Trades remember the fallen, renew call for safety in Workers Memorial Day ceremony

April 28, 2014 by

web.wmd2014-aThe Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council held its annual Workers Memorial Day observance last Friday, honoring nine union workers who died over the previous year as a result of workplace injuries or illnesses.

The ceremony, held at the Workers Memorial Garden on the State Capitol grounds, included remarks from St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, who renewed the call for safe workplaces and good jobs for all workers.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman delivers remarks during the Building Trades' Workers Memorial Day ceremony.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman delivers remarks during the Building Trades’ Workers Memorial Day ceremony.

“Today we remember those we have lost, but we must remember every day those that are on the site who we must protect,” Coleman said, “so that when they leave home in the morning, they have every assurance that they will come home that night.”

“It is not possible to eliminate all risk” from construction jobs, Coleman added; “but it is possible to reduce unnecessary risk.”

The mayor pointed specifically to the loss of John Valek, a 61-year-old member of Operating Engineers Local 49, who died Sept. 10, 2013 during demolition work on the site of the new St. Paul Saints baseball park downtown.

Building Trades leaders draped black scarves across white crosses bearing the names of Valek and other workers remembered during the ceremony Friday. A bell rang out once as each worker’s name was read.

Two other members of Local 49 were remembered during the ceremony: Jesse Grimsley, 31, who died Aug. 13 in a bulldozer accident, and Corey Lewellin, 34, who died Oct. 21 in a crane accident.

Michael Dalsin, 49, a member of Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 who died in a fall March 31, 2014 was included in the remembrance ceremony, as were five workers who died from workplace-related illnesses over the previous year. They included:

• Art Rossbach, 71, a member of Pipefitters Local 455 who died Aug. 7 of mesothelioma.

• Theodore Schmitz, 74, a member of Local 455 who died Aug. 6 of asbestosis.

• Elmer R. Skaaden, 86, a member of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34 who died April 22, 2013 of asbestosis.

• John W. Phillips, 78, a member of Local 34 who died Jan. 18 of lung cancer.

• Alan Crepeau, 70, a member of Local 34 who died Jan. 28 of lung cancer.

Workers Memorial Day observances are continue across the country and throughout the world today, the annual day of reflection on workplace fatalities and safety on the job.

In 2012, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 4,383 workers were killed by traumatic injuries, down from 4,693 deaths reported the previous year. An estimated 50,000 to 60,000 more workers died from occupational diseases in 2012.

Minnesota saw 70 workplace fatalities in 2012, 15th lowest among states.

Operating Engineers Local 49 member John Valek died last fall during work on the new ballpark downtown St. Paul.

Operating Engineers Local 49 member John Valek died last fall during work on the new ballpark downtown St. Paul.

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Backed by union funds, Penfield project brings jobs downtown St. Paul

February 26, 2014 by
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman (right) and members of the City Council cut the ribbon at a grand opening celebration for The Penfield development.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman (right) and members of the City Council cut the ribbon at a grand opening celebration for The Penfield development.

Union members did more than just build The Penfield, the comprehensive, mixed-use development downtown St. Paul that celebrated its grand opening Feb. 6. They financed the project as well.

The Penfield is the latest local investment by the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT), which backs union-build construction jobs across the country with capital from union pension funds.

And union members will continue working on the Penfield site. Union grocer Lund’s plans to open a store in the building May 15, with an estimated 75 employees.

The City of St. Paul, through its Housing and Redevelopment Authority, has supported The Penfield, located at 101 E. 10th St., just off Metro Transit’s Green Line, as a key part of its downtown redevelopment program.

Mayor Chris Coleman credited the project with bringing quality, market-rate housing and a full-service grocery store to the area, while also creating jobs and sparking ongoing economic growth.

“When I took office in 2006, the Penfield project was one of our No. 1 priorities,” Coleman said. “We knew it would help the rest of the city develop. The challenge was, as the economy collapsed, the resources that we needed [for] the project were scarcer and scarcer.

“It was the Housing Investment Trust that allowed us the resources we needed to get this project in the ground and get people to work building it.”

The experience of working on The Penfield was equally rewarding for members of the Building Trades unions.

“When you see projects going on all over the metro, you get a good feeling that jobs are going to be around,” said Michael Ahman, a member of IBEW Local 292.

Matt Ferguson, another Local 292 member, added that “it’s an awesome thing to be able to have lots of guys put to work who otherwise might be sitting at home.”

