Worker advocates welcome St. Paul’s new wage theft law

December 10, 2024 by

Supporters of a measure to crack down on wage theft were pictured during a rally at the Minnesota Capitol in 2019.

St. Paul will have a new wage theft ordinance on the books Jan. 1.

The measure, pushed by Mayor Melvin Carter and co-authored by all seven members of the City Council, drew praise from labor leaders and worker advocates as a step toward more robust, efficient protections for people working in the capital city.

Construction and service-industry unions, in particular, pushed city officials to add wage theft to the scope of its labor enforcement work.

At a public hearing on the ordinance in October, Carpenters Local 322 member Saben De Smet called wage theft a “competing business model” for too many developers and non-union contractors in his industry.

“Here in Minnesota, a construction contractor using a wage-theft model can underbid other contractors – whether union or non-union – by up to 20%,” De Smet told council members. “This is because they avoid paying worker compensation, unemployment insurance and other costs associated with being above board.

“This is both a leveling of the playing field and a human-rights issue for us.”

Wage theft has come under increased public scrutiny in recent years, after a 2014 report by the Economic Policy Institute estimated that it costs U.S. workers more than $50 billion annually. In Ramsey and Hennepin counties alone, construction workers lose $3 million to wage theft each year, according to a 2022 report authorized by the county attorneys offices.

“If someone was to shoplift or steal a car, you’d expect them to get arrested or get in trouble,” Ironworkers Local 512 member Nick Petrucelle, a co-chair of Minnesota’s Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, told council members. “But employers, they can rip off their employees, they can steal their wages, and it’s really hard to do anything about it.”

St. Paul’s new ordinance largely aligns with state legislation passed in Minnesota five years ago. Hailed at the time as the nation’s toughest wage theft law, it gave state regulators and the Attorney General new powers to investigate wage theft and created stiffer penalties, both civil and criminal.

While St. Paul’s ordinance does not create new requirements for employers, it does complement the city’s unique minimum wage and earned-sick-and-safe-time laws, advocates on the city’s Labor Standards Advisory Committee (LSAC) said.

“City staff should be able to resolve all of these issues together in one package,” LSAC member Rick Varco, political director for SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, told council members.

Varco noted that city investigators pursuing a minimum-wage complaint are well positioned to identify other forms of wage theft, too. But without an ordinance on the books, the city must turn the matter over to state regulators.

“This is better for workers who don’t have to navigate one more bureaucratic maze,” he said. “It is better for employers, especially those who fail through ignorance or capacity issues, to have one stop that can get them back on the right track.”

The city’s Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO) will begin handling wage theft complaints when the new ordinance takes effect Jan. 1.

Wage theft occurs any time employers fail to pay wages employees are legally entitled to, including paying below minimum wage, not paying overtime, requiring work without pay, denying legal breaks, misclassification, withholding tips, failing to pay fringe benefits and making illegal payroll deductions.

“Wage theft is one of the largest types of theft in our country and is a pervasive and systemic problem throughout Minnesota,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson said. “It affects workers in all sectors of our economy. This ordinance helps to make workers in Saint Paul more secure and helps level the playing field for employers who are following our state laws and local ordinances.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Labor Voices, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

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

July 21, 2023 by

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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State to invest $240 million in replacing lead pipes

May 17, 2023 by

In April, Gov. Walz visited the site of ongoing lead-pipe replacement work in St. Paul, accompanied (L to R) by Rep. Sydney Jordan, SPRWS Director Patrick Shea and Council Member Chris Tolbert.

Minnesota will make a $240 million, jobs-creating investment in mapping and removing lead water pipes across the state, thanks to legislation Gov. Tim Walz signed into law this week.

Currently, about 100,000 water service lines in the state leach lead into the drinking water they carry, according to an estimate from the state Department of Health. Lead exposure can damage vital organs and slow childhood development.

Walz touted the legislation during an April 20 event in St. Paul’s North End neighborhood, held on a residential street where a union crew from St. Paul Regional Water Services was working on the capital city’s ongoing $14.5 million initiative to remove and replace lead pipes.

The governor said St. Paul’s program, which taps into funding from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, was “visionary” in demonstrating what the state might accomplish with a portion of its $17.5 billion budget surplus.

“No matter where you live, we’re making investments that will improve your quality of life,” he said. “Our proposal will fund local projects to identify and replace lead pipes across the state at no cost to families and homeowners. Minnesotans deserve to know where their water comes from and that it is safe and healthy.”

