Holidays bring increased stress for many workers, but help is available

December 3, 2014 by

UA layout_UA layoutThe holidays can be a particularly stressful time for everyone. Job losses, financial troubles and workplace injuries or accidents often compound the stress faced by workers and their families.

For many union workers, help with these and other problems – substance abuse, depression, anxiety – is available through their employee assistance program, or EAP.

“We get busy around the holidays,” said John Sanchelli, founder of TEAM, an EAP that serves many of Minnesota’s Building Trades unions. “We get a rash of phone calls for depression around Christmas time, and depression can lead to suicide. So it should be a good time of the year, but it’s really a bad time of the year.”

The timing is right, then, for the workshop TEAM will host Dec. 12 on mental health, clinical depression and suicide at the Operating Engineers Local 49 Hall in St. Anthony. The program is free, open to the public and includes breakfast. (Call 651-642-0182 for details or to RSVP.)

“We had a rash of suicides recently within the Building Trades,” Sanchelli said. “It’s tough. We’re trying to stay on top of that, get the word out about things members and employers can do, things they can look for.”

Depression and chemical dependency aren’t the only issues that an EAP can help workers address. TEAM, for example, also assists workers struggling with elder care for a parent and with financial or legal issues.

“We deal with all human living problems that may or may not cause job performance issues,” Sanchelli said. “If somebody calls and they’re in trouble, we’re going to deal with it.”

That’s a good thing to remember this time of year.

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Shop Ridgedale Center at your own risk, Building Trades warn

October 21, 2014 by
Members of several Building Trades unions picketed outside Ridgedale in July.

Members of several Building Trades unions picketed outside Ridgedale in July.

The Minneapolis Building and Construction Trades Council will launch a mobile ad campaign tomorrow warning Ridgedale Center shoppers of serious safety hazards at the Minnetonka mall.

The coalition of 28 unions opted to ramp up the campaign after Ridgedale tenants and the mall’s Chicago-based ownership group, General Growth Properties (GGP), largely ignored complaints of serious safety issues on worksites linked to the mall’s $100 million renovation project.

The coalition will roll out a mobile-media ad campaign targeting the wireless and mobile devices of Ridgedale Center customers, delivering the campaign’s “Shop at Your Own Risk” safety message.

Since breaking ground last year, Ridgedale’s renovation effort has been plagued by interruptions and safety problems, including a roof fire in Macy’s in November 2013.

In July, union craftspeople picketed together outside Ridgedale Center, warning the public of reported safety hazards on the renovation project ranging from unlocked electrical boxes to unsecured demolition sites. GGP called in police to stop union members from educating shoppers about those hazards, prompting the Building Trades coalition to deliver their message to shoppers digitally.

Go to ShopAtYourOwnRisk.org or facebook.com/ShopAtYourOwnRisk for more information about the campaign.

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Union contractor McGough recognized for outreach to military families

August 21, 2014 by
Veterans and their families who work at McGough join Gov. Mark Dayton during the Yellow Ribbon Company proclamation ceremony.

Veterans and their families who work at McGough join Gov. Mark Dayton during the Yellow Ribbon Company proclamation ceremony in White Bear Lake.

Minnesota’s construction industry has its first Yellow Ribbon Company, and it’s a union contractor headquartered in St. Paul.

In a ceremony yesterday at McGough’s warehouse in White Bear Lake, Gov. Mark Dayton delivered a proclamation making the general contracting firm part of a select group of employers recognized for their exemplary support of Minnesota’s active military members, veterans and their families.

“The men and women of the Minnesota National Guard, other U.S. Forces and their families have earned our admiration and appreciation,” Dayton said. “They have also earned our continuing assistance. I thank McGough for joining nearly 300 Yellow Ribbon cities, counties and businesses who have committed to support our Minnesota heroes when they return home.”

Tim McGough, the company’s executive vice president, said it was humbling to be recognized by the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program.

“Whatever small thing we can do as a firm for our service members doesn’t begin to scratch the surface when you consider the immeasurable sacrifice they have made for our country,” McGough said.

