Small business owners voice support for sick-time ordinance in St. Paul

August 8, 2016 by
Ward 6 co-owner Eric Foster speaks at a press conference arranged by a coalition of businesses supporting St. Paul's proposed sick-time ordinance.

Ward 6 co-owner Eric Foster speaks at a press conference arranged by a coalition of businesses supporting St. Paul’s proposed sick-time ordinance.

 

At a press conference today, small business owners in St. Paul said passing a citywide sick-time ordinance is the right thing to do – not only for the health of their workers, but also the health of their bottom lines.

Providing employees with earned sick and safe time makes them less likely to jump ship for more stable benefits, according to members of the Main Street Alliance. The small-business coalition has signed up more than 40 St. Paul businesses that support the proposed ordinance, and several used the press conference at Workhorse Coffee to counter Chamber of Commerce claims that it would drive employers out of town.

Matt Zanetti, co-owner of Lake Monster Brewing Company, said he could understand why some businesses owners would “look at the bottom line and say, how are we going to make this work?” But after taking a closer look, most discover that “paid sick time is an easy way to make sure you’re retaining people.”

Lake Monster Brewing co-owner Matt Zanetti explains his support of a citywide sick-time ordinance while holding his son, Leo.

Lake Monster Brewing co-owner Matt Zanetti explains his support of a citywide sick-time ordinance while holding his son, Leo.

“When we have to hire new people, we have to spend money and time to train them,” Bob Parker of Ward 6 restaurant added.

Parker’s co-owner, Eric Foster, served on a task force appointed by the City Council to study the issue of earned sick and safe time. He took direct aim at the Chamber’s narrative.

“Sometimes some groups have a tendency to say the sky is going to fall if we do this, and it never does,” Foster said. Raising  minimum standards when it comes to workers’ health and safety, he added, would end the “race to the bottom” among employers competing to cut costs.

The City Council is on track to take action on the issue Aug. 24.

Both the task force and the city’s human rights commission have voted to recommend an ordinance requiring all employers to provide workers with one hour of sick time for every 30 hours they work, with sick-time earnings capped at 48 hours per year. If adopted, the proposed ordinance would extend benefits to an estimated 70,000 workers – and put St. Paul among about 25 cities nationwide with a sick-time rule on the books.

Council President Russ Stark, who attended the press conference in his ward, said council members’ “ears are still open,” but reiterated his commitment to passing “a strong ordinance.”

Stark also reflected on his experience as a working parent of young children, being notified while at work that one had fallen ill.

“Anyone who’s had kids in day care has gotten that call. It’s not a choice. You just have to go,” Stark said. “But some people face consequences for leaving work at that time.”

In addition to expressing support for the sick-time ordinance, Main Street Alliance also rolled out a “Shop Your Values” campaign for consumers looking to support St. Paul businesses that back earned sick and safe time. Find details, a map of participating locations and information about joining the alliance at www.tinyurl.com/SYV-STP.

“We know many small businesses both here in St. Paul and statewide care about their employees and their communities,” alliance director Corinne Horowitz said. “We encourage Minnesotans to shop their values, and patronize businesses that support their employees, the community, and working families.”

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

Carpenters pile on TruStone for undermining area labor standards in Burnsville

November 9, 2015 by
Carpenters call out TruStone outside the credit union's new Burnsville location.

Carpenters call out TruStone outside the credit union’s new Burnsville location.

 

Already embroiled in a dispute with its own employees’ union, TruStone Financial got an earful today from local Carpenters, who called out the credit union for working with a contractor that does not meet area standards for wages and benefits.

Members of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters erected a banner reading “Shame on TruStone Financial” outside the credit union’s new Burnsville branch today, just three days after Office and Professional Employees Local 12 staged informational picketing during the location’s grand opening celebration.

Carpenters distributed fliers urging the public to “join members of North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters and their families by not patronizing Trustone” after the credit union used Friedges Drywall to build the Burnsville branch.

Fridges fails to compensate carpenters with wages, family health benefits and retirement benefits that meet area standards, according to the union.