Several construction unions, including the Laborers (LIUNA), banded together with environmental groups and local governments to lobby in support of the statewide legislation, authored by Rep. Sydney Jordan (D-Minneapolis) and Sen. Jennifer McEwan (D-Duluth).

Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan greeted a crew of Laborers working to replace lead pipes in St. Paul.

The measure drew bipartisan support, passing 64-2 in the Senate and unanimously in the House.

While health risks associated with lead pipes have been known for decades, a statewide approach to identifying and replacing them in residences has long eluded Minnesota lawmakers.

The mechanism they traditionally use to fund major infrastructure projects – bonding – was a non-starter, as the state constitution prohibits bonding funds from improving privately owned property. Water service lines extend from the public right of way to the private residence.

“You can’t replace half a pipe,” Rep. Jordan quipped at the April 20 event.

Joel Smith, president of LIUNA Minnesota and North Dakota, said the coalition of supporting organizations “worked tirelessly for years” to get lead-pipe removal on state lawmakers’ agenda. The historic budget surplus, bolstered by one-time federal relief funding, created a golden opportunity for action.

“LIUNA members will be put to work to combat the serious and statewide health threat posed by lead water lines, and get the lead out,” Smith said. “The tradespeople who do this work are excited to contribute to protecting the water and health of our communities, lakes and rivers.”

In Ramsey County, SPRWS has ramped up hiring to meet the demand for its lead-pipe replacement initiative, partnering with LIUNA Local 363 on a fast-track career training program tailored for entry-level jobseekers.

“For the folks doing this, it’s really great work,” Walz said. “I really believe we are at the beginning of a great renaissance of infrastructure investments in America.”

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St. Paul’s minimum wage will increase July 1. Here’s how one local restaurant is adapting

May 3, 2021 by

Kyatchi restaurant in St. Paul’s Lowertown district has embraced the city’s new minimum-wage ordinance.

By Alicia Thoj, guest columnist

As I settled into a comfortable spot in Kyatchi’s dining room, I remembered all the previous times I had been to this restaurant to enjoy the ramen and hot dog with yakisoba noodles. It was a nostalgic feeling because it had been a couple of years since I had gone inside and ordered from the menu.

Before I placed my order, I met with Kyatchi manager Trevor Garcia to hear about the benefits of him receiving a livable wage while working in the restaurant industry and why he loves working at Kyatchi.

“I fell in love with the Kyatchi culture because it is very different from other bars and restaurants,” Garcia said. “I take pride in the food and service. We have time to teach people about our menu and give them an experience.”

Not only is the customer service great, but even on a slow night the staff is guaranteed pay. That’s because Kyatchi owner Sam Peterson decided years ago, when the City of Minneapolis began discussions about increasing the citywide minimum wage, to sit down and look at his numbers. He knew he would make it work and came up with a dollar amount to increase revenue for the Kyatchi Minneapolis location. He started paying the staff $15.00 per hour at that time and had zero pushback from the staff or his customers.

“As a business owner I can make this (minimum-wage increase) work,” Peterson said of his response at the time. “This can be done. You can have a successful business and pay your people well and still make a profit.”

The profit increase was the reason Kyatchi was able to open its St. Paul location four years ago, creating opportunities for more customers to be able to enjoy their food.

As I pondered Peterson’s words, I thought of the many businesses that have been in a bind during the pandemic and have survived, barely survived or are now shut down. The City of St. Paul’s first annual minimum-wage increase is around the corner on July 1, 2021, and I acknowledge the challenges and difficulties this can create for employers within the city.

Yet I also think about how families have fared during this time, how we are all in this together and how no one has been exempted from COVID-19. Employers need to earn a profit, and employees need to earn livable wages to sustain their families.

How did Kyatchi rise to the challenge when they reopened for indoor dining? Kyatchi’s owner decided to increase food prices by 19% and added a no-tipping policy for indoor dining, so the restaurant could maintain its ability to pay employees a livable wage.

The new approach “prevents a high employee-turnover rate and gives them passion for the job,” Garcia said. “It also decreases anxiety because a steady paycheck really helps people to live their lives and have money management.”

You can review the hourly minimum wage increase on the City of St. Paul’s website, which displays the four business sizes: Macro, Large, Small, and Micro. The Minimum Wage Ordinance rolled out in early 2020, and will bring the first wage increase this July. The wage increases will continue over the next three to seven years, depending on the business size, in order to reach the full $15.00 per hour.