Forty companies statewide have achieved the Yellow Ribbon designation, which recognizes companies’ past accomplishments and ongoing efforts in support of military families. To be considered, McGough presented the Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program with a detailed action plan for outreach to veterans seeking jobs, as well as support for service members and their families during deployment.

Veterans in the crowd are recognized during the Yellow Ribbon Company proclamation ceremony.

Veterans in the crowd are recognized during the Yellow Ribbon Company proclamation ceremony.

McGough Chief Operating Officer Brad Wood said 10 percent of the company’s employees are veterans.

One of them, Lt. Col. Bill Scherling of the Minnesota National Guard, emceed the proclamation ceremony. Scherling was deployed to the Middle East twice in the last five years. McGough employees, Wood said, mailed care packages to Scherling and offered support to his family in Minnesota, cooking meals and helping with chores around the house.

It’s one example of why the State of Minnesota recognized McGough as a Yellow Ribbon Company. But hiring and supporting veterans like Scherling is not just the right thing to do, Wood said. It’s good for the company, too.

“Veterans bring rich skills and valuable real-world experience to the job,” Wood said. “They have a good work ethic, they are committed and they are great leaders.”

Many veterans working at McGough transitioned into civilian careers by entering apprenticeship programs offered by Building Trades unions, Minnesota National Guard Gen. Richard Nash said.

“I know this company well, and they truly value their employees,” Nash said. “They are veterans, and they are union craftsmen and craftswomen.”

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At convention, Trades build momentum for 2014 election push

August 1, 2014 by
Jessica Looman, an assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, addresses Building Trades delegates.

Jessica Looman, an assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, addresses Building Trades delegates.

ROCHESTER – With two new stadiums in the works and $1 billion in new state infrastructure investments – as well as jobs-creating regional improvements like the Destination Medical Center here – the Building Trades unions in Minnesota are riding a wave of momentum.

That momentum is at stake in elections up and down the Nov. 4 ballot, speakers warned delegates to the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council’s annual convention at the Kahler Hotel this week.

“With less than 100 days before the election, it becomes an anxious time,” Council President Harry Melander said. “We have made great progress, and to go backwards would be a shame.”

At the top of Building Trades unions’ agenda this year, Melander said, is re-electing Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton. In an address to delegates yesterday, the labor-endorsed DFLer listed his credentials for re-election, including new investments in education and infrastructure, 159,000 new jobs statewide and the first increase in Minnesota’s minimum wage in a decade.

But those accomplishments, the governor acknowledged, would not have been possible without DFL majorities in the Legislature. He noted the change in atmosphere at the Capitol since voters ousted Republican majorities in the House and Senate two years into his first term as governor.

“I hope to come back, obviously, but I don’t want to come back with a Republican House of Representatives,” Dayton said, adding that it would mean “gridlock, deadlock and other budget showdown.”

“We need to keep moving ahead, and that’s going to mean a DFL house and a DFL governor because everything we’ve accomplished can be reversed.”

Gov. Mark Dayton greets Building Trades delegates at their annual convention.

Gov. Mark Dayton greets Building Trades delegates at their annual convention.

Challenges remain

As successful as Dayton and DFL lawmakers have been in bringing Minnesota’s economy back, Dayton noted that only half of the construction-industry jobs lost during the Great Recession have been recovered. Making needed investments in transportation and transit, he said, will keep the industry on the right path.

“There’s no avoiding the responsibility we have for deciding whether we want a better transportation system, the same one or something that’s going to continue to get worse,” Dayton said. “It’s going to take $6 billion just to keep things where they are now.”

The governor also reminded delegates that he was the last line of defense against efforts to undermine prevailing wage, which ensures fair pay for workers on public construction projects. That effort died in the Legislature, as did efforts to undermine collective bargaining via a Right to Work constitutional amendment. But both remain alive among Dayton’s challengers, Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson warned.

Knutson gave a glimpse of Republican candidates vying to take Dayton’s place. All four major candidates said in a radio debate yesterday that they support “unsafe, unfair and unnecessary” Right to Work legislation, she noted.

