed it a little.”

But Plumbers Local 34 apprentice Karen Severson joked that she “might switch trades” after climbing into the excavator that Operating Engineers Local 49 parked inside the Pipefitters’ training hall, challenging participants to pick up and transfer a flagpole from one road cone to another. “That was fun,” Severson said.

WBS was founded in 2017 to recognize and promote the achievements of women in union construction trades. WBS hosts an annual awards ceremony, an apprenticeship photo contest and other events.

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Minnesota apprentice wins Insulators union’s international skills contest

July 26, 2024 by

Pictured (L to R) are Tommy Haun, the union’s international training director; Local 34 Business Agent William Meyer; Jordan Haller, who hoisted a Stanley Cup replica at the awards banquet; and Local 34 Business Manager Albert Byers. (photo by William Brouillette)

If insulating were an Olympic event, Jordan Haller would be heading to Paris this summer.

The 22-year-old from East Bethel placed first in a skills competition open to 4,000 apprentices with the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers, held June 23-27 in Orlando, Fla.

Haller is the third apprentice from Twin Cities-based Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34 to win the Master Apprentice Competition in 20 years.

“I think it says a lot about what our training program can do, about our instructors and the knowledge they have, the experience they have,” Haller said. “We’re putting a lot of time and effort and money into the apprentices, and when they’re coming out toward the end, they’re ready to go.”

Haller is finishing the fourth and final year of his apprenticeship with Local 34, and he will “turn out” as a journey-level worker later this summer. He entered the trade out of high school at the encouragement of his father, a former insulator apprentice who now owns a contracting firm, Insulation Midwest Inc.

John Hosley, who teaches fourth-year apprentices in the local, credited Haller’s work ethic and said the apprentice is “very mechanically inclined.”

“We’re not a very big trade, so it’s kind of nice that if you’re really good at it they acknowledge it with this competition,” Hosley said. “And then there’s the camaraderie that goes into it, the connections you make.”

Haller’s journey to Orlando began on the shop floor in Local 34’s training hall in St. Paul, where he competed with fellow fourth-year apprentices for the right to represent the local at the Midwest Conference competition in Omaha at the end of April. Haller won both competitions, advancing to the finals along with seven other regional champions from the U.S. and Canada.

In Orlando, the finalists took a written exam on Day 1, then spent the next three days in the shop, working to complete a project that would be judged by experts in mechanical insulation.

“They hand you a specification sheet of how this project needs to be insulated and finished, how it’s getting judged, what day it needs to be done and how everything needs to look,” Haller said.

(photos by William Brouillette)

The location of the competition changes each year, and contest planners tailor the final project to reflect the locale. In Orlando, of course, that could mean just one thing.

“Basically, it was two pipe risers with a big, large sweep that kind of represented the entrance to Disneyworld,” Haller said. “There were some other pipe systems to the side of that, and a large cake-looking thing in the middle, representing the 20th anniversary of the Master Apprentice Competition. And then there was a box with a big copper pipe that was insulated to represent a roller coaster, like the Tower of Terror.”

After receiving the specifications, Haller and the other finalists went to work.

“My approach was to create game plans for each day and set goals and reach those goals no matter what,” Haller said. “Making sure you can get it done is job No. 1, but while you’re doing that, take these skills you’ve learned over the last four years and apply them in that moment – and just attack it.”

The pressure was intense, Haller added.

“There were a lot of points throughout the three days of the shop competition where I felt like I was behind as far as the workload,” he said. “I felt like I was doing a good job, but there were moments where I felt like I needed to get going, otherwise I’m not going to finish.”

Indeed, Haller said he worked right up until time was called on Day 4 of the competition.

From there, it was a waiting game as judges inspected the apprentices’ projects before an awards banquet the following night.

“That’s the big moment,” Haller said. “They called each of us up one by one, and then announced the winner. It was probably one of the biggest moments of my life. My heart was pounding out of my neck.”

Haller said he felt both relief and excitement upon hearing his name. After shaking the other competitors’ hands – “all great guys, all top notch too,” he said – organizers presented Haller with the trophy, a replica of the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup.

He also received a cash prize and a smaller cup that will go on display in Local 34’s trophy case. All eight finalists received scholarships to pursue training as an apprenticeship instructor at the international union’s facility in Maryland, too.

Sharing his skills and expertise with up-and-coming insulators is something Haller said he would like to pursue as a way of giving back to the union that gave him an opportunity to challenge himself at the highest level.