The Minimum Wage Ordinance also includes youth employees, 14-17 years of age, who must be paid not less than eighty-five percent of the city minimum wage for small employers, and after more than ninety days after the date of hire, employees should be paid the applicable city minimum wage.

– Alicia Thoj is a labor standards investigator with the City of Saint Paul’s Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity department. 

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

St. Paul’s union-endorsed candidates aim to build on city’s new labor standards

November 1, 2019 by

In November 2015, when St. Paul last held regular City Council elections, the city had no earned sick and safe time ordinance on the books, and hardly anyone at City Hall was talking about a $15 minimum wage.

What a difference four years make.

When voters in St. Paul go back to the polls Nov. 5, they will weigh in on an historic shift in the council’s agenda. Raising labor standards within the city limits, many council members said, is work that would not have gotten done without the partnership of local unions.

“It was definitely the catalyst,” said Ward 3’s Chris Tolbert, a lead author of both the sick leave ordinance and the $15 minimum wage. “My plan is to continue to partner with labor and look for ways we can enhance those protections, make sure there’s compliance across the board and continue to look for ways to have better working conditions for St. Paul workers.”

Tolbert is one of five labor-endorsed incumbents seeking reelection, along with Rebecca Noecker in Ward 2, Mitra Jalali Nelson in Ward 4, Amy Brendmoen in Ward 5 and Jane Prince in Ward 7. Nelsie Yang, a member of the Communications Workers of America, is the labor-endorsed candidate in Ward 6.

• Click here for a full list of labor endorsements in the Nov. 5 elections.

• Click here for information about voting, including your polling location.

In interviews with The Union Advocate, all six endorsed candidates voiced support for backing up the city’s new labor standards with education and enforcement. Nelson called it “the next step to protecting our hard-fought victories … so working families in St. Paul receive every dollar and day off they have earned.”

Already, workers have come forward with complaints they are not getting the sick leave mandated by the new ordinance. Prince said that’s something the city needs to fix soon – before the citywide minimum wage kicks into effect next year.

“The city hasn’t been in the business of enforcing labor laws before,” Prince said. “So now that we are, it’s really important that we be deliberate and intentional about it.”

“Our endorsed candidates have proven they’re serious about listening to working people,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper said. “They’ve earned our support Nov. 5.”

Here’s more of what the endorsed candidates had to say in interviews with the Advocate:

• Amy Brendmoen, Ward 5

In the eight years Amy Brendmoen has served on the City Council, St. Paul has emerged as a leader in advancing policies that improve working families’ quality of life.

Now, she says, it’s time for the rest of the country to catch up.

“The $15 minimum wage and earned sick and safe time will be the best policies when they’re statewide and national policies,” Brendmoen said. “We need to take the momentum from the city level and help move that platform on a statewide basis.”

That won’t happen, she added, unless the city can show its new labor standards work. Brendmoen wants to see the city take steps to adequately educate the community about its new labor standards and, of course, enforce them.

After being elected council president last year, Brendmoen now chairs the city’s budget committee. That means she’ll play a critical role in securing funds for the city’s new office dedicated to implementing labor standards.

Brendmoen knows she’s likely to hear from her partners in the labor community along the way.

“They know that I’m accessible and approachable, so I feel like I get calls, texts, emails and in-person visits often,” she said. “It helps make sure we plan our policies right from the get-go.

“It seems like with lots of other advocates, the response comes after a policy is in place. But with labor it happens before, after and during.”

Mitra Jalali Nelson, Ward 4

Running in a special election to fill the Ward 4 seat last year, Mitra Jalali Nelson campaigned eagerly in support measures to address inequities that plague the city. She won decisively, just in time to cast a vote in favor of the $15 minimum wage.

But Nelson isn’t about to stop fighting.

“We have a lot of work to do to make sure that St. Paul is an equitable and safe place for working people to call home,” she said. “But we’ve made tremendous progress in just the one year alone that I’ve been in office.”

As someone who rents her home, Nelson has been a fierce advocate for measures that make housing more attainable and affordable in the city. It’s an essential part, she says, of making St. Paul a place that’s livable for working families.

Nelson is currently working to pass new protections for renters, and she helped secure a $10 million investment in the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund. At the same time, she works to make sure city-backed development deals uphold community – and labor – standards.

“City development deals that receive public subsidy or other public benefit should always have to meet community benefits agreements that include strong hiring, labor, prevailing wage and contract standards for developers and workers involved with the project,” she said.

Rebecca Noecker, Ward 2

Rebecca Noecker isn’t running for school board, but she is putting public education at the forefront of her reelection campaign in Ward 2.