“Jeff Johnson goes even farther,” Knutson added. “In a debate a couple days ago he said he wants to change prevailing wage laws. And a few months ago he told a group of activists he wants to ‘go all Scott Walker’ on Minnesota. I don’t know exactly what that means, but I know it’s not good.”

Hearing from both sides

Although the lineup of speakers was heavy on DFLers, two Republican state senators, Dave Senjem and Carla Nelson, whose district includes Rochester, made a pitch to Building Trades delegates as well.

“Your jobs cannot be – they should not be – a partisan issue,” Nelson said. “Construction jobs lead our economic recovery. Your industry is one of the largest growth segments in the Minnesota workforce, and we anticipate that will continue.”

In a show of bipartisan support for the Trades, the Senate voted 59-0 last spring to pass a new law that ensures firms working on public construction projects have a track record of obeying prevailing-wage, overtime and other labor laws.

“Minnesota is the only place in America where a responsible contracting law exists statewide,” Melander said.

Senjem also noted bipartisan support for bonding bills, the Minnesota Vikings stadium and the Destination Medical Center, a $6 billion investment, backed by public and private funds, that will transform the Mayo Clinic and downtown Rochester – and create thousands of construction jobs.

Senjem also recalled that as a majority leader in the Senate two years ago, he “took that Right To Work bill, and we put it in the drawer.”

“We didn’t need that kind of Minnesota,” he said. “We can work together. We don’t need that kind of conflict. It doesn’t get you anywhere.”

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Trades showcase apprenticeship programs at Construct Tomorrow career fair

July 30, 2014 by
James, an Edina resident who attended the Construct Tomorrow event with Big Brothers Big Sisters, solders his first pipe at the Pipefitters Local 455 booth.

James, an Edina resident who attended the Construct Tomorrow event with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program, solders his first pipe at Pipefitters Local 455’s booth.

Maria Meza watched intently as Robbie Luukkonen, a journeyman member of Bricklayers Local 1, installed ceramic tile onto a makeshift practice wall. When Luukkonen had finished the demonstration, Meza picked up the tools and tried tiling for herself.

This is the way Meza, who graduated from St. Paul Johnson High School in the spring, learns best. “I’m a hands-on type of person,” she explained. “I’m not the type of person to sit behind a computer all day.”

Meza and dozens of other young people received a hands-on introduction to careers in the Building Trades yesterday at Construct Tomorrow, an apprenticeship fair held on the outdoor quad on the grounds of the Humphrey Job Corps in St. Paul.

Several unions set up interactive booths around the quad, marketing their apprenticeship programs to young people – from middle-schoolers to 21-year-olds – from several educational and job-training initiatives, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Humphrey Job Corps and UnderConstruction, a program that introduces urban teens to the Building Trades.

Participants wandered from booth to booth, trying out the tools of various trades and firing questions at journeymen volunteers like Luukonen and apprenticeship instructors like Mark Szybatka of Sheet Metal Workers Local 10.

“They ask how people get into the trades, how long it takes to complete the apprenticeship,” Szybatka said. “Some ask us about injuries – cuts – because of the sharp edges we work with.

“I tell them as long as you like to work with your hands, there’s got to be something we offer that you’ll like doing, ”

Ravinia Walker (R), a 21-year-old from St. Paul, watched as M.J. Fackler, a second-year apprentice with Ironworkers Local 512, demonstrated different methods of using wire to tie rebar together.

Ravinia Walker (R), a 21-year-old from St. Paul, watched as M.J. Fackler, a second-year apprentice with Ironworkers Local 512, demonstrated different methods of using wire to tie rebar together.

Benefits of apprenticeship abound

Local 10, Szybatka said, will take on about 100 new apprentices this year. They will join more than 358,000 registered apprentices nationwide, according to U.S. Department of Labor statistics from 2012.

With college tuition on the rise, apprenticeships appeal to aspiring workers looking to start earning good wages right away. Most apprenticeships mix coursework with paid, on-the-job training, and some Building Trades apprentices are eligible for health insurance and other benefits as a result.