“I’m thankful for all the instructors I had, my union officers, everybody involved with the local side – and also on the contractor side, especially my dad, my boss and the journeymen out in the field, who I’ve worked with for many days,” Haller said. “I’m thankful for every experience that I’ve had throughout my whole apprenticeship.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Labor nonprofit helps OPEIU, HealthPartners bring learn-and-earn training to life

July 21, 2023 by

Supporters of the clinic assistant training program joined a celebration and press conference June 29. Pictured (L to R) are Jeff Ambroz, Kelsie Anderson, Mayor Melvin Carter and HealthPartners’ Lynzee Herfindahl and James McClean. (OPEIU photo)

Office and Professional Employees Local 12 and the Minnesota Training Partnership have tapped federal pandemic-relief funds to launch an earn-while-you-learn training program that will prepare young workers for in-demand jobs as clinic assistants with HealthPartners and other providers.

The program is open to Ramsey County residents ages 18 to 30. Coursework will take place both online and in person over the course of eight to 12 weeks, beginning in September. And best of all, participants will get a weekly stipend – the equivalent of $15 per hour over a 32-hour workweek – as they complete the training and search for jobs.

The clinic assistant program is among the training opportunities sponsored by Ramsey County’s new Learn and Earn Initiative, a joint venture with the City of Saint Paul that will invest $14.65 million in American Rescue Plan funds toward workforce development.

Officials announced the new training opportunities at a press conference in downtown St. Paul June 29.

Ramsey County Commissioner Rena Moran, who took a lead role in the city-county collaboration, said Learn and Earn partner agencies will provide 700 young workers with training in entrepreneurship, information technology, tree care, diesel technology and other fields over the next two years.

“That’s a true impact,” Moran said. “We are so excited to see the amazing impact that these investments will have on our young residents – and what that will bring to all of us in Ramsey County.”

“The work that we’re doing together with our federal partners, with our county partners, with the nonprofit folks … this work is critical,” St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said, adding that the program represents “democratized, equitable opportunity” for communities that have long faced institutional barriers to prosperity.

Offering a stipend to trainees removes a significant barrier for many jobseekers, Minnesota Training Partnership (MTP) Director of Develop-ment and Communications Jeff Ambroz said. MTP is the county’s nonprofit partner for the clinic assistant program.

“It’s going to open doors for a lot more people to participate,” he said. “For many young adults looking to enter a training program like this without a stipend, they would have to find a way to pay the rent, make the car payment or maybe cover child care. Most lower- to middle-income people can’t do that.

“This paid training program will give people a chance to get on the path to a great career, and we definitely wanted to be part of that.”

OPEIU Local 12 members who work at HealthPartners – which supported development of the clinic assistant training program – earn over $20 per hour to start, with industry-leading health benefits.

But like so many employers in recent years, HealthPartners has struggled with staffing shortfalls, Local 12 Business Representative Kelsie Anderson said. Finding qualified clinic assistants, who check in patients at the front desk, answer phones and handle other clerical work, has been particularly challenging since the COVID outbreak.

It’s become a point of frustration for other clinic workers, too.

“HealthPartners kept telling us there’s not any qualified candidates that are applying for this position,” said Anderson, who was a longtime HealthPartners employee before taking a position with her union. “And because we’re so short staffed, I’m not sure if HealthPartners is giving the best training opportunities to the people they do hire, because they don’t have the bodies to do it.”

Last year, when Ambroz checked in with Local 12 leaders about potential training ideas, the lightbulb went on. HealthPartners offered insight into the job description, and MTP enlisted St. Paul College to help build the right curriculum.

Ambroz said the clinic assistant training program is exactly the type of venture that leaders of the Minnesota AFL-CIO had in mind when they founded the Minnesota Training Partnership as a nonprofit organization in 2019.

“Union leaders have so many great ideas about ways to help their members build up their skills,” Ambroz said. “We try to find ways to find funding and help facilitate that, by letting them take the lead in a union-driven training.”

“Our union leadership has really emphasized training and education,” Anderson added. “But if it wasn’t for the Minnesota Training Partnership, we would never have been able to do this.”

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Walz signs refinery safety bill at St. Paul Pipefitters hall

May 3, 2023 by

Gov. Walz signed the refinery safety bill into law May 2.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed one of labor’s top policy priorities into law Tuesday at the St. Paul Pipefitters’ training center, putting in place new training requirements for tradespeople working at oil refineries in the state.

Surrounded by union members, Walz said the refinery safety measure will help prevent catastrophic accidents like the Husky refinery explosion five years ago in Superior, Wis., and protect communities surrounding Minnesota’s two refineries in St. Paul Park and Rosemount.