“When carpenters are not paid area standards, they have fewer dollars to spend in the communities where they live and work, and where their children go to school,” the flier said. “Whether through greed or lack of understanding, TruStone Financial has made a choice not to support our local tradesmen and women. Please ask your family and friends to join you in not patronizing TruStone Financial.”

Formerly Teacher Federal Credit Union, TruStone’s membership base includes thousands of union members and retirees.

But some teachers are reevaluating their relationship with the credit union after Local 12, which represents tellers, personal bankers and other employees at branches across the Twin Cities, accused TruStone of union busting in charges filed with the National Labor Relations Board this fall.

The Carpenters are urging supporters to call Timothy Bosiacki of TruStone at 1-800-862-1998 and urge him to see that area labor standards are met in Burnsville – and at all future construction projects.

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

Grocery union launches campaign to hold Hy-Vee accountable for ‘good jobs’

October 5, 2015 by
These signs are popping up around the Twin Cities as part of a joint campaign between UFCW locals based in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

These signs are popping up in lawns across the Twin Cities as part of a joint campaign run by UFCW locals based in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

As Hy-Vee moves into the Twin Cities market, union grocery workers are rolling out a campaign to hold the supermarket chain to local standards for “good jobs.”

That means high wages, guaranteed schedules, affordable health care and retirement plans – and the security of a union contract.

“The ability to negotiate guaranteed wage increases, hours of work and benefits allow our members to take care of their families and strengthen our communities,” UFCW Local 1189 Secretary-Treasurer Jennifer Christensen said. “We are committed to making all retail grocery jobs really good jobs, meaning life-sustaining ones.”

Members of the United Food and Commercial Workers staff grocery chains across the Twin Cities, including Cub Foods, Kowalski’s, Festival, Rainbow and Lunds and Byerly’s. These union shops represent “an oasis in the world of low-wage retail,” Christensen said.

Indeed, annual raises for members of Local 1189 who work in East Metro grocery stores take effect today, with part-time workers seeing a 45-cent hourly increase, keeping them on track to reach $14.90 per hour, according to the union. Full-time grocery clerks and journeyman meat cutters will see 50-cent raises, with senior clerks moving to $23.58 and cutters to $25.10.

Christensen said Local 1189 and Minneapolis-based UFCW Local 653 plan to reach out to Hy-Vee workers looking to organize for comparable wages and benefits.

But the chain, which so far has opened stores in New Hope and Oakdale, presents a unique challenge for union organizers. As an ESOP, Hy-Vee grants workers small shares in the company’s ownership structure as part of their compensation.

Of course, owning a few shares of stock is no guarantee of good wages, fair schedules or security at work. ESOP workers are able to organize for a voice on the job – a union – just like any other grocery store employee.

To drive home that message – and to warn Hy-Vee against interfering with workers’ efforts to join a union – the UFCW locals are teaming up on a “Union Jobs Are Good Jobs” campaign. Supporters are sending postcards to Hy-Vee management and workers, and lawn signs are popping up in neighborhoods across the Metro.

Click here to sign a petition in support of the “Union Jobs Are Good Jobs” campaign.

Click here to learn more about hosting a lawn sign.

Filed Under: Organizing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

East Side Freedom Library plans April film screenings, lectures

April 1, 2015 by

TwoMillionVAxProgramming at the East Side Freedom Library this month includes film screenings, discussions and a presentation on social justice.

All events at the nonprofit, independent library, located at 1105 Greenbrier St. in St. Paul, are free and open to the public. For more information go to the library’s website.

• Filmmaker John DeGraaf will appear at an April 8 screening of his film “The Great Vacation Squeeze,” which looks into why the U.S. is one of only five countries that does not legally mandate vacations – and what workers can do to change that fact.

DeGraaf, who also directed “Labor’s Turning Point,” an acclaimed documentary about the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters strike, will join a discussion after the 7 p.m. screening.

• The St. Paul Federation of Teachers will co-sponsor a screening and discussion of the film “2 Million Minutes” at the library April 14, starting at 6 p.m. The title refers to the amount of time in a student’s career between the end of eighth grade and high-school graduation, and the film considers how that time is spent in three countries, the U.S., India and China.

