Detained Guild member’s son attends SOTU as Omar’s guest

February 27, 2026 by

Union member Eustaquio Orozco Verdusco with his godsons. (submitted photo)

The Trump administration’s chaotic, violent surge of immigration-enforcement activity in Minnesota this winter has upended thousands of lives, Gerardo Orozco Guzman’s among them.

But Guzman, 27, had a rare opportunity to bear witness to that devastation when President Trump delivered his State of the Union address Feb. 24, as one of four guests – all impacted by Operation Metro Surge – invited to attend the speech with Rep. Ilhan Omar.

Guzman’s father, Eustaquio Orozco Verdusco, was abducted on his way to work Jan. 9, and he remained in federal detention at press time. Verdusco is an organizer with the worker center CTUL, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha, and a member of the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild.

For Guzman, attending the State of the Union was an opportunity to bring “light and awareness” to what’s happening both to his family and to his community.

“It is extremely unfair that my dad was taken by the government,” he said. “It’s unfair that our family is having to go through this. It’s unfair that my Minnesota community is having to go through this still.”

Guzman’s father, known to friends and family as “Paco,” has made a career of helping vulnerable workers fight back against abuses in the construction industry.

CTUL is a resource center for workers who experience wage theft, misclassification and labor trafficking, and the organization has a track record of recovering unpaid wages and helping deliver cases to authorities for investigation.

Guzman has built a career as an advocate, too. A legal assistant and mediator for the Minnesota Attorney General’s office, he was named an “Unsung Legal Hero” by Minnesota Lawyer magazine last year.

Guzman, his mother, his sister and his extended family have been scrambling to pursue every legal option possible to get Paco home since his arrest. Lawyers immediately filed a habeas corpus petition for his release, but it was denied by a judge.

After spending weeks in the notoriously dangerous Camp East Montana detention facility, Paco was transferred to a facility in New Mexico, a move that came with greater access to phone calls, Guzman said.

But the family’s concern grows with each day Paco is detained.

“He calls to check in on us and tell us he’s OK, but with every call he does sound more dejected,” Guzman said. “He recognized, I think, that people who he’s met in detention have been there way longer – eight or nine months, if not longer. As time goes on the tone of his voice is not the same, and noticing that change, it’s heartbreaking to say the least.”

Guzman said the family has settled on a multi-pronged legal approach to get Paco home, but costs are adding up. The family launched an online fundraiser, and 6,000 people have signed onto a petition for Paco’s release.

“You want to have faith in the laws and procedures, and at first my dad was hopeful that he would be released, as he should have been,” Guzman said. “We’ve gotten so much support from more people than I know, but if we can get a little more support, get the right kind of support…

“I’ll talk to anyone and everyone. I just want my dad back with us.”

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: , , , ,

Video game workers in Minnesota make history with union drive

March 22, 2024 by

Over 300 video game workers in Eden Prairie have joined together with colleagues in Texas and California to form the industry’s largest union, looking to protect their work-life balance in a trade notorious for its “crunch culture.”

The Communications Workers of America (CWA) announced March 8 that about 600 workers at Activision Central Quality Assurance, a division of the Activision Blizzard gaming company, had won voluntary union recognition from Microsoft, the firm’s parent company.

With 334 workers, the Eden Prairie site is Activision Central Quality Assurance’s largest location, and employees there had been trying to organize with CWA for about four years.

Two recent developments – a return-to-office order last November and a round of layoffs in January – kicked the union drive into high gear, organizing committee member Allen Junge said.

“The way management approached layoffs was terrifying,” Junge, a Quality Assurance (QA) functional tester, said. “We’d gotten an email to tell us that layoffs were happening, but nobody knew how many people or who would be laid off. And in the Zoom call, it seemed like even the director of QA didn’t know whether or not we were going to be laid off until we were on the call.

“It was an awful experience, and that got a lot of people motivated.”

Within weeks of the Jan. 26 layoffs, Activision Quality Assurance United (AQAU) had enough support to request recognition from Microsoft under the terms of its labor neutrality pact with the CWA, reached after the tech giant acquired Activision Blizzard in 2022.