“We will not cut corners when it comes to workplace safety in Minnesota,” Walz said on the floor of Steamfitters Pipefitters Local 455‘s apprenticeship training center. “We are adding safeguards and improving training standards, so that workers can return home safe.”

The new law applies to contractors brought in by refineries to perform construction, demolition, installation, maintenance and repair work, and to handle hazardous material. It phases in a minimum threshold of those tradespeople who must have registered apprenticeship training, beginning with 30% by Jan. 1, 2024, and reaching 60% by Jan. 1, 2026.

Refineries whose contracted workforce fails to meet the minimum threshold could incur fines from the Department of Labor and Industry.

David Ybarra, president of the Minnesota Pipe Trades Association, said it was fitting to hold the bill signing at an apprenticeship training center. Building Trades unions’ apprenticeship programs, he said, “represent the gold standard in workforce development,” with “best-in-class” safety training specific to each craft.

Pipe Trades Association President David Ybarra touted the safety training local registered apprenticeships offer.

“This historic bill will help ensure that those working in these inherently dangerous facilities are the best of the best,” Ybarra added.

Workers at the St. Paul Park refinery began sounding the alarm about safety in early 2021, when Marathon locked out members of Teamsters Local 120 for nearly five months, after they refused to accept language that would have allowed the refinery to outsource up to 50 jobs.

At the same time, Marathon began severing ties with local contractors that had regularly provided maintenance and other services at the facility. Building Trades unions warned that local laborers, pipefitters and other tradespeople familiar with the refinery had been replaced with subcontractors from across the country.

Inside the refinery, Teamsters like Dean Benson noticed the difference. During a committee hearing on the bill, he told senators he worked alongside subcontractors who didn’t know how to use critical safety equipment, including Minnesota fire hydrants.

“These guys don’t know what they don’t know, and that’s dangerous in a place like the St. Paul Park refinery,” Benson said.

Workers’ safety concerns gained urgency after a March 20 accident at the Marathon refinery, in which 20,000 gallons of hot asphalt leaked during maintenance repairs, with two workers sustaining severe injuries requiring hospitalization.

Sen. Judy Seeberger (D-Afton), whose district includes the Marathon refinery, said the new law “goes to show how boots-on-the-ground folks can affect legislation.”

“It ensures that the right person has the right training to do the job,” lead House author Rep. Dave Lislegard (D-Aurora) said. “It wasn’t union versus non-union, but it was the unions that drove the conversation to get the results.”

Sen. Judy Seeberger, whose district includes the St. Paul Park refinery, was a lead author of the bill.

Seeberger, the lead Senate author, credited her predecessor in office, current Washington County Commissioner Karla Bigham, with laying the political groundwork for the new law.

But it took a change in Senate leadership to get the bill to Walz’s desk. Two years ago, when Republicans controlled the chamber, Bigham patched together bipartisan support for the measure on the Senate floor, before GOP leaders abruptly withdrew their support as the session drew to a close.

“I’m sorry it took so long for us to get here,” Walz told union members during the signing ceremony. “The idea of worker safety becoming a political football is absolutely atrocious.”

Kera Peterson, president of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, said that the issue was a talking point in unions’ member-to-member political campaign in 2022.

“Both of Minnesota’s refineries are in the east metro, and we knew this bill was important to workers and our communities,” she said. “The signed law is proof that the work union members put into helping elect a labor majority in the Senate had a real impact.”

“When I was campaigning for office, I got the message loud and clear that this was something urgently needed to ensure workers in the refinery and the communities around the refinery were as safe as possible,” Seeberger added. “While we cannot guarantee the prevention of accidents, we can ensure that we are doing everything we can to make sure the workers at these facilities have the best training available to them.”

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In Senate, new DFL majority puts refinery safety atop to-do list

February 1, 2023 by

Union tradespeople packed the first committee hearing on Senate File 10. (photo courtesy LIUNA MN)

Refinery safety is back on the agenda at the Minnesota Capitol.

Union tradespeople helped pack the Senate Labor Committee’s hearing Jan. 12, when members heard public testimony on a bill that would require registered apprenticeship training for workers performing certain jobs in the state’s two petroleum refineries.

“In my career it was easy to spot the difference between workers who were trained in registered apprenticeship programs and those who were not,” LIUNA member Ben Weideman told senators.

“They understand what their specific duties are, they know how to ask questions and they contribute to a safe and productive culture of quality work, day after day.”

Weideman, a former health and safety manager for a large contractor that specializes in hazardous facilities, told lawmakers that petroleum refineries warrant unique public scrutiny because the safety risks there are exponential.