• Dr. Artika Tyner, a professor of law and public policy at the University of St. Thomas, will give a presentation April 24 at 7 p.m. entitled “Planting People & Growing Justice in Response to the Cradle-to-Prison Pipeline.”

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: , , , , ,

Electrical Workers crash Bonfe’s open house

September 26, 2014 by
IBEW Local 110 members (L to R) Jaime Hubbard, Dan Crawmer and Ray Lee called out Bonfe's for not paying area-standard wages and benefits to its electricians.

IBEW Local 110 members (L to R) Jaime Hubbard, Dan Crawmer and Ray Lee called out Bonfe’s for not paying area-standard wages and benefits to its electricians.

Bonfe’s Plumbing, Heating and Air Service held an open house for prospective employees last night in St. Paul, but not everyone on the guest list appreciated the invite.

About two dozen members of St. Paul-based Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers surrounded Bonfe’s property during the open house. They carried signs and banners, distributed leaflets and warned the public – and potential employees – that Bonfe’s does not pay its electricians wages and benefits that meet area standards.

Bonfe's, a non-union contractor, mailed open-house invitations to members of IBEW Local 110 in an apparent attempt to "poach" skilled workers.

Bonfe’s, a non-union contractor, mailed open-house invitations to members of IBEW Local 110 in an apparent attempt to “poach” skilled workers.

The open house drew IBEW Local 110’s attention after members reported receiving invitations in the mail, union representative Jeff Anderson said.

“They invited me here, and I came,” Anderson said. “Now they don’t want me here.”

Anderson speculated that Bonfe’s accessed Local 110 members’ mailing addresses via the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry’s registry. The open house, he said, was nothing more than an attempt to “poach” skilled workers from the IBEW and its signatory contractors.

Bonfe’s once was among Local 110’s signatory contractors, but it decertified about five years ago. The company no longer hires union electricians, plumbers or sheet metal workers. Bonfe’s is completely non-union.

“Not only do they not pay area standards,” Anderson said, “but from the reviews I’ve read online, it does not appear they are passing those saving on to their customers either.”

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

Report: No earned sick time for 41 percent of Minnesota workers

September 15, 2014 by
Activists in St. Paul rallied in 2008 in support of expanding workers' access to paid sick time.

Activists in St. Paul rallied in 2008 in support of expanding workers’ access to paid sick time. (file photo)

Four in 10 Minnesota workers face a choice between showing up for work sick and forfeiting a day’s pay. What’s more troubling, most of the 1.1 million Minnesotans who lack access to earned sick time off work in low-wage jobs.

Those are among the findings of a report on earned sick time benefits, released today by TakeAction Minnesota and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

The report bolsters growing momentum for legislation to increase Minnesotans’ access to earned sick benefits.

Earlier this week California lawmakers passed a new law requiring employers to provide a minimum of three paid sick days per year to employees who work 30 or more days in a calendar year. Labor-endorsed lawmakers have expressed an interest in advancing a similar bill when the Minnesota Legislature convenes next year.

Proponents say such legislation would benefit not only low-wage workers, but public health as well. That’s because the Minnesotans least likely to have access to earned sick time work in service jobs – food service, accommodations and other occupations that bring workers into frequent contact with the public.

Just 35 percent of service workers in Minnesota have access to earned sick time off, according to the report.

“Because these workers tend to have lower wages, they also tend to come into work when they are sick,” Jessica Milli, senior research associate at the IWPR, told reporters and policymakers in a teleconference briefing this morning. “That means they may get their co-workers and their customers sick.”

Employers have an incentive to support earned sick time benefits as well, Milli added.

“Employees are happier when their employers provide them with these benefits,” she said. “They’re more productive. They’re less likely to voluntarily quit their job in search of new work.

“All of these are benefits that are not currently being realized when 41 percent of workers in the state don’t have access.”

Greta Bergstrom, communications director for TakeAction Minnesota, said the statewide network of progressive activists and organizations will lead the campaign to pass earned sick time legislation at the Capitol next year.

