Concrete Christmas display showcases union apprentices’ skills

December 6, 2021 by

Local 633 apprentices work on the annual holiday display in their training center.

It already looks a lot like Christmas at the Cement Masons and Plasterers Training Center in New Brighton, where apprentices from three local unions have decked out the shop floor with a seasonal display of their skilled crafts.

The annual “Concrete Christmas” display will stay up through tomorrow, Dec. 7, when Cement Masons Local 633 and Twin Cities Plasterers Local 265 host their December union meetings and a holiday celebration.

Journey-level members look forward to viewing the apprentices’ work each year, Apprenticeship Coordinator Brian Farmer said. The project showcases “all the skill sets they see in the field,” he said, “with a little different spin on it.”

The labor community is welcome to visit the display today or tomorrow during business hours. The training center is located at 2180 Old Highway 8 NW.

The centerpiece of the holiday display is a large fireplace and chimney. Its structural and lathing work was done by apprentices from Minnesota State Interior Systems Local 68, an affiliate of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters. Plasterers Local 265 apprentices crafted the fireplace’s exterior, including a Venetian finish.

The rest of the display is decorative cement and concrete, fashioned by the 100-plus active apprentices of Local 633.

“It’s fun,” third-year apprentice Eduardo Ortiz said during a break from working on the display last week. “I get to do new stuff I never did before. And it’s fun getting to meet new people and learn new techniques from them.”

Farmer said the project engages apprentices in an opportunity to apply the skills they’ve learned in new, creative ways. It’s also a chance to take ownership of a project members of their union will appreciate.

“These apprentices will be our future leadership,” Farmer said. “Our contractors want leaders. A lot of boomers are retiring, and it opens up a lot of opportunities for the new generation to take charge.”

James Fisher is a third-year apprentice with Local 633.

The Cement Masons’ registered apprenticeship program, sponsored jointly by the union and its signatory contractors, runs three years, and it combines coursework with paid employment in the field.

For James Fisher, a third-year apprentice from Cloquet, enrollment in Local 633’s apprenticeship has been a life-changing experience. Previously, he worked as a parking valet at a casino.

Before entering a pre-apprenticeship program for members of tribal nations, “I didn’t know anything about concrete,” Fisher said. “All I knew is you drive down the freeway, and there’s a curb.”

To see how much more goes into the craft, he added, look no further than the concrete Christmas display.

“I’ve learned there are so many techniques you can do to change color and texture and mold it into what you want – as long as it’s wet,” Fisher said. “You can learn something new every day, and that’s what I try to do.”

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Trafficker’s plea deal reveals construction industry ‘in distress,’ advocates say

November 20, 2019 by

When a notorious wage broker pleaded guilty to two felony charges in Hennepin County this week, it was welcome news for unions and community groups working to rid Minnesota’s construction industry of labor abuses.

“We are grateful that the legal system is holding those who commit wage theft and illegal trafficking of construction workers seriously,” said Jessica Looman, the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council’s executive director, after Ricardo Batres pleaded guilty to labor trafficking and insurance fraud Monday.

The plea deal confirms that Batres recruited immigrant workers to fill jobs on Twin Cities construction sites, and he denied some their legally guaranteed rights on the job by exploiting their undocumented status.

Sentencing is not until January, but prosecutors will recommend Batres serve up to nine months in the county workhouse and five years of probation. He could also be barred from inclusion in future state or federal construction contracts.

The Building Trades Council, which represents the state’s unionized construction workforce, called Batres’ case the first big test of Minnesota’s labor trafficking and wage theft laws.

It’s unlikely to be the last.

In July, 14 Minnesota construction unions launched “Not On My Watch/Ya No Mas,” a campaign to heighten awareness of wage theft and labor trafficking and to assist exploited construction workers.

Dan McConnell, manager of the Minneapolis Building and Construction Trades Council, said Batres’ plea is an indication of the new initiative’s potential.