“Refineries are not a normal construction site,” he said. “It’s potentially dangerous for the individual workers, their co-workers, the surrounding community and the environment. Any refinery moving away from contractors that require and promote registered apprenticeship is taking a step backward from the progress we’ve made in the workplace throughout my career.”

That’s exactly what workers say is happening at the refinery in St. Paul Park, where union members have accused Marathon Oil of replacing local, highly trained tradespeople with non-union workers from other states.

The dispute came to a head in early 2021, when Marathon locked out members of Teamsters Local 120 for nearly five months, after union members refused to accept language that would have allowed the refinery to outsource up to 50 jobs.

At the same time, Marathon began severing ties with local contractors that had regularly provided maintenance and other services at the facility. Building Trades unions erected banners outside the refinery, warning that local laborers, pipefitters and other tradespeople familiar with the refinery had been replaced with subcontractors from across the country.

Inside the refinery, Teamsters noticed the difference.

Dean Benson, a vacancy relief officer at the facility and chief steward for Local 120, told senators he worked alongside subcontractors who didn’t know how to use critical safety equipment like a self-contained breathing apparatus. He knew they were from out of state, Benson said, when he watched the subcontractors struggle to figure out how Minnesota fire hydrants work.

(photo courtesy Steamfitters Pipefitters Local 455)

“These guys don’t know what they don’t know, and that’s dangerous in a place like the St. Paul Park refinery,” Benson said.

The growing chorus of concerns from workers like Benson and residents of St. Paul Park and surrounding communities quickly reached lawmakers like Karla Bigham, who carried the apprenticeship requirement two years ago while serving in the Senate.

A companion measure passed the House, and Bigham’s Senate bill briefly made it into a larger package of legislation with bipartisan support. But in the 2021 session’s waning hours, Republican leaders abruptly withdrew their support, killing the measure.

With DFLers now in the Senate majority, it stands a good chance of passing, according to lead author Sen. Judy Seeberger, who has succeeded Bigham, now a Washington County commissioner, in Senate District 41, which includes St. Paul Park.

“When I was campaigning for office, I got the message loud and clear that this was something urgently needed to ensure workers in the refinery and the communities around the refinery were as safe as possible,” Seeberger said.

“Minnesota’s registered apprenticeship programs are the gold standard when it comes to training,” she added. “When we’re talking about oil refineries, which are such dangerous environments to work in, we should expect nothing less than the most experienced, skilled and safe workers in those facilities.”

Seeberger’s bill, Senate File 10, passed out of the Labor Committee Jan. 12, but representatives of Big Oil did their best to derail it. The American Petroleum Institute’s Lynn Granger warned Seeberger’s bill “is not about safety” but, rather, “the government inserting itself in the hiring practices of the private sector.”

Commissioner Bigham, who also testified at the hearing, wasn’t buying it. She noted that other states where Marathon operates refineries have apprenticeship requirements on the books.

“This legislation does not require refineries to hire union,” Bigham said. “There’s nothing that stops Marathon or any other refinery in the state from doing their own apprenticeship program.”

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Dems’ climate measure ties tax credits to prevailing wage, apprenticeship

September 22, 2022 by

Matt Campanario, executive director of the Carpenters Training Institute, leads Sen. Tina Smith on a tour of the LJ Shosten Training Center in St. Paul, which houses the union’s pile driver and millwright apprenticeship programs.

The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in August, promises the most aggressive action to combat climate change in U.S. history, a $369 billion investment that aims to reduce carbon emissions by 40% this decade.

But what most excites some union leaders about the IRA are long-sought provisions that will ensure the transition to a cleaner-energy economy creates and sustains union jobs – and taps into the job-training capacity of unions’ registered apprenticeship programs.

In a win for Building Trades unions, businesses looking to claim tax credits available under the IRA must commit to paying prevailing wages and employing a minimum number of registered apprentices on their jobsites.

The requirements apply to most tax credits that were greatly expanded by the historic legislation, which Democratic majorities spent months shepherding through Congress.

The tax credits will spark private-sector construction of energy-efficient commercial buildings, housing and electric vehicle charging stations, as well as investments in energy sources outside of fossil fuels.

An analysis released by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst projects the IRA’s climate and energy investments will create 9 million jobs over the next decade.

By insisting on strong labor provisions, said Adam Duininck, director of government affairs for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, Biden and other lawmakers ensured those investments will create good-paying jobs for skilled American workers.

“The expanded tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act will benefit businesses that pay prevailing wages and hire our apprentices,” Duininck said. “Paying workers prevailing wages will further support our communities where workers live and spend their money. This will give local businesses and our public services like education, public safety and well-maintained infrastructure the financial backing they should be receiving from hard working, middle-class workers.