“We are appreciative of the mayor’s administration for helping improve the quality of life in St. Paul with this important development project,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper said.

As a LEED “silver-certified” development, The Penfield enhances St. Paul’s green credentials. The former site of the city’s public safety building now boasts an 18,000-square-foot green roof.

“We went into this project wanting to have a clean building that is sustainable for the future,” Coleman said. “The fact that the HIT was able to partner with us and drive those green decisions was really important for us.”

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Mayors take up call for $9.50 minimum wage

February 6, 2014 by
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman talks about what a $9.50 minimum wage would mean for his city, as Hibbing Mayor Rick Cannata looks on.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman talks about what a $9.50 minimum wage would mean for his city, as Hibbing Mayor Rick Cannata looks on.

Raising the minimum wage to $9.50 would boost the paychecks of an estimated 20,000 workers in St. Paul, injecting $27 million into the city’s economy. In Minneapolis 30,000 workers would get a raise, a $40 million bump for the city’s economy.

It’s no surprise, then, that both Twin Cities mayors today added theirs to the growing chorus of voices calling on lawmakers to make raising Minnesota’s minimum wage a top priority when the Legislature returns to session Feb. 25.

“This is the wealthiest nation on earth, and no one should have to live in poverty,” St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said. “But unfortunately, the current minimum-wage level is forcing too many of our families into that situation.

“If you work hard, you should get rewarded for that work.”

Coleman and Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges joined other Minnesota mayors at the Capitol today for a press conference organized by the labor-backed Raise the Wage Coalition, which is pushing a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.50 per hour, and adjust the wage annually for inflation.

[Related: “It’s time for Senate to act on minimum wage“]

Both Coleman and Hodges identified raising the minimum wage as an effective way to combat rising income inequality. Minneapolis’ economy is recovering from the Great Recession, Hodges said, but “low-wage workers, people of color are not reaping the same benefits of the recovery as other people are.

“Raising the minimum wage is crucial to ensuring that people who work for a living, can make a living. We need (legislators) to take action on this.”

Income inequality isn’t just an urban problem. On the state’s Iron Range, Hibbing Mayor Rick Cannata said, there are good-paying jobs in the mining industry and minimum-wage jobs like the one his wife holds down – but not much in between.

“You see neighbors who can’t decide what they want to do, feed their families or buy fuel oil,” Cannata said. “That’s why I’m here today.”

According to an economic analysis by the JOBS NOW Coalition, raising the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015 would boost purchasing power statewide by $470 million, as low-income workers and families are much more likely than middle- or upper-income families to spend most – or all – of what they earn on goods and services.

“The people at minimum wage now can’t go out to support the mom-and-pop stores on Main Street,” Cannata said. “You get a couple dollars more in your wage, you’re going to go out and spend that.”

Mayors also offered a strong rebuke to opponents who say the minimum wage was never intended to support an adult, let alone a family. Instead, they say, it is an entry-level or “training” wage for teenagers and young adults seeking employment experience.

In fact, a report issued by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry last month found 40 percent of the state’s minimum-wage earners are older than 24.

“If it is a training wage, then there are people who have been in training for years if not decades,” Hodges said.

“It’s a quaint notion that it’s kids working at Dairy Queen” who earn the minimum wage, Coleman added.

[Click here to take action in support of raising the state’s minimum wage to $9.50 by 2015!]

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Union volunteers gave labor-endorsed candidates a boost in Nov. 5 elections

November 7, 2013 by
Volunteers plot their course of action after a get-out-the-vote rally at the St. Paul Labor Centre the night before Election Day.

Volunteers plot their course of action after a get-out-the-vote rally at the St. Paul Labor Centre the night before Election Day.

Union volunteers gave labor-endorsed candidates and school levy campaigns a boost during the 2013 election cycle, aiding victories in the City of St. Paul and several East Metro suburbs.

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, the AFL-CIO’s central labor council in Ramsey, Washington, Dakota and Chisago counties, recruited 125 volunteers for phone banks, door knocks and other campaign events Oct. 5 through Election Day.

RLF President Bobby Kasper was encouraged by union volunteers’ level of enthusiasm in an odd-year election, calling it a positive sign of things to come in the 2014 cycle.

“Much is at stake in local elections, and I’m proud of the work our volunteers, affiliates and staff did in 2013 to help labor-endorsed candidates across the region,” Kasper said. “It’s also an important building block for the work ahead of us in federal and state races next fall.”