“The case against Ricardo Batres shows the strength of the construction community when we stand together against wage theft and labor trafficking,” he said. “It’s imperative that we protect the health of the construction community by continuing to call out bad actors who exploit our workers for their own gain.”

Unions are teaming up with community groups like Advocates for Human Rights and the local worker center CTUL to educate workers and identify abuses. CTUL organizers say they are currently investigating three other cases of labor trafficking and over a dozen cases of wage theft in the Twin Cities construction industry.

CTUL Co-Director Veronica Mendez Moore said the Batres case reflects “an industry in distress,” and added that the problem goes beyond labor brokers.

“Real estate developers and their financial backers are directly profiting from this kind of labor exploitation,” she said. “While some sectors of the construction industry are unionized and abide by human rights standards, there is a dark underbelly that does not.”

Minnesota’s new wage-theft law, among the toughest in the nation, will make it easier for officials to patrol that dark underbelly. Passed earlier this year, the law creates additional protections for workers and stiffens penalties for employers that commit wage theft.

Labor traffickers like Batres don’t just show up on construction projects, of course.

“This is a big problem in the industry,” said Burt Johnson, a spokesperson for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters. “Construction contractors and developers can no longer hide behind hiring a low-bid contractor when those bids are based on a criminally low price.”

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To open more eyes to apprenticeship, Carpenters open training center doors

November 15, 2019 by

Latesha Hayes, pictured in the yellow hard hat, and Shetara Round, pictured speaking, lead a tour of the Carpenters’ St. Paul training center.

Latesha Hayes’ career path came full circle this morning.

A fourth-year apprentice with the Carpenters union, Hayes was one of six tradeswomen who led 33 eighth-grade girls from Roseville on a tour of the union’s St. Paul training center. The students put on hard hats and safety glasses, worked with tools of the trade and peppered their tour guides with questions about the craft.

Afterward, Hayes, 31, remembered being at a similar event just six years ago. Her son’s class went on a field trip to JA BizTown, an experiential learning lab for youth that simulates life in a city.

“He got to play the role of a carpenter,” Hayes said. “When I got a look at his benefits and wages, and I had to ask if it was accurate. They told me it was, and I knew I had to look into it.”

On Day 1 of their union apprenticeship, local Carpenters earn $21 per hour with great health and retirement benefits, “even without ever having held a hammer in your hand,” Scott Panek, an assistant training director with the union, told students.

That’s more than Hayes was making as the manager of a local cell phone store. It’s more than her fellow tour guide, first-year apprentice Shetara Round, was making at Victoria’s Secret before she joined the union.

And forget swinging a hammer. Round fully admits she “didn’t even know what the hell” carpentry was back then.

“Somebody on Facebook shared a post and was like, ‘Hey, anyone interested in a career in carpentry?’” Round remembered. “And I’m like, ‘Oh, so they lay carpets and stuff?’”

Cynthia Reif, a first-year apprentice, demonstrates using a sheet-rock router.

Much has changed in the last year, as Round, 34, now works on a job site in East Bethel, building an addition to the local hospital.

“I wish I would have done an event like this when I was their age,” Round said of the middle-school students touring her training center.

The fact is Building Trades unions are doing a lot more outreach events these days – and this week, in particular. It’s National Apprenticeship Week, and unions locally and nationally are hosting open houses, tours and celebrations inside their training centers.

In recent years, with the construction industry facing a shortage of skilled tradespeople, unions and contractors have boosted their marketing and recruitment efforts. Amanda Phillips, an apprenticeship instructor with the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, said the union is doing outreach events several times a month.

“And I can tell it’s having an impact,” Phillips said. “In their first week of training, apprentices introduce themselves and talk about how they found out about the union. It’s becoming much more prevalent that they mention they came on a tour or know someone who did and told them about it.”