“From Day 1 you start with a certain wage, and as the union negotiates wages with the contractors, our wages go up along with the journeymen’s,” second-year apprentice M.J. Fackler told two young women visiting Ironworkers Local 512’s booth. “After two years, I’m up to earning about 70 percent of what a journeyman earns.”

Each year, according to the DOL, Building Trades unions and their partner contractors invest more than $1 billion in apprentice and journey-level training, millions more in training facilities and about $10 billion in apprentice wages and benefits. That investment represents a major boost not only to the construction industry, but to the U.S. economy as well.

Maria Meza, who graduated from St. Paul Johnson in the spring, will enter the Carpenters union's apprenticeship program this fall.

Maria Meza, who graduated from St. Paul Johnson in the spring, will enter the Carpenters union’s apprenticeship program this fall.

Outreach to the underrepresented

Despite the benefits of apprenticeship, awareness among young people remains low, said Joe Navejas, a business representative for Roofers Local 96.

“When you go to school, people stress the importance of going to college, but not everybody is college material. Some want to do things with their hands,” Navejas said. “Many kids don’t get an opportunity to figure out that the trades are a career option too. Today, this is an opportunity for us to provide that experience for kids.”

Construct Tomorrow is also an opportunity for apprenticeship programs to reach out to women and young people from minority communities, who often are underrepresented in the Building Trades.

Brett Rickert, 20, of Avon attended as part of his curriculum at the Department of Labor & Industry’s Humphrey Job Corps, a free program that provides students 1,000 hours of pre-apprenticeship training in the basics of construction work.

Brett Rickert, 20, of Avon attended as part of his curriculum at the Department of Labor & Industry’s Humphrey Job Corps, a free program that provides students 1,000 hours of pre-apprenticeship training in the basics of construction work.

Dawn Zamora, a journeywoman with St. Paul Pipefitters Local 455, worried about how others would react to having a woman in their class when she began her apprenticeship six years ago.

“I did have concerns I wouldn’t be accepted, but I really have had very few problems,” Zamora said. “Just like in any workplace, people take their time getting to know you, but as long as you work hard and try your best, you are accepted.”

What’s more, Zamora found many journeymen were willing to share advice and tricks of the trade with apprentices on the jobsite – a quality Zamora carried forward yesterday, helping Construct Tomorrow participants solder copper pipes at Local 455’s booth.

“It’s important that young people get to know their options, that young women can know this career is a possibility,” Zamora said. “The union is like a family. I do not regret it at all.”

Click here for a directory of apprenticeship programs offered by Minnesota’s Building Trades unions.

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An engine for economic growth, Green Line opens to big crowds

June 20, 2014 by
City, county, state and federal funding made the Green Line a reality, and elected officials from all four levels of government helped cut the ribbon at the Green Line's Opening Day celebration outside Union Depot. (UA photo by Mike Weerts)

City, county, state and federal funding made the Green Line a reality, and elected officials from all four levels of government helped cut the ribbon at the Green Line’s Opening Day celebration outside Union Depot. (UA photo by Mike Weerts)

Minnesotans celebrated the opening of Metro Transit’s Green Line with ribbon-cuttings, neighborhood-centric events and more than 107,000 free rides June 14-15. But there was more to celebrate than the long-anticipated arrival of a sleek, new transit option between the Twin Cities’ downtown areas.

Jobs – and plenty of them – were also reason to celebrate.

Construction of the $957 million light-rail line, with 9.8 miles of new track and 18 new stations, created more than 5,500 construction jobs, and payroll expenses for the project exceeded $252 million. Additionally, Metro Transit hired 200 operators and maintenance workers for the Green Line, according to the Metropolitan Council.

The project created work for members of Building Trades unions during an otherwise lean period for the construction industry, as investment capital dried up and development ground to a halt following the financial collapse of 2008.

“It was a blessing that it happened during a time when the construction industry saw unemployment at levels it hasn’t seen since the Great Depression,” Harry Melander, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, said.

But job creation isn’t confined to the Green Line’s rear-view mirror.

Riders looking out the train’s windows are likely to see scaffolding, cranes and other heavy equipment, signs of the private development that has been popping up along the Central Corridor since the Green Line since got the green light five years ago.