Noecker is leading the push for St. Paul 3k, a city-led effort to ensure all families have access to high-quality, affordable early childhood education. Noecker lists the initiative among her top priorities, along with affordable housing and supporting small businesses.

“I am deeply invested in creating opportunities for young people,” the former middle school science teacher said. “While the St. Paul School Board sets major policy for schools in the city, I believe the city has an important role to play in supporting children and families.”

Quality childcare and preschool are unaffordable for too many working families, preventing some parents from entering the workforce and leaving too many children unprepared for kindergarten. St. Paul 3K seeks to create more equitable access to early education by creating more options, simplifying the early-education system and joining forces with the county, school district and community.

It’s just one way the council member is putting kids first.

“I am also a strong voice on the council for the city’s Right Track youth-employment program, and have consistently supported increased funding for Parks and Recreation programs that are free to all kids in the city,” she said.

Jane Prince, Ward 7

After taking her seat on the City Council in 2016, Jane Prince posed a question to folks at City Hall, and she heard the same answer from pretty much everyone she asked.

There’s no way St. Paul will ever open a new city-staffed rec center again.

Three years later, Prince proved the doubters wrong, as she secured funding to reopen Highwood Hills, a rec center closed in 2008 when the city faced a deep budget shortfall. Prince and Mayor Melvin Carter cut the ribbon on Highwood Hills last April. And yes, the facility is staffed by AFSCME-represented city employees.

It’s a victory for families in Ward 7 and an example, Prince said, of what the city can accomplish by partnering with organized labor.

“Many of the best initiatives in our city come from our union brothers and sisters,” Prince said. “The workers know what’s best, so when things aren’t going right, there’s no one better to turn to than our employees.”

The rec center isn’t the only example Prince cites.

When the mayor floated the idea of eliminating fines and fees to make the city’s libraries more accessible, AFSCME backed it. And the city’s approach to snow plowing vastly improved last year after Public Works sought input from workers and their unions.

“Complaints went way down,” she said, “and I really feel confident that it was listening to our employees that made all the difference.”

Chris Tolbert, Ward 3

Chris Tolbert doesn’t take the labor endorsement lightly, and he’s proved it over the last eight years representing Ward 3.

He was the lead author of ordinances to raise the citywide minimum wage and guarantee earned sick and safe time to all workers. And Tolbert championed a measure to extend paid parental leave to all city employees.

A big reason why Tolbert supports labor’s issues? He’s a dues-paying member of a union himself.

Tolbert works as a lawyer in the Hennepin County Attorney’s office, and he is a member of Local 2938 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

“I’m grateful for all that labor has done to improve the lives of workers not just in St. Paul, but across the state and across the country,” Tolbert said. “And I continue to appreciate the confidence unions have in me. It’s been an honor.”

While the council’s work to raise standards for people in low-wage jobs has drawn much attention, Tolbert is also working to attract good jobs to the city. He co-founded Full Stack, a public-private partnership focused on attracting, retaining and growing innovative jobs and businesses, last year.

“We have to continue to make sure not only do we have living-wage jobs, but we’re continuing to create more living-wage jobs,” he said, “so more people can support their families and be able to live in a city like St. Paul.”

Nelsie Yang, Ward 6

The culturally diverse East Side neighborhoods in St. Paul’s Ward 6 include some of the city’s highest levels of concentrated poverty.

It’s a very different city than the one Nelsie Yang sees in other neighborhoods.

“When I drive to more affluent, predominantly white areas, these places look drastically different from the East Side,” Yang said.

Now, the community organizer and daughter of Hmong refugees is running for City Council to make sure the people who live in her neighborhood get their fair share –“because we are not getting that on the East Side of St. Paul right now,” she said.

Yang wants to see the East Side get more infrastructure investments, like roads, transit, bike lanes and walkways. She wants the East Side’s rec centers to stay open longer and support children whose parents work multiple jobs. She wants the city to strengthen renters’ rights and mandate that developers doing business in the city commit to a minimum amount of affordable housing.

And Yang, a steward in the Minnesota Newspaper Guild-CWA’s bargaining unit at TakeAction Minnesota, wants to partner with unions to get those things done.

“Having the people power of labor unions and people working alongside each other, that’s how we will build toward a progressive future for all of us,” she said. “People are so ready to get invested and activated.”

Filed Under: Labor Voices, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Wage hike shows what’s possible when workers join together, think big

December 19, 2018 by

Working people celebrated at City Hall as Mayor Melvin Carter signed St. Paul’s new $15 minimum wage ordinance Nov. 14.