The eighth-grade girls, whose tour of the training center was just one stop during a day of career exploration activities arranged by local contractors, likely won’t make their decision about what to do after high school anytime soon. But if they didn’t know a union apprenticeship was an option before today, they know it now.

“If you’re just riding past a job site, you’re like ‘oh those are construction workers,’” Hayes said “No, there are electricians, laborers, carpenters, pipefitters – and they all come from different unions to put it together.

“It’s basically generalized as a man’s job, but women can do this too. We can do whatever we put our minds to.”

Learn more about apprenticeship opportunities in the Building Trades online at constructioncareers.org.

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Carpenters say prominent developer turns blind eye to abuse allegations

October 2, 2019 by

Samuel Saucedo (L) and Eric Macias (R) attended the Sept. 16 Roseville City Council meeting with their union rep, Jorge Duran, to share their experience working on construction sites managed by Reuter Walton.

What might have been a routine redevelopment deal instead prompted members of the Roseville City Council last month to weigh their oversight responsibilities when it comes to developers reaping tax benefits from the northern suburb.

During a final round of public comment on an arrangement between the city and Reuter Walton Companies, two carpenters stepped forward and detailed abuses they experienced while working on the Minneapolis-based developer’s construction sites.

Samuel Saucedo of Minneapolis and Eric Macias of Rochester say they are still owed thousands of dollars in unpaid wages for work they did on Reuter Walton projects over the course of more than a year.

The two men, who often worked side by side, decided about a year ago to stop accepting jobs arranged by a common “labor broker,” Jose Merino. That included jobs on Reuter Walton sites.

They subsequently filed complaints with the state Department of Labor, but dropped them, Saucedo and Macias told council members Sept. 16, after receiving hostile phone calls from Merino.

In an interview before the public hearing, Macias remembered answering the phone call while his wife, who had recently given birth, looked on.

“You don’t know me. I’ve got money. I’ve got people. Somebody will find you,” Macias remembered hearing. “He said he’s going to kill me and kill my wife and my daughter, just because I want to get paid the money he owes me.”

After the call, Macias’ wife began hiding whenever anybody came to the door. Even when it was Eric.

A shell game with wages

At the public hearing, a representative of Reuter Walton denied any involvement in the allegations made by Macias and Saucedo. The developer has only two minor labor violations on its record, which resulted in fines totaling $1,000, he said.

The developer also claimed to have cut ties with a carpentry subcontractor that, workers say, did business with Jose Merino, Caliper Building Systems.

But Jorge Duran, a representative for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, said a muddled network of contractors, subcontractors and brokers breeds worker exploitation on large construction projects. And it won’t change unless developers are ultimately held accountable.

“Reuter Walton, they claim they don’t know what’s going on, but what does that really tell you?” Duran said. “That’s why the City of Roseville needs to keep an eye on who this developer hires.”

For Saucedo and Macias, trying to get paid for their work on Reuter Walton projects was a demoralizing cycle that left them spiraling further and further into debt. Subcontractors would say they were waiting to get paid by the contractors; contractors would say they had paid the subcontractors in full.

Macias said he finally approached a Reuter Walton representative. “I said, ‘I’m at your jobsite every day, seven days a week, 12 hours a day. Why don’t you guys pay us?’” Macias remembered. “He said I don’t know. So you go to Caliper, and they say I don’t know. You go to Jose, he says I don’t know.”

Macias said he remains over $9,000 in debt.

Unsafe working conditions, unsafe living conditions

Wage theft wasn’t the only abuse workers recruited by Jose Merino say they experienced. Saucedo said his two teenage sons found work with Merino, despite being minors. (They weren’t paid either.)

And safety wasn’t even an afterthought, Saucedo added, resulting in “a lot of injuries.”

Merino “never provided safety equipment for us – no glasses, harnesses, hardhats, gloves, nothing,” Saucedo said. “People used to get shot with the nail gun, and he wouldn’t pay the hospital bills.”