The Met Council predicts employment along the line will grow by more than 90,000 jobs over the next 16 years. Already, more than 100 projects have been built, are under construction or are in the planning phase along the Green Line. Together, the developments account for more than $2.5 billion in job-creating private investments.

“The development we’ve seen so far only marks the beginning of new opportunities in the Central Corridor,” Met Council Chair Sue Haigh said. “For decades to come, the Green Line will be a catalyst for employment and economic growth along its 11-mile route.”

In that regard the Green Line is an example of the “ripple effect” that makes transit a particularly effective public investment. Every dollar a community invests in public transportation brings approximately $4 in economic returns, according to the American Public Transit Association.

The nonpartisan organization also found that, in a study conducted between 2006 and 2011, residential property values performed 42 percent better, on average, if they were located near public transportation.

The Green Line also provided training opportunities that helped introduce young workers to careers in the Building Trades.

The Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota, for example, integrated a new, eight-hour course, “Introduction to Light Rail Construction,” into the curriculum at its Lino Lakes-based training center. Todd Pufahl, council president, said the $250,000 investment ensures the union and its contractors are ready to tackle transit investments coming down the pike.

“The Green Line will do great things for commuters and the communities it runs through,” said Pufahl. “We are also anxious and ready to get going on the Southwest Corridor project. Our skilled Construction Craft Laborers are skilled and ready to help improve quality of life and transportation choices for all of us.”

Abby Tomasek wore a cardboard light-rail costume to the ribbon cutting. She and other activists used the event as an opportunity to sign transit-users up for MoveMN, an advocacy group pushing broad investments in the state's transportation infrastructure.

Abby Tomasek wore a cardboard light-rail costume to the ribbon cutting. She and other activists used the event as an opportunity to sign transit-users up for MoveMN, an advocacy group pushing broad investments in the state’s transportation infrastructure.

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When it comes to home improvement, skip the hassle, hire union

June 1, 2014 by

framing10In over your head on a home-improvement job? Whether it’s a leaky pipe or a kitchen remodel, your best bet for quality and value is a union contractor.

Fortunately, Building Trades unions and their signatory contractors are making it easier than ever to get a bid or a price quote on residential work. [For a list of links to union contractors in Minnesota, see the Buy Union page.]

Paul Berg, director of public relations and training for the Minnesota Mechanical Contractors Association, advised homeowners to know their limitations.

“Things can go wrong in a hurry, especially when you don’t know what you are doing,” Berg said. “Fixing a loose plumbing fitting can quickly turn into a watery basement. And if you want to repair your furnace we’d advise sticking to changing the furnace filter.”

The MMCA’s website, MinnesotaMCA.org, maintains a list of union contractors available to install or repair residential plumbing, heating and air conditioning systems. All contractors on the list are licensed, bonded and insured.

“Having these qualifications makes sure you don’t end up with larger problems than you started with,” Berg said.

Union contractors are able to guarantee quality work because they team with local Building Trades unions to invest in training, from their intensive apprenticeship programs to continuing education for journeymen.

Electrical Workers’ unions in the Twin Cities, for example, invest over $3 million per year into worker training, IBEW Local 110’s Jeff Anderson said.

“We put a lot of stock in training,” Anderson said. “Being on top of the new products, especially in the residential industry, where electrical code changes quite frequently, a guy really does have to pay attention, know the rules. And we do.”

Union contractors aren’t hiring “people who are just giving something a try,” Anderson added. Union tradespeople are invested in their careers, and they earn wages and benefits befitting that investment.

“With a union contractor you know that they are paying their employees a living wage, including benefits, that they are paying taxes, and are not illegally misclassifying their employees,” said Tracy Madden, communications director for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters.

Madden pointed to several contractors that do residential carpentry work in the East Metro area: MLR, 612-328-7749; J&K Builders, Inc., 952-473-5033; Lemke & Sons LLC, 651-665-9477; Parkos Construction Co., 651-455-0031; Tim Lemke Construction, 651-602-9001; and Trudeau Construction, 651-450-1238.

The IBEW will soon roll out a new website, featuring the union’s five-year guarantee on all work, for local consumers seeking residential services.