Here’s a look at how candidates and campaigns endorsed by delegates to the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation fared across the East Metro in Nov. 5 voting:

• St. Paul. Mayor Chris Coleman, endorsed by both the RLF and the Chamber of Commerce, won a third term by a landslide, and all three labor-endorsed candidates for Board of Education – newcomer Chue Vue and incumbents Jean O’Connell and John Brodrick – won handily as well.

Results of a special election to fill Ward 1’s seat on the City Council will take longer to determine. RLF-endorsed Noel Nix (24.4 percent) finished second to Dai Thao (28.2 percent) on voters’ first-choice ballots. Thao ran with support from some labor organizations, including Operating Engineers Local 49 and the Service Employees state council.

The eventual winner in Ward 1 will emerge via the city’s ranked-choice voting process, which takes into account the subsequent choices of voters who gave their first preference to trailing candidates. Elections officials will begin the work of determining a majority winner Monday.

• School levies. Voters approved levy referendums endorsed by the RLF in five East Metro school districts: White Bear Lake, Lakeville, Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan, Chisago Lakes and Stillwater.

Other districts in the East Metro that passed levies Nov. 5 include Hastings, Inver Grove Heights, Mounds View, Roseville and South Washington County.

• Maplewood. Voters in Maplewood elected former state legislator Nora Slawik mayor. Running with broad labor support, Slawik drew 67 percent of votes cast.

Two open seats on the Maplewood City Council also went to labor-endorsed candidates: newcomer Mary Lee Abrams and incumbent Kathy Juenemann.

• New Brighton. Endorsed candidates did not fare as well in New Brighton, as all three labor-endorsed campaigns – mayoral candidate Mary Burg and city council candidates Mary Kunesh Podein and Graeme Allen – fell short by narrow margins.

• School boards. Don Mullin, a trade-show decorator and member of the Painters and Allied Trades union, won election in his first campaign for White Bear Lake School Board. Labor-endorsed candidates George Kimball and Janet Newberg also won seats.

Labor-endorsed candidates Art Coulson and Mike Roseen won seats on the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan School Board.

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum rallies volunteers at a rally in the St. Paul Labor Centre.

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum rallies volunteers at a rally in the St. Paul Labor Centre.

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St. Paul’s ‘labor mayor,’ Coleman has earned a third term in office

November 1, 2013 by
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, pictured second from right, has broad support from labor in his bid for re-election.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, pictured second from right, has broad support from labor in his bid for re-election.

Since being sworn in as mayor in 2006, Chris Coleman has been standing up for St. Paul’s working families. On Nov. 5, working families have an opportunity to stand up for Coleman by reelecting the DFL mayor to a third term in office.

Coleman earned labor’s endorsement, union leaders and activists said, by bringing structural balance to the city’s budget without sacrificing essential public services, and by supporting economic development that creates good-paying jobs. The mayor also has maintained a no-fuss relationship with unions that represent city workers.

Project1_Layout 1“He really understands the value of public service and the value of the work AFSCME members and other public employees do for the City of St. Paul,” said Jim Niland, political director for Council 5 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents workers throughout the city.

Coleman “will go down in history as a good labor mayor,” according to Harry Melander, president of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council.

Melander pointed to a flurry of construction projects afoot within the city limits that have provided much-needed employment for Building Trades members. The list includes the new St. Paul Saints ballpark in Lowertown, the Penfield and West Side Flats housing developments and the Central Corridor light-rail transit line.

“Mayor Coleman has been real instrumental in trying to move development projects like these forward both in town and in the region,” Melander said.

As a result, Building Trades unions trust Coleman’s leadership in guiding development over the next four years. Likely development sites include the Twin Cities Assembly Plant in Highland Park, the former 3M property on St. Paul’s East Side (now called Beacon Bluff), the former Macy’s downtown and multiple properties along the Central Corridor line.

Transit projects like the Green Line, Coleman said, are key to St. Paul’s economic future, but the competition for federal and state funding is fierce. He believes the East Metro Transit Alliance, a public-private partnership developed with Coleman’s leadership, will “jumpstart” efforts to draw future transit investments to the area.

“One clear lesson we learned as we fought to build the Green Line was that if we in the East Metro are not fighting hard for transit investment, we can’t expect anyone else to do it,” Coleman said. “When we came together to advocate for the Central Corridor, we were a force to be reckoned with.”