Six years ago, when fast food workers in New York and, later, cities across the country began striking and rallying in the streets for a $15 minimum wage, the idea was dismissed as too radical.

Today, it’s written into the City of St. Paul’s legislative code.

Members of the City Council voted unanimously Nov. 14 to phase in $15 for all workers – indexed to inflation – over the next nine years. Within minutes of the vote, Mayor Melvin Carter, who made $15 a rallying cry in his bid for office one year ago, had put his signature on the ordinance.

That set off a celebration like few others at City Hall, where many of the working people who led the fight for $15 had gathered to witness the historic moment.

Shalantra Taylor, who works at a McDonald’s in St. Paul and is looking for a second job to make ends meet, was among them. She thanked Carter and council members for “listening to workers, for standing with us.”

“I am homeless, and I’m not the only one,” Taylor said. “Many working people have to work multiple jobs and are still living paycheck to paycheck… This minimum wage law is going to lift up working people and address racial inequalities in our city.”

During a signing ceremony at City Hall, St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter showed off the city’s new $15 minimum wage ordinance, which drew unanimous backing from members of the City Council.

Making history

Taylor and other workers never wavered in their demands, and they resisted efforts to divide them along the lines of age, experience or industry.

When the restaurant lobby pushed a subminimum wage for tipped workers, a coalition of worker, faith and community organizations pushed back – both in the streets and in formal meetings with elected officials. As a result, the so-called “tip adjustment” never even came up for a vote before the council, and it is not included in the new ordinance.

By the time the ordinance was introduced this fall, the 15 Now Coalition had gained the influence necessary to go toe-to-toe with powerful lobbying interests like the Minnesota Restaurant Association and big-box retailers. And it did so by fusing the energy of community members fighting entrenched poverty and racial disparities with the power of organized labor.

When those groups share a bold, progressive policy vision, labor historian Peter Rachleff said, it’s a recipe for making history.

“I think the fight for $15 nationally looks more like the fight for the eight-hour day and the fight against child labor than it looks like anything else in American history,” Rachleff, co-director of the East Side Freedom Library, said.

All three movements were initially derided as too ambitious.

“People said it’s too much too fast, but it’s that kind of evocative vision” that inspired the fight for child labor laws and the eight-hour day, Rachleff said. And it’s a similarly bold vision inspiring workers to fight for $15 today.

“We’re not talking about 2 percent a year or a $2 raise,” Rachleff said. “By putting $15 up the flagpole, people felt it was worth fighting for. People could imagine their lives being changed by making that kind of money.”

In 2017, fast food workers went on a Labor Day strike to launch the campaign for $15 in St. Paul.

Labor support ‘essential’

From the earliest stages of the Fight for $15, unions in the Twin Cities have recognized the importance of fighting alongside workers, whether union or non-union, pushing for a higher minimum wage.

Union members marched alongside striking fast food workers in the early days of the campaign, and many labor organizations, including the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, helped make $15 a litmus test for candidates running for mayor in 2017.

“Raising the minimum wage, without a tip adjustment, was a fight our affiliate unions and delegates realized was essential to who we are,” St. Paul RLF President Bobby Kasper said. “The labor movement won’t remain relevant unless we’re fighting for all working people.”

After Carter announced plans to take on the issue in his first year in office, the St. Paul RLF began hosting weekly meetings with activists and organizers from the 15 Now coalition. Several union members sat on the study group whose recommendations formed the basis of the minimum wage ordinance.

Now that the ordinance has passed, the 15 Now coalition will focus on education and enforcement in St. Paul, with an eye on taking the movement statewide.

“It’s a really ambitious idea,” Rachleff said. “But the beauty of it is it will force people to do the kind of metro-outstate organizing we need so desperately, not just in Minnesota but also in Wisconsin and throughout the Midwest.

“Those conversations don’t happen if there isn’t a focal point.”

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Fight for $15 moves to city hall

September 12, 2018 by

Supporters of a $15 minimum wage ordinance display more than 2,000 petitions signed by supporters at a press conference outside city hall.

After months of neighborhood organizing that sometimes spilled over into the streets, St. Paul workers who want a higher minimum wage are bringing their fight to city hall.

“We have waited over a year as the city has discussed this issue,” said Pastor James Erlandson of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in St. Paul. “The time for debate is over. It’s time to pass the ordinance.”

Erlandson and other supporters of a $15 minimum wage staged a press conference today in advance of the City Council’s public hearing on the issue tonight.