“We’re in a situation where those who can least afford to lose a day’s wages or their job altogether are most often … having to make that impossible choice,” Bergstrom said. “That’s the work ahead for the state of Minnesota.”

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

Report warns Minnesota lawmakers against following Michigan’s lead on ‘right to work’

December 11, 2012 by
Click to download Minnesota 2020's full report on RTW's potential impact on Minnesota's economy.

Click to download Minnesota 2020’s full report on RTW’s potential impact on Minnesota’s economy.

A report released today by the St. Paul-based think tank Minnesota 2020 backs up what unions have been saying about “right to work” laws like the one Michigan Republicans scurried to pass this week: They are bad for workers’ wages and benefits, as well as the economy as a whole.

Titled “A Losing Bet,” the report debunks the economic benefits touted by RTW proponents in Minnesota, but speakers at today’s Capitol news conference also weighed in on protests raging in Lansing, Mich., where Republicans used a lame-duck session to force two RTW bills – one for public-sector workers, another for private-sector workers – through the Legislature without committee hearings.

Matt Entenza, Minnesota 2020’s senior policy director, called the Michigan bills a “sneak attack” on workers.

University of Minnesota history professor Hy Berman called it a “tragedy that the great state of Michigan, the bedrock of industrial unionization, should join forces with Mississippi, Louisiana and other Confederate states to become a right-to-scab, right-to-keep-wages-down state.”

In an about-face from promises made on the campaign trail two years ago, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has said he will sign the RTW bills into law, making Michigan the nation’s 24th RTW state. (UPDATE: Snyder has signed the bills, making Michigan a RTW state.)

A question of fairness

Also known as “Freedom of Employment,” RTW would allow workers covered by union contracts to avoid paying their share of the costs of representation, but still enjoy the wages and benefits provided by the union contract.

Current law in Minnesota says a worker whose job is covered by a collective-bargaining agreement is obligated to pay “fair-share” fees to the union – at a lower rate than membership dues – to cover the costs of representation and bargaining. Under federal law, unions are required to represent and bargain for all workers subject to the contract, whether they are full members or not.

RTW would eliminate “fair share” fees. Some workers would pay dues if they chose to, but all workers would receive the benefits of union representation – from negotiated wage and benefit increases to grievance representation and seniority.

Unions argue RTW creates a “free-rider” incentive that undermines their ability to represent workers effectively. By eroding union membership, RTW also erodes wages, benefits and workplace protections for both union and non-union workers.

Those arguments are backed up by “A Losing Bet,” a review of independent academic literature on RTW. Minnesota 2020’s research shows union membership declines by 6.6 percent in states that pass RTW, while the “free-rider effect” in increases anywhere from 6 to 10 percent in bargaining units.

Minnesota 2020's Matt Entenza (right) and U of M professor Hy Berman discuss the findings of a new report on right-to-work laws.

Minnesota 2020’s Matt Entenza (right) and U of M professor Hy Berman discuss the findings of a new report on right-to-work laws.

The wrong approach to economic development

But do RTW laws draw large employers? Not so much, according to the report, which finds other factors – like highway accessibility and availability of skilled labor – are more important to large employers looking to develop or relocate their facilities.

In fact, Entenza said, RTW laws “hurt wages and hurt the ability of states to compete for high-wage jobs.”

With DFL majorities in both chambers of the Legislature, Minnesota is unlikely to follow Michigan’s lead during the upcoming legislative session. But if anyone had forgotten Minnesota Republicans’ attempt last spring to push a RTW constitutional amendment, the events in Lansing should serve as a wake-up call, Entenza said.

“We must use this opportunity to move the discussion forward on enhancing policies that ensure dignity, respect and wage protections in the workplace.”

Minnesota 2020 is a progressive, non-partisan think tank that focuses its research on education, health care, transportation and economic development.

Click here to download “A Losing Bet: Projecting Right to Work’s Impact on Minnesota’s Economy.”

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

For unions, opposition to marriage amendment swells from grassroots

October 29, 2012 by

Minnesota workers are pushing back against the marriage amendment – and pushing their unions to make marriage equality a priority.

Mary Larson Dennis, a social worker and member of AFSCME Local 151, remembers exactly the moment when she decided the freedom to marry wasn’t just a gay-rights issue, but a union issue as well.