Workers say Merino recruits them to move to the Twin Cities – Saucedo relocated from North Dakota, Macias from California – with promises of housing for themselves and their families, in three-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments.

The apartments turned out to be real, Saucedo and Macias said, but there were more than a dozen other construction workers already living in them.

And while he didn’t always get paid by Merino, Saucedo added, Merino never failed to collect the $300-per-week rent.

“I would work 70 hours per week, and he would pay me for 45,” Saucedo said. “And he would never pay me overtime.”

Both Saucedo and Macias regret ever moving to the Twin Cities.

“You drive with your family downtown Minneapolis, see so many big Reuter Walton signs,” Macias said. “It makes me really mad. I can’t believe they aren’t paying people.”

Union steps up pressure

Since walking away from Merino a year ago, Saucedo and Macias have joined the Carpenters union. Macias laughed when asked about the difference between working for Merino and working union. “It’s unbelievable,” he said.

But the two have also provided union representatives like Duran a window into the shadowy world of nonunion construction. Duran said he has talked to at least 150 other workers, many of whom are immigrants, who have experienced exploitation and wage theft at the hands of a labor broker.

“This is a very bad, infected virus in construction right now,” Duran said. “And it’s happening all across the state.”

In Roseville, council members didn’t go so far as to dump the redevelopment deal with Reuter Walton, but they did add language allowing the city to withhold and “claw back” tax financing dollars if Reuter Walton or any of its subcontractors on the project are found guilty of wage theft. And the language will be included in all future development deals.

The Carpenters union, meanwhile, plans to continue shining a light on the stories of Macias, Saucedo and other workers who allege mistreatment on Reuter Walton projects. The union also raised its concerns at a St. Paul City Council meeting in August, briefly putting a zoning change requested by Reuter Walton in jeopardy.

The union’s objective, public affairs director Richard Kolodziejski said, is to prevent future abuses by increasing public scrutiny at every level. Developers know Minnesota has a new wage-theft law on the books, and both the Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Labor have announced plans to put that new law to good use.

“The enforcement is going to come now,” Kolodziejski said. “The state is going to be holding (developers) accountable, not just the wage broker.

“So we’re going to keep ratcheting this up and, hopefully, tighten things up in our cities.”

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Twin Cities workers launch campaign to stop construction industry abuses

December 18, 2018 by

Supporters of the “March for Dignity and Respect” make their way down Lake Street in Minneapolis’ Uptown neighborhood.

With a dramatic rally in the streets of south Minneapolis today, Twin Cities construction workers launched a new movement to improve labor standards in their industry and guarantee dignity for all workers.

“I don’t want to see any more injustice in construction,” Yimer Iriarte said at the start of a rush-hour march along Lake Street in Uptown. “We’re tired of seeing our brothers and sisters tired or hurt because of the way these contractors act.”

Iriarte is part of a group of local construction workers – mostly from residential projects – who began organizing with the Twin Cities-based worker center CTUL two years ago.

CTUL’s efforts to document abuses in the industry led to the arrest of a local construction contractor in September on criminal charges. The case exposed serious problems – wage theft, dangerous working conditions, labor trafficking – that are rampant in the industry’s web of contractors and subcontractors, workers allege.

Yimer Iriarte speaks at a rally before the march, alongside CTUL’s Veronica Mendez Moore.

Iriarte said he experienced wage theft and trafficking firsthand when a contractor refused to pay him and other immigrant workers for their labor.

“We were promised so many things that didn’t happen, and in the end we were threatened with immigration,” Iriarte said. “And I know it’s not just me.”

To raise industry standards, CTUL’s construction members are taking cues from local janitors, who recently won major improvements in the retail cleaning industry after a 6-year-long fight.

Janitors won by pressuring big-box chains like Target and Best Buy to sign Responsible Contractor Agreements, guaranteeing janitors employed by the store’s cleaning contractors have safe working conditions and a voice on the job.