The hearing will follow a presentation by the Citizens League on the findings of a committee charged with studying the issue over the summer. The 21 business owners, low-wage workers, nonprofit executives and other stakeholders did not issue a stand-alone recommendation to the council. Rather, they forwarded three “scenarios for consideration,” all of which would put St. Paul on the path to a $15 minimum wage, with annual inflationary increases.

That’s a big win for low-wage workers in St. Paul and the organizations – unions included – fighting to raise the wage. It’s a win, too, for the city’s voters, who elected Mayor Melvin Carter to a landslide victory last fall on a platform that included full-throated support for $15.

Tou Vang, an organizer with Hmong Americans for Justice, praised the committee for recognizing the “crisis of poverty” in St. Paul. It’s estimated that one of every four St. Paul workers earns less than $15 per hour, and 40.8 percent of St. Paul residents live in poverty, a higher rate than any other metro-area community.

“In addition to the committee’s research and discussion, it’s clear the outcomes of the process were influenced by years of workers rallying, striking and organizing for living wages and dignity,” Vang added.

(Citizens League)

Carve outs still at issue

While the study committee’s three scenarios all embrace $15, they do provide exemptions for city-approved youth training programs and employers who hire workers with disabilities. The scenarios also differ in how long employers would have to phase in the full $15 minimum wage ­(between four and seven years, depending on the size of the employer).

One scenario includes a subminimum wage for tipped workers in “full service restaurants,” which unions and many restaurant workers oppose. In fact, the study committee included a scenario with the “tip credit,” as its known to supporters, even though it failed to receive support from a majority of committee members.

The issue has been a point of contention at two public input sessions hosted by the city so far. (Two more sessions are scheduled later this month.)

Servers and bartenders in many states with a subminimum “tipped wage” rely almost entirely on their customers’ goodwill for their incomes, a dynamic that, as several studies show, puts workers at a greater risk of experiencing sexual harassment and wage theft.

Erin Lynch, a tipped worker in St. Paul, said she already experiences sexual harassment on the job, even though Minnesota is one of seven “equal treatment states,” with no tip credit on the books.

“I’m forced to weigh my dignity in these situations against my income in the form of tips,” Lynch said. “A tip penalty forces workers like me to rely more on tips in situations like these, and to put up with inappropriate behavior to supplement my income.”

A push to be bold

As council members begin the work of crafting an ordinance, two recently released reports provide fodder for advocates pushing strong, progressive action.

Last week researchers at the University of California Berkely issued an analysis of trends in the first six major U.S. cities to raise the minimum wage higher than $10. The team of economists found significant pay increases and, critically, no significant employment reductions in the six cities.

“When these minimum wage policies were being considered, some predicted that they would lead to significant job losses,” co-author Carl Nadler said. “We did not find such job losses. We did find that these cities’ minimum wage policies increased the earnings of low-wage workers, just as intended.”

Earlier this year Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, surveyed more than 500 people working in St. Paul, and their responses, analyzed in a report issued last month, shed more light on the city’s crisis of poverty.

Nearly half of workers reported earning $10 per hour or less, with 90 percent earning less than $15. Half of those surveyed said their income provides support for someone else – a loved one or family member – as well as themselves.

What would $15 mean for workers surveyed? Paying down debt or paying bills on time was the most frequent response. Others included improved housing options, less anxiety and more time with family.

That’s the case for Marfa Malcolm, who shuttles between three different jobs as a caregiver, and her 16-year-old daughter, who works in food service on weekends to help support their family.

“There are days when I work the overnight shift and I come in by 8 o’clock, and she’s gone to school,” Malcolm said outside city hall today. “When I go home and she’s home, I have to be doing my other part-time job. I can’t get to spend time with her, and she really needs me.

“So if you value family, I think you should pass $15 now.”

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

Mitra Jalali Nelson: Labor endorsed in St. Paul’s Ward 4

August 6, 2018 by

Mitra Jalali Nelson thanks delegates to the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation for their support.

Renters outnumber homeowners in St. Paul, but there are no renters on the city council. That’s something Mitra Jalali Nelson is out to change.

Nelson, the labor-endorsed candidate in a special election Aug. 14 to fill St. Paul’s Ward 4 seat, has drawn on her experience as a renter to craft a “blueprint” of policy proposals aimed at making housing in St. Paul more affordable, like zoning rules that allow development of more rental stock and programs that support aspiring homeowners.

Nelson is thinking big. And as a former union organizer and current aide to U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, she has firsthand experience turning big ideas into reality.