It was March 2011, and Dennis, then an officer in her union, was making the rounds on a lunch break, talking to co-workers at Ramsey County about proposed cuts to the state budget. When she approached a co-worker on an elevator and asked if she had called her legislators yet, Dennis got an answer she wasn’t expecting.

“Of course I’m calling my representatives,” the co-worker told her. “Have you seen what they’re doing to marriage?”

The conversation that followed is one playing out thousands of times over in workplaces across Minnesota this year, after Republican majorities at the Legislature forced a proposed constitutional amendment limiting the right to marry onto the 2012 ballot.

“That was my co-worker looking me in the eye in the elevator and saying, ‘This is my issue,’” Dennis said. “I didn’t feel like I could look her in the eye back, as an officer of the union at that time, and say, ‘Yeah, I’m with the union and we’re not doing anything about issues that affect your family.’”

Instead, Dennis decided to take action. After consulting with other officers and union stewards, she and a handful of supporters drafted a resolution opposing any legislative attempt to limit the freedom to marry – a resolution that passed at Local 151’s next meeting.

Dennis and Local 151 may have been among the first Minnesota unions to take a stand on the marriage amendment, but several others quickly followed.

The grassroots momentum prompted several statewide union councils and federations to take up the cause of marriage equality. Dennis’ union, AFSCME Council 5, and the state’s largest labor federation, the Minnesota AFL-CIO,  are among several labor organizations that have joined the coalition working to defeat the marriage amendment, Minnesotans United for All Families.

“Make no mistake – this is a labor issue,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson told delegates to the federation’s convention in September. “It is because we fight for all families. It is because unions have always been at the forefront of civil rights.”

Organizing union support

Knutson and other union leaders are backing up their words with actions – and campaign cash. The state’s unions have contributed more than $35,000 to Minnesotans United, and many have sponsored member-to-member phone banks about the issue in advance of the Nov. 6 election.

The conversation about marriage rights isn’t an easy one, even among friends, family members and co-workers. Cold-calling other union members about the topic is an especially daunting task. To give their volunteers confidence, leaders of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers’ committee working to defeat the marriage amendment hosted a “conversation training” with Minnesotans United in advance of their first member-to-member phone bank.

“We learned how to have the conversation with another individual so that you’re not on top of them saying, ‘You need to vote no!’” said Mary Denton, a member of the SPFT committee.  “We learned to slowly change their perspective and how they view the amendment, and we learned when to stop trying.”

Denton, Dennis and other union members working to build opposition to the marriage amendment – and grow support for marriage equality – say they focus their conversations on equal rights. As long as same-sex couples are denied the right to marry, they are denied the benefits that come with marriage – many of which are employer-provided.

“When we go to that bargaining table to negotiate a contract, right now we’re not able to represent all of our members,” Denton said. “When we are bargaining for health benefits, we can’t bargain for our LGBT membership – not for family coverage, or for their partners.”

The same applies to bereavement leave, medical leave, Social Security benefits – “all of these different things that heterosexuals just take for granted,” Denton said. “If this marriage amendment passes, it will only further inhibit our ability to represent all of our membership.”

Dozens of union members marched behind the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s float during the Pride Festival parade in Minneapolis earlier this year. (MN AFL-CIO photos)

Making a difference

For unions, taking a stand on the marriage amendment has not been without resistance, both from management in the worksite and from rank-and-file members. “To say there is not would be false,” said Tee McClenty, executive Vice President of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, another union that has been active in efforts to oppose the marriage amendment.

Still, the pushback wasn’t as stiff as McClenty and other leaders expected.

“We focused on educating the members who didn’t understand why we passed the resolution,” she said. “We told them we support all of our members, including our members in the gay community.”

Dennis, too, acknowledged “some drama” in efforts – ultimately successful – to get AFSCME Council 5 to endorse the Minnesotans United cause.

“If nobody’s trying to stop you, you’re not really making a difference,” Dennis said. “For me it comes down to an injury to one is an injury to all. If unions are about social justice, then we have to be about this.”

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