Construction workers want large developers in the Twin Cities area to meet a similar demand: participation in the “Dignity and Respect Standards Council.” The council establish higher standards in the industry, and it would  create a process for monitoring construction sites to ensure all subcontractors are in compliance.

Workers first target is a big one: Lennar Homes. A nationwide firm, Lennar is the Twin Cities’ largest home-builder, and it stands to gain even more work under the City of Minneapolis’ ambitious new rezoning initiative, Minneapolis 2040.

According to CTUL, Lennar has seen a litany of reported abuses on its projects locally and across the country, including the labor trafficking charges filed in Hennepin County earlier this year and a jobsite fatality in Lakeville in 2016.

During the march along Lake Street, CTUL members stopped at a Wells Fargo branch to point out the bank’s history of lending to Lennar despite the allegations stemming from its projects.

And the march involved a bit of street theater. Actors performed an updated take on a centuries-old tradition throughout Spanish Central America, “Las Posadas.” The story alludes to Mary and Joseph’s difficult journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem in search of a warm place to stay the night, with an emphasis on its moral and political message.

The march drew over 100 people, including representatives of the Carpenters, Laborers and other Building Trades unions, who stood in solidarity with CTUL members.

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In North Branch, union volunteers help build home for disabled veteran’s family

November 11, 2016 by

web-habitat-groupA partially disabled military veteran and his family own a new home in North Branch, thanks to a little help from East Central Minnesota Habitat for Humanity and several Building Trades unions.

After a dedication ceremony Oct. 29, Eric and JoAnn Trudeau took ownership of the 1,3252-square-foot home, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a 400-square-foot garage. It’s enough space for the couple and their four children: Briana, Mariana, Wyatt and Ziva.

St. Paul-based Plumbers and Gasfitters Local 34 donated bathroom fixtures, sinks, a tub, shower and other interior features. Union plumbers also volunteered their time and skills to help build the house.

So, too, did members of St. Paul-based Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, who wired the house with materials donated by the union.

Members of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters framed and closed in the building, and installed siding.

Work on the home began in July.

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Union volunteers provide Clinton, Sanders with boots on the ground in Minnesota

March 1, 2016 by
Left: Laborers President Terry O'Sullivan rallies a crowd of Hillary Clinton volunteers. Right: Bernie Sanders thanks members of the Minnesota Nurses Association for their support.

Left: Laborers President Terry O’Sullivan rallies a crowd of Hillary Clinton volunteers in Little Canada. Right: Bernie Sanders thanks members of the Minnesota Nurses Association for their support.

 

Energized by the prospect of keeping a pro-labor president in the White House, union volunteers in Minnesota are hitting the streets, working the phones and planning a major presence at tonight’s precinct caucuses, one of 14 Super Tuesday nominating contests nationwide.

[Click here to learn how to participate in the caucus process. Click here to learn where you caucus.]

While their enthusiasm may be shared, not all union activists agree when it comes to the best candidate for the job.

Members of AFSCME, the Carpenters, LIUNA, the Painters, the Pipe Trades, the Service Employees and other unions rallied in support of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in Little Canada on Saturday, with nearly 100 volunteers fanning out to knock on doors across the metro area.

 

SEIU volunteers map out a door-knocking route.
AFSCME Council 5 volunteers hit the streets for Hillary Clinton.
Union members rally in support of Hillary Clinton at the IUPAT hall in Little Canada.
LIUNA General President Terry O’Sullivan
Members of IUPAT get a primer in door-knocking.
Carpenters cheer a speech by U.S. Rep. Tim Walz at the Clinton rally.

 

Although Clinton has drawn an overwhelming majority of union endorsements, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has garnered support from National Nurses United and the Communication Workers of America, and both unions have mobilized their own network of volunteers in advance of tonight’s caucuses.

CWA members have been holding phone banks for weeks, and members of the Minnesota Nurses Association spent the days running up to tonight’s caucuses riding the “Bernie Bus” across the state, urging people to caucus for Sanders.