In the meantime, Anderson said, homeowners can call his local for contractor referrals at 651-776-4239.

ibew-habitat-web6

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Bobby Kasper: Super Bowl will showcase union workers

May 29, 2014 by
Bobby Kasper

Bobby Kasper

It doesn’t take most people very long to realize I’m not a native Minnesotan. My New York accent is usually a dead giveaway. But after living here for 20-plus years, Minnesota is the place I’m proud to call home. That’s why I was thrilled to learn the Twin Cities will play host to Super Bowl LII in 2018. The biggest sporting event on U.S. soil is our opportunity to show off to the world the multitude of reasons Minnesota is a great place to live.

The Super Bowl will be a showcase for the work Minnesota’s union members do every day to make Minnesota the “quality-of-life state” it is. Just think of the many ways union workers will be on the front lines of the effort to showcase Minnesota to the rest of the world.

Our hospitality workers will be the first point of contact for the 100,000-plus visitors expected to descend on the region for the Super Bowl, including fans, media members and industry professionals. Members of UNITE HERE, the hospitality workers’ union, can be counted on to provide visitors with professional service in our hotels, bars and restaurants.

Members of Building Trades unions, of course, will have built the stadium in which the Super Bowl will be played, and members of the Service Employees International Union will keep it clean. Stagehands, members of IATSE Local 13, will ensure the circus of events leading up to the big game goes off without a hitch. Bus drivers and train operators, members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, will see that visitors get to all of their destinations safely, conveniently and on time.

Our public employees, members of AFSCME, will help the Twin Cities region roll out the welcome mat, readying our infrastructure, making our parks and public building shine, and plowing the snow and ice from our roads and bridges if necessary.

Speaking of ice, it’s rumored that our brothers and sisters in the Building Trades will once again tackle the tall task of building an eight-story Ice Palace in St. Paul. Nothing has been confirmed yet, but the palace could go up during Winter Carnival and remain for the Super Bowl. Volunteers from the Building Trades constructed the world’s largest ice castle the last time the Super Bowl came to Minnesota, in 1992.

So regardless of whether you’re a football fan or not, as Minnesotans we have plenty of reasons to be excited about Super Bowl LII coming to town. Sure, it will be cold. And yes, it will be crowded. But if we put our best foot forward – and with union members on the job, I’m confident we will – the Super Bowl has the potential to attract more visitors, more conventions and more big events to our region down the road. That’s good for hospitality workers, good for our local economy and good for tax revenues.

– Bobby Kasper is president of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, with more than 150 affiliate unions representing more than 50,000 union members in the East Metro.

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For Building Trades, state’s infrastructure investments mean ‘millions of work hours’

May 22, 2014 by

buildingtrades-logoUtilizing the first state budget surplus in seven years, state legislators pushed the value of a package of public infrastructure investments passed during the 2014 Legislative Session to over $1 billion.

Gov. Mark Dayton signed off on the construction bill May 20, green-lighting projects across the state that will create “millions of work hours” for union members in the coming years, according to Harry Melander, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council.

“Minnesota taxpayers are very well served by these investments, which provide needed asset preservation and create opportunities for the Building Trades community,” Melander said. “By funding major civic centers in Greater Minnesota and the Lewis and Clark water pipeline in the southwest part of the state, present leadership is doing what’s right not only for the Metro but for Greater Minnesota.”

For the East Metro, the infrastructure bill provides funding to renovate the Palace Theater downtown St. Paul and for improvements to the Children’s Museum.

Catholic Charities received $6 million to expand and renovate the Dorothy Day Center, a homeless shelter downtown St. Paul. The development may result in demolition of the St. Paul Labor & Professional Centre, the longtime “house of labor” located across the street from Dorothy Day and the home of several union offices, including the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation.

Policy victories

In addition to the infrastructure bill, the Trades successfully pushed a pair of policy measures signed into law this year.

One establishes minimum requirements contractors must meet in order to bid for work on publicly funded projects. Criteria include compliance with the state’s prevailing-wage laws and its requirements regarding workers compensation and unemployment insurance.