The self-described “organizer at heart” knows it takes teamwork to make meaningful change.

“I look forward to working hand-in-hand with workers, unions and partners citywide to address income inequality head-on, and achieve citywide progress that brings all of us with it,” Nelson said.

‘The rent won’t wait’

Nelson has positioned herself as a champion of affordable housing from the start of her bid for City Hall. She won labor’s backing, meanwhile, by connecting the dots between her top issue and the things St. Paul unions fight for every day – good jobs, quality public services and strong public schools.

Affordable housing, Nelson said, is “key to ending income inequality” and, in St. Paul, a “crisis” that demands urgent attention.

Recent data from the Census Bureau backs up her claim. It shows 51 percent of renters are in “cost-burdened” situations, meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Too often, Nelson said, the amount is closer to half.

“When people spend most of their income on housing, they’re forced to buy fewer groceries, skip a doctor’s appointment, forego school supplies and spend less in St. Paul businesses,” she said. “Foregoing action on this issue is holding our city back.”

A leading contributor to St. Paul’s affordable housing crisis? Rents are going up faster than working people’s wages. Over the last 25 years, median rents have increased by 9 percent, when adjusted for inflation, while median household incomes have fallen by 3 percent.

Backers of a $15 minimum wage ordinance in St. Paul have printed shirts with their rallying cry: “15 Now because the rent won’t wait.” Nelson said she supports $15 “without any exemptions.”

“I support passing one fair wage for our city and will work with community partners toward a $15 minimum wage citywide without any exemptions,” she said. “As the costs of living rise, our wages have been stagnant, and we need to take significant action locally to address this.”

But the city can also do more to make rental housing more affordable, she said.

“We need to act on our affordable housing crisis, using tools at the city level like inclusionary zoning and upzoning to help create more affordable units throughout the Ward and our city,” Nelson said. “We also need help from the county and state, and I will advocate for and seek additional resources to support the construction of more affordable housing, including public housing.

“As a renter, I am running to organize a coalition of renters and homeowners alike to achieve progress on this issue.”

Unions impressed

Barb Herrington-Hall, who retired this summer after 33 years as an educator, participated in the St. Paul Federation of Teachers’ screening process in Ward 4. She came away impressed with Nelson’s vision, energy and grasp of the issues facing St. Paul.

Nelson’s passion for affordable housing struck a chord with Herrington-Hall, whose job involved making house calls to families in the district to screen children for special education services.

“I’ve been in apartments that the number of people living there, the quality of the housing, it would break your heart,” Herrington-Hall, a Ward 4 resident, said. “And it’s parents who have to work multiple jobs just to pay the rent.

“As educators, we know these parents aren’t able to come to meetings at conference time or help their child with homework. So I see the difference it would make if parents only had to work one full-time job.”

Herrington-Hall also knows Nelson does more than talk about supporting union members.

“The first time I met her she was participating in a rally in front of the school board building to support our bargaining team,” Herrington-Hall said. “Mitra was there in the crowd before she was ever endorsed, standing out in the cold with the rest of us.”

On the web

• Learn more about Nelson’s campaign at www.mitranelson.com.

• View a list of labor-endorsed candidates on the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation’s website.

Filed Under: Labor Voices, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Kip Hedges: Labor has a big stake in St. Paul’s fight for $15

August 1, 2018 by

Former Delta baggage handler Kip Hedges was fired for speaking up in favor of $15 for all workers.

There’s no question, the labor movement is under severe attack. The Janus decision is only the latest example of damage inflicted on workers by the billionaire class of the United States and their political allies.

How can we rebuild? How can we, as a union movement, be relevant to millions of workers who know little of unions? Because of nearly four decades of defeats, retreats and attacks on labor, many of these workers have never been in a union and don’t have family members or friends who have been in unions.

The fight for a $15 minimum wage must be part of any fightback strategy. Why? First, because using 15 as part of a union organizing strategy can pay real dividends. At MSP airport the demand for $15 was a key part of the Service Employees International Union’s ability to bring 700 aircraft cleaners and cart drivers into the union. Like many positions that had once been career jobs, outsourcing had turned these into minimum-wage jobs. When SEIU Local 26 became a champion of $15 for all airport workers, aircraft cleaners started to pay real attention to the union.

Another string of impressive organizing victories came when United Food and Commercial Workers Local 653 used the demand for $15 to win union representation for hundreds of grocery workers at Minneapolis food co-op stores.