Differences in style and substance

Clinton’s union supporters point to their candidate’s extensive resume as a public servant, as well as her results-oriented approach. Sanders’ backers tout the senator’s independence and his fiery, populist message.

SEIU President Mary Kay Henry (R) knocks doors in support of Hillary Clinton with Local 284 member Nate Mathias and SEIU Healthcare MN member Robin Pikala (L).

SEIU President Mary Kay Henry (R) knocks doors in support of Hillary Clinton with Local 284 member Nate Mathias and SEIU Healthcare MN member Robin Pikala (L).

Nate Mathias, a pre-kindergarten teacher from Plymouth and member of SEIU Local 284, said he initially gravitated toward Sanders. But on Saturday, he knocked doors on St. Paul’s east side with SEIU President Mary Kay Henry, rounding up support for Clinton.

“I love a lot of the things Bernie is saying, but Hillary Clinton is a bit more of a pragmatist,” Mathias said. “I just think she has more of the experience and political savvy we need in a candidate.”

Henry, the SEIU’s highest-ranking elected officer, said Clinton met with rank-and-file members in seeking the union’s endorsement last year. “Members said, ‘She gets us, she’s tough and she fights,’” Henry said. “She understands the agenda we think matters most to working people.”

Policy differences, too, have steered unions into the Clinton or Sanders camp.

Sanders greets nurses in St. Paul.

Sanders greets nurses in St. Paul.

At a private reception with Sanders in St. Paul Feb. 12, many nurses said Sanders won them over with his support for expanding Medicare to cover everyone – and taxing Wall Street to pay for it.

“From the beginning, Bernie made total sense to me,” said United Hospital nurse Jennifer Michelson, who traveled to Iowa to volunteer for the Sanders campaign earlier this winter. “I like that he’s challenging the power structure of Wall Street, and I like that he wants to get profit out of health care.”

Energy policy, meanwhile, marks a substantive difference for many Building Trades unions, who draw work from pipelines and other energy-infrastructure projects.

Speaking at the rally in Little Canada, LIUNA President Terry O’Sullivan praised Clinton’s commitment to an “all-of-the-above energy strategy that works for us and works for our economy.”

High stakes

Despite their differences, union members on both sides agreed the stakes are high in 2016, and they hoped early enthusiasm among volunteers would carry over into the fall.

“Regardless of who our candidate is, if we don’t win we’re going to see a rollback of help for working families,” Mathias said. “We’re going to go back to policies that foster inequality and don’t do enough to help working people. We can’t afford that.”

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Carpenters union’s free workshops a hit with kids

January 11, 2016 by
Luca LaFerla puts the finishing touches on his treasure box during a Kids Build workshop at the Carpenters training center in St. Paul.

Luca LaFerla puts the finishing touches on his treasure box during a Kids Build workshop at the Carpenters training center in St. Paul.

Jim Hendricks clapped his hand five times, and the room bustling with more than 30 busy children Saturday morning fell silent. Everyone turned to face Hendricks, a business representative for the Carpenters union, awaiting his instructions.

Holding up two pre-cut pieces of wood, Hendricks demonstrated the method for fashioning them into the sides of a “treasure box,” the carpentry project for this month’s Kids Build workshop in St. Paul.

Some looked puzzled, others determined; but for Hendricks, the young faces staring back at him from the floor of his union’s training center made it worth spending a Saturday morning at the office.

“There are a lot of ups and downs through the week of work, but you always walk out of here with a smile,” Hendricks said. “I don’t know a kid who doesn’t like to build things.”

Launched locally in September by the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, Kids Build has become wildly popular with both families, who fill up the available space within an hour of registration opening, and volunteers, including retired and apprentice carpenters.

Nick Vevea retired in June, but he returns to the training hall on the second Saturday of each month to assist with the two-hour workshops.