Relationship building has been a hallmark of Coleman’s tenure as mayor, whether it’s public-private partnerships like the transit alliance or partnerships with other government entities like the St. Paul Board of Education or the Minnesota Legislature.

“He’s been a real partner with us in terms of improving public services and also advocating with us at the Capitol for full funding of public services,” AFSCME’s Niland said.

For union members, that remains the most important bridge built by Coleman – the one between City Hall and the city’s employees. Union leaders credit Coleman for taking a collaborative approach to the city’s budget issues during tough economic times, and for approaching unions as partners, rather than adversaries, in decisions that affect staffing.

“Mayor Coleman has done a great job trying to make sure there have been no layoffs at the city,” Melander said. “If there were reductions in departments, people were moved around to continue to have employment.”

Paul Slattery, an organizer for Teamsters Local 120, which represents workers in St. Paul’s Department of Public Works, called Coleman “a dedicated friend to the labor movement who supports the right of every worker to bargain collectively for a union contract.”

For Coleman, the relationship with labor is a two-way street. He supports workers because, in turn, Coleman knows he can count on workers’ support.

“We know that we are stronger when we act together, and it is important that we continue to advocate and fight for St. Paul,” Coleman said.

“Mayor Coleman has been on the forefront of creating a labor friendly environment throughout the City of St. Paul,” said St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper. “As mayor, he has promoted multiple development projects that have enhanced employment opportunities for our union brothers and sisters.”

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Harry Melander: Building builders, growing our economy

July 24, 2013 by
mug-melander

Harry Melander

Drive to just about any region in our State. Look up or down, and you will see: “We are back.”

You see new mining opportunities on the Iron Range and housing developments in our urban core. You see expansion of our medical center in Rochester and new investments in our regional transit system. All are indications that “we are back.”

After suffering unemployment rates that reached Depression-year rates, the Building Trades industry is once again back in full swing. Union members are finding work, collecting paychecks and stimulating their local economies.

These have been tough years, but now we can breathe a bit easier. The majority of unions in the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council have seen worker hours increase the last two years.

You can, once again, find steady employment in the trades. Credit for that, in large part, goes out to our “Building Governor,” Mark Dayton, as well as St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and friends of labor serving in the State House, Senate and throughout the local levels of government in Minnesota.

The future looks even better – not only for our current members, but for those new Building Trades members that we are seeking to recruit. This is the time that “new hands,” including women and emerging communities of color, will be the workforce that should – and can – support this industry.

We are looking for determined, hard-working Americans with professional attitudes, strong math skills and the willingness to be a part of our construction community. By 2040, 40 percent of the Metro region will be from these emerging communities. Now is the time for community leaders to encourage strong, career-minded people to consider – and enter – this great industry.

The Building Trades offer careers for all, but we want those at the head of their classes.

Last month in Tower, Minn., Building Trades members from all around our state got together for their annual meeting, setting the agenda for the upcoming year and into the future.

Among the priorities our unions set was making sure we embrace our new workforce, so that we continue to develop highly trained, skilled and safe workers who are prepared for the end of this decade and beyond.

Thanks to those Building Trades leaders who did just that. Together, we will continue to “build builders” who will make sure our industry and market share grow.

– Harry Melander was re-elected president of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council at the body’s annual convention last month. He also directs the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades.

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UPDATED: Labor-endorsed candidates sail through DFL endorsing convention

June 4, 2013 by
Incumbent school board member John Brodrick (right), with St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper, will be among the labor candidates seeking DFL endorsement June 8.

Incumbent school board member John Brodrick (right), with St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper, will be among the labor candidates seeking DFL endorsement June 8.

Planning on attending the City of St. Paul DFL Endorsing Convention? Three labor-endorsed candidates are counting on union members’ support.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman is seeking re-election with labor endorsement. Two incumbent candidates for St. Paul Board of Education also have labor endorsements: John Brodrick and Jean O’Connell.

The endorsing convention will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, June 8, at Washington Technology Magnet School, 1495 Rice Street.

For more information on St. Paul Regional Labor Federation endorsements, call 651-222-3787.

UPDATE 6/27/13 – All three candidates emerged from the convention with the party’s endorsement, as did school board candidate Chue Vue, who has since been endorsed by the RLF.

“I was pleased to see delegates to the city convention supported our labor candidates for citywide office,” St. Paul RLF President Bobby Kasper said. “Our federation will work hard to make sure Mayor Coleman and our endorsed candidates for school board see even greater success in November.”

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