“It will make sure contractors that have cheated won’t be able to participate in publicly funded jobs for a three-year period,” Melander said. “It will be another vehicle to ensure compliance when workers are entitled to prevailing wages.”

Lawmakers also made permanent a pilot program begun two years ago, requiring contractors to register with the Department of Labor and Industry.

The initiative has been successful in preventing the misclassification of workers, North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters Political Director Kyle Makarios said.

“This legislation aims to crack down on the shadowy part of the construction industry, where workers are paid cash or paid off the books or misclassified as ‘independent contractors’ so the employer can avoid paying taxes, Social Security, workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance,” Makarios said.

“If someone is working for you, you have to pay them as an employee unless, in fact, they own their own business or act like a business.”

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In Forest Lake, Electrical Workers picket City Hall construction site

May 22, 2014 by
Members of IBEW Local 110 picket the non-union entrance to the construction site of Forest Lake's new City Hall. Picketing, from L to R, are Gary Kispert, Mike Finamore and John Vejtruba.

Members of IBEW Local 110 picket the non-union entrance to the construction site of Forest Lake’s new City Hall. Picketing, from L to R, are Gary Kispert, Mike Finamore and John Vejtruba.

FOREST LAKE – Construction of a new City Hall in this northeast suburb slowed to a snail’s pace yesterday, as members of Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers erected a picket line to protest the city’s use of an electrical contractor that, members say, undermines area standards for wages and benefits.

Efforts to reach an agreement with Vinco Inc. to pay wages and benefits on par with area standards have been unsuccessful, Local 110 organizer Bill Malecha said. Union members have greeted the contractor with “Shame On You” banners at its job sites more than a dozen times in recent months.

But when the City of Forest Lake awarded the electrical work on the City Hall project to Vinco, it was the final straw.

“We decided to step up the pressure with a three-day picket,” Malecha said, adding that the action had been sanctioned by the St. Paul Building & Construction Trades Council. “We can’t tell our union brothers and sisters not cross the line, but you can see pretty much the only people on the jobsite are the non-union electrical workers.”

Laborers Local 563 was among the unions who honored Local 110’s picket line yesterday, business agent Chris Peltier said. He and a handful of other Laborers bolstered the IBEW members’ ranks on the picket line today.

“When there’s a dispute on a job, we try to do whatever we can to support the other Trades,” Peltier said. “Yesterday we were able to keep all our people out, along with the other Trades.”

Before work began this morning, the general contractor on the construction site, Kraus-Anderson, established a “double-gate system.” It allows union contractors to access the construction site through a picket-free entrance. Work has picked up somewhat as a result.

It’s not the first time in recent months that the City of Forest Lake, under City Administrator Aaron Parrish, has found itself the target of a union protest. In fact, the IBEW’s three-day picket isn’t even the only demonstration taking place on the City Hall construction site.

Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34 has put up a banner protesting R.J. Mechanical for subcontracting insulation work on the site to O’Leary Insulation, a non-union contractor that fails to pay the industry-standard wages and benefits established by Local 34.

Last fall members of Local 517 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees pushed back against Parrish’s drastic plan to reorganize city staff. Most notoriously, Parrish made firefighting a part of five workers’ job descriptions, despite the fact most were older than 50 with no previous firefighting experience.

“We’ve heard it many, many times from people who stop to ask us what we’re doing. They say, ‘It’s about time somebody does something in this town,’” Malecha said. “I would only hope the city would understand the reason this project is being held up is because they hired a non-union contractor who doesn’t pay area-standard wages and benefits.”

Local 110 plans to keep the picket line up through Friday.

“Our goal is to have Vinco sign a letter of assent with Local 110,” Malecha said.

Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34 protested alongside IBEW members on the Forest Lake City Hall construction site, targeting a non-union insulating contractor. Holding the banner, from L to R, are Brandon Sebesta, Robin Carlen and Angela Sheehan.

Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34 protested alongside IBEW members on the Forest Lake City Hall construction site, targeting a non-union insulating contractor. Holding the banner, from L to R, are Brandon Sebesta, Robin Carlen and Angela Sheehan.

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