“I love working with the kids,” Vevea said. “It’s a great opportunity to share your knowledge.”

“We’re encouraging the spark in the next generation that’s going to come into the career of carpentry,” Local 322 apprentice Jarid Freund said. “But it’s also great to be able to see kids enjoying this work.”

Parents and grandparents take pictures at the end of the workshop.
Ten-year-old Aiden Kirchoff of St. Paul sizes up his project.
Carpenters staff rep Jose Marrero works with his daughter Elise, 10, of Maplewood.
Seven-year-old Mina Howitz (L) and 8-year-old Avery Kaneakua, both of Minneapolis, show off their finished projects after working with Samantha Kaneakua, a fourth-year Carpenters apprentice.
Local 322 apprentice Jarid Freund assists 8-year-old Colin Anderson of Hugo.
Emma Johnston (L) of Fridley and Skylar Hofer, both 8, share a laugh.
Participants show off their finished projects.
Each Kids Build participants gets to take home his or her project and receives a personalized certificate.
Lead instructor Jim Hendricks, a business rep for the Carpenters union, demonstrates a step in building treasure boxes.
Abe Mulrooney, 7, of St. Paul works with his father, Tim.
Yuqi Zhao, 7, of St. Paul lines up a screw.

Open to children ages 5 to 12, Kids Build has been so popular in St. Paul that the Carpenters council has spun off workshops at training centers across its jurisdiction, including in Papillion, Neb., Fargo, N.D., Madison, Wis. and Rochester.

The workshops offer the public an introduction to “who carpenters are and how we help our communities,” apprenticeship director Paul Trudeau said. Kids Build is also an opportunity for the union to show off its world-class training facility and, potentially, recruit new workers to the trade.

“All our members are trained here,” Hendricks said. “That’s why we’re able to build projects like the new stadium. We take pride in the training and safety of our members.”

The events are always free, with materials and tools provided by the union, and the project changes each month, so families are encouraged to return. Previous and future projects include bookends, a birdhouse, soapbox derby cars and more.

“We’re not on a computer – this is hands-on,” Trudeau said. “And when they go home, these kids have something to show their grandparents, their siblings, their neighbors.” Trudeau said.

As Avery Kaneakua, 8, and Mina Howitz, 7, added glitter glue and paint to their treasure boxes, they agreed they’d had fun completing the project, and said they planned to use the boxes to store their electronics.

“And as much pride as every one of those kids has right now, we do too,” Trudeau said.

For more information on Kids Build, go to www.facebook.com/KidsBuildworkshop.

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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.

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Melander steps down as St. Paul Building Trades’ top officer

August 3, 2015 by
Incoming and outgoing officers of the St. Paul Building Trades: (L to R) Tom McCarthy, Stan Theis, Harry Melander and Don Mullin.

Incoming and outgoing officers of the St. Paul Building Trades: (L to R) Tom McCarthy, Stan Theis, Harry Melander and Don Mullin.

 

Harry Melander has stepped down after 10 years as the executive secretary of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, which swore Don Mullin into office as Melander’s successor in the full-time position at a delegate meeting tonight.

Delegates voted unanimously to elect Mullin at a meeting last month. They also elected Tom McCarthy of Plumbers Local 34 to serve as president. McCarthy replaces Local 34’s Stan Theis, who retired earlier this year.

Although Melander is stepping down from the St. Paul Building Trades, he will continue to serve as president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, a part-time position. Two years remain on his term in office.

To facilitate a smooth transition in leadership, Mullin began working alongside Melander in the Building Trades’ office last month. Mullin acknowledged he has big shoes to fill in his new job.

“Harry has so much knowledge and so many connections,” Mullin said. “He understands that all of the Trades have a part to play. He understands what the ‘Fitters are doing, what the Plumbers are doing, what the Ironworkers are doing and the rest.

“He’s done so much, given back so much to St. Paul and the state of Minnesota. He really cares about people and the advancement of the middle class.”