“Our communities miss out on billions of tax dollars by unethical business practices of dishonest contractors. It is great to see support for those who conduct business in a manner that benefits people rather than lining the pockets of only a few individuals.”

Carpenters apprentice Amanda Heiser tells Smith recently passed infrastructure and climate bills “definitely provide a more stable future” for apprentices like her.

The IRA also includes penalties for firms that pledge to pay prevailing wages but don’t follow through, requiring them to make workers whole – plus interest.

Meanwhile, industrial unions hailed domestic content requirements included in the IRA, which will encourage the use of American-made batteries, solar and wind components and other technologies on clean energy projects.

The requirements will stimulate job growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector, said Jason Walsh, director of the BlueGreen Alliance, which brings together unions and environmental groups.

“Few pieces of legislation this century have come close to such sweeping job creation potential,” Walsh said. “This bill’s investments offer an opportunity to support and create good union jobs and for workers and communities to reap the economic gains of the clean economy.”

For the Biden administration, the IRA delivers – again – on a campaign promise to make union jobs the focus of its economic policy.

A $1 trillion infrastructure law, which Biden signed in November 2021, is already creating work for union tradespeople in Minnesota. Over 100 projects statewide have tapped into $1.4 billion in federal funding available through the bill so far, including a $22 million project at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Prevailing-wage rates are set by the federal government and vary by location. The rates reflect the average wage paid to similarly employed workers in a specific occupation in that area.

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Unions’ pre-apprenticeship program puts more Minnesotans on path to construction careers

May 9, 2022 by

The Building Strong Communities program holds a graduation ceremony. (photo by Vince Muzik)

Thirty-five Minnesotans are a big step closer to family-sustaining careers in the unionized construction industry after graduating from the Building Strong Communities program last week.

Elected officials, union leaders, employers and family members gathered for a ceremony May 5 at North Hennepin Community College to recognize graduates of the pre-apprenticeship program for women, veterans and people from racial and ethnic minority groups.

“You have the opportunity to be able to provide for your families, to make a meaningful contribution to society, to our cities, to our state, and you have much to be proud of,” Labor Commissioner Roslyn Robertson told graduates. “It is my honor to be able to witness this day.”

Funded and administered by the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, Building Strong Communities is part of unions’ ongoing effort to increase community awareness of career opportunities in their industry.

“None of this is possible without the strong support of the Building and Construction Trades,” said Aaron Koski, workforce manager at the Met Council. “So thank you, unions.”

The 12-week course, offered each spring, provides an overview of the different crafts that make up the construction industry, using a Multi Core Craft Curriculum developed by unions, hands-on training at union apprenticeship centers and tours of union construction sites.

Graduates Isabelle Schultz and Dwayne Douglas take the stage during the ceremony.

Participants also take eight weeks of virtual classes in construction career readiness at North Hennepin, followed by four weeks of training to build up emotional intelligence, a skillset industry experts have identified as key to overcoming challenges new workers often encounter on the jobsite.

“You really learned how to control your emotions and not give people your remote,” 2022 graduate Isabelle Schultz said. “And if you are in control of your remote, then no one can control your emotions.”

Graduates completed the course just in time for the start of summer construction season, and Schultz, who will begin an apprenticeship with Operating Engineers Local 49 and Lunda Construction, was among several who had already signed on to begin working for local union contractors.

“This opportunity has opened my eyes to a whole new experience,” said Dwayne Douglas, set to begin an apprenticeship with Laborers Local 563 and Lunda after graduation. “To be a part of a training like this means everything in the world. This is something that is going to be beneficial for me and beneficial for my family for the rest of my life.”

Building Strong Communities Program Manager Thomas Scott said the work of “helping to make our construction industry in Minnesota more reflective of all our communities throughout the state” does not end with graduation. Each graduate has selected an advocate to provide mentorship and support over the next year.

“The goal is to stay in the industry and for the individual to experience everything that motivated him or her to choose the construction industry in the first place,” Scott said. “Our community advocates will continue to work with graduates … so that they have a strong support when things get rough.”

Joe Fowler, president of the state Building Trades council, welcomed graduates into the union family.

“As you look to begin your new careers, know that you’re entering a family of brothers and sisters who stand up for each other,” Fowler said. “And just remember that solidarity is key to making sure that you’re successful, and it’s key to making sure that our unions continue to thrive and are successful as well.”

Learn more about Building Strong Communities at buildingstrong.org.

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