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL), a Twin Cities worker center, has been at the forefront of the Fight for 15. It has effectively organized to bring hundreds of mostly immigrant workers into the labor movement. This is, in no small part, because workers saw CTUL fighting alongside them for higher wages and dignity even before they were in a union.

The second reason why 15 must be part of rebuilding the union movement is because we must break out of our isolation. The labor movement was at its strongest when we took on fights that benefited the entire working class, like the 8-hour day, unemployment insurance, workers compensation, social security and an end to child labor. By leading these fights, unions brought many unorganized workers into the labor movement.

Too often we have moved away from the philosophy of solidarity, the idea of social movement unionism. Instead of fighting for Medicare for All, the fight becomes for better health insurance for just our members. Instead of fighting for real increases in Social Security, we fight just for our pensions or an increase in company contributions to our 401(k).

We know from years of experience how this ends up. Our employers are able to isolate us from other workers and then pick us off. If the working class as a whole is drowning, it’s only a matter of time before the rising waves wash union workers away as well, no matter how skilled we are or how secure we feel.

If we are able to attract and become relevant to young workers, workers of color, immigrant workers and workers on the low end of the pay scale, then unions actually have a bright future. The fight for 15 is a key part of that future.

Here in St. Paul we expect that the City Council will be voting on an ordinance to raise the minimum wage by late November. We still face a fight over carve-outs like a lower minimum wage for tipped workers (often called a tip penalty), an expanded youth training wage and a lower minimum wage for personal care attendants and other workers. We are demanding One Fair Wage for all St. Paul workers, no carve-outs or exemptions.

Unions and union retirees have been at the center of the Fight for 15 in St. Paul. Union members always show up strong at 15 rallies and turn out for public listening sessions. There will be another opportunity to have an impact on Saturday, Aug. 4, during the next minimum wage listening session sponsored by the city. It’s scheduled from 9 to 11:15 a.m. at the Metropolitan State University Student Center, 690 East Seventh Street.

Please come to support One Fair Wage of $15 for St. Paul!

– A former baggage handler fired by Delta for his support of 15 for all airport workers, Hedges remains active in local organizing campaigns, including the 15 Now campaign and the union drive at Delta Air Lines.

Filed Under: Labor Voices Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Women workers take on MN restaurant lobby over tip penalty

June 28, 2018 by

St. Paul barista Evann Zuckerman joins a march on the Minnesota Restaurant Association’s offices in St. Paul.

Women workers delivered a message to the state’s powerful restaurant lobby yesterday that an attack on tipped workers’ wages is an attack on women.

Tipped workers joined union members and other supporters in a march on the Minnesota Restaurant Association’s offices in St. Paul, where the women staged a rally and delivered a letter demanding the organization end its campaign to carve out a subminimum “tipped wage” in St. Paul.

“I want to keep one fair wage in my industry,” St. Paul barista Evann Zuckerman told other activists at the rally. “I want the MRA out of the way, and to stop putting profits over people.”

Mayor Melvin Carter, who made a $15 citywide minimum wage the centerpiece of his 2017 election campaign, wants an ordinance on the books by the end of the year. Among the biggest questions he and City Council members face in drafting the ordinance is whether to include a tipped wage.

MRA is lobbying hard for a carve-out, as the organization does any time elected officials consider raising the minimum wage. (The MRA also supports a statewide law stripping cities like St. Paul of the power to raise labor standards in their communities.)

Minnesota is one of seven states without a “tip penalty,” which allows restaurants and bars to pay workers a lower wage as long as they make up the difference in tips. Not only is the arrangement highly susceptible to wage theft, but it also puts servers and bartenders – 70 percent of whom are women – at a greater risk of experiencing sexual harassment and abusive behavior.

Zuckerman, who has five years of experience in the industry, said she’s been hit on by customers and harassed by managers.

“Skewed power dynamics,” she said, are a big part of restaurant culture. The more reliant workers are on tips, the less likely they are to push back.

“Men who are already feel entitled treat female workers even worse knowing that they hold so much over us, as the minimum wage now is not enough and we need tips to survive,” she said. “The Minnesota Restaurant Association knows that making us rely on tips means workers are disempowered, and they just don’t care.”

A restaurant owner from Seattle, where the minimum wage is on track to reach $15, also spoke at the rally. Shirley Henderson urged St. Paul servers not to buy into the MRA’s warnings that service jobs will disappear or customers will stop tipping if servers’ wages increase.

“In Seattle, groups like the MRA use the same fear-mongering about $15,” Henderson said. “The sky is not falling in Seattle. Small business is thriving.”

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