Harry Melander, second from left, shown in a Union Advocate file photo from 1988, when he was president of Carpenters Local 87. Melander and Al Garcia of Centro Cultural Chicano spoke at a press conference deploring conditions at a construction site in Bloomington that employed migrant workers.

Harry Melander is second from left in this Union Advocate file photo from 1988, when he was president of Carpenters Local 87. Melander and Al Garcia of Centro Cultural Chicano spoke at a press conference deploring conditions at a construction site in Bloomington that employed migrant workers.

A ‘lasting impact’ on St. Paul

A member of the Carpenters union, Melander rose to the position of president in Local 87 before going to work full time as a business representative for the St. Paul Building Trades in 1997, assisting then-Executive Secretary Dick Anfang.

Anfang and his predecessor in office, Bill Peterson, reached out to elected officials, community leaders and developers, cultivating relationships, Melander said, that would create jobs for Building Trades union members for years to come. Melander’s focus over the last 10 years has been on maintaining those relationships – and building new ones.

“We have a great relationship with cities, counties and school boards in the area,” Melander said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have an excellent mayor to work with in St. Paul, as well as the City Council.”

The admiration is mutual, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said.

“Harry is a good friend and has been an incredible public servant for the City of Saint Paul,” Coleman said. “He is a strong advocate for women and immigrants entering the Building Trades, a determined and resolute trade unionist and an unwavering voice for job creation and economic development.

“While we will all miss his colorful quips and great sense of humor, his leadership within the labor movement will leave a lasting impact on our city.”

Melander’s tenure with the St. Paul Building Trades was not without challenges. He was at the helm during a sharp downturn in the industry following the economic collapse of 2008, with work falling off in some crafts by as much as 70 percent. But infrastructure investments like the Green Line and major construction projects like Target Field – both aided by the Building Trades’ lobbying efforts at City Hall and the Capitol – helped soften the recession’s blow.

“The reason we as a council stayed together is because we have affiliates who appreciate what the council does and who believe in what the Building Trades do,” Melander said. “The industry is very cyclical. But the Building Trades remain a great place for men and women to have a middle-class lifestyle.”

In addition to staying on as president of the statewide Building Trades council, Melander will remain involved in overseeing construction of a new labor center at 345 W. 7th St. “We’re going to give people a new home in St. Paul for a strong labor movement in the future,” he said.

Melander’s advice to Mullin, his successor?

“It’s about relationships and trust,” Melander said of the job. “You’re not always going to get to ‘yes,’ but if you can’t do the deal, you walk away with a smile on your face anyway.”

Don Mullen

Don Mullin

Mullin takes the reins

Mullin, 43, is a White Bear Lake resident and a 20-year member of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. Before his election to the Building Trades Council, Mullin worked as political director of IUPAT District Council 82 and as business representative of Sign and Display Local 880.

Mullin said he hopes to maintain and build on the Council’s existing relationships with local governments, including school boards, city councils and county boards. When those relationships are strong, the Council is in a better position to “police our work,” he said.

“We can look for opportunities to see project labor agreements and enforcement of prevailing wage laws,” he said. “A lot of development comes through city dollars. We need to be developing those relationships and engaging these communities in what we’re all about.”

Ramsey County recently dedicated a staff person to investigating and enforcing prevailing wage on a part-time basis. Mullin said he hopes to recruit other municipalities in the region to pool their resources with the county to support a full-time position.

Mullin also will work to support unions in their efforts to reach out to communities and demographic groups underrepresented in the Trades.

“If you look at most union members today, they’ve gotten here through a family member or somebody else they know,” he said. “We need to be engaging other communities to make sure they know we’ve got a great pathway into the middle class. There are some great career opportunities in this area.”

In addition to his work with IUPAT District Council 82, Mullin has served two years on the White Bear Lake School Board, and he sits on Ramsey County’s Workforce Investment Board and its task force on ice arenas.

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