Over 1,000 Microsoft video game workers now have CWA representation. They include quality assurance workers with ZeniMax studios, who unionized last year and have since reached groundbreaking agreements on subcontracting and use of artificial intelligence.

“Microsoft continues to keep its commitment to let workers decide for themselves whether they want a union,” CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. said in a statement. “Time and again, other big companies in the industry have made the decision to undermine and attack their own employees when they join together to form a union. Microsoft’s choice will strengthen its corporate culture and ability to serve its customers and should serve as a model for the industry.”

In addition to job security and layoff procedures, AQAU members said they hope to bargain a first contract that raises pay, creates more opportunities for advancement and puts remote work back on the table.

Junge, who lives in Minneapolis and began working for Activision Blizzard after the COVID outbreak in 2020, said getting called into the Eden Prairie office in November amounted to a pay cut for him and many other workers, given the added transportation costs and travel time. The policy is particularly burdensome for workers with disabilities, he added.

“Like a lot of tech companies, they put a lot of talk into diversity-equity-and-inclusion efforts and supporting people with differing abilities and disabilities,” Junge said. “But they’ve taken away the thing that makes our job more accessible to those people.”

QA workers run fully built video games through a series of tests before they hit the market to find bugs or crashes. Companies often pitch the work “as a way to get your foot in the door in the video game industry,” Eden Prairie QA tester Kara Fannon said.

In reality, Junge said, the work is almost always confined to projects that don’t come with opportunities to learn new skills. “We’re isolated,” he said. “Everything we do has to be QA, and there’s not a lot of options elsewhere.”

“At best, we get the internal job posting before the public does,” Fannon added. “We’re ready to grow our careers here and believe that having a strong union contract will set workers and the company up for success.”

As for the “crunch culture” that has become synonymous with video game work, Junge said that’s already starting to change, as workers’ organizing efforts in recent years have brought the industry under greater scrutiny – and raised workers’ own expectations.

“There were some awful experiences that people had, like working 16-hour shifts into the night and having to come in again at the start of their regular shift,” Junge said. “A lot of people kind of saw through it, that it is actually pretty terrible.”

Having organized the industry’s largest union “feels pretty historic,” he added.

“I think we’ll be a good voice for change in not just the gaming industry, but in the tech industry as a whole.”

Members of AQAU-CWA who work in Eden Prairie will join Minneapolis-based CWA Local 7250.

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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

Electric Machinery workers rally in Minneapolis: ‘Two percent isn’t going to cut it’

August 31, 2022 by

Electric Machinery workers rally in northeast Minneapolis.

Members of IUE-CWA Local 1140 held an informational rally outside WEG Electric Machinery in northeast Minneapolis yesterday to show management their solidarity – and to clear up a potential misconception.

“The company seems to think this is bargaining as usual,” Local 1140 representative Richard Shorter said. “We know that’s not the case.

“We’ve been bargaining since June, and we need them to understand that 2% isn’t going to cut it.”

Shorter spoke to over 50 workers who marched onto Central Avenue after the day shift ended. Several said they are watching these negotiations closely, given the hot job market and an inflation rate that has hovered above 8% nationally.

“Anything less than a cost of living adjustment is a wage cut at this point,” said machinist Mike Lundgren, who has six years of experience with Electric Machinery.

“They were trying to bring people in at $16 per hour, and now it’s $18 per hour,” said Cliff Anderson, in his 49th year working at the plant. “People can go earn about the same thing at Burger King.”

Local 1140’s Richard Shorter gives Electric Machinery workers a bargaining update.

Owned by Brazil-based WEG since 2011, Electric Machinery designs, manufactures and services large electrical motors and generators. The company’s roots in northeast Minneapolis go back over 125 years.

At its peak, employment reached 1,500. About 130 IUE-CWA members currently work in the facility.

“They used to actually care about the people,” Anderson said. “Now it’s a company that cares about satisfying the corporate head, nothing else.”

IUE-CWA is the branch of the Communications Workers union that brings together manufacturing and industrial workers in a wide range of industries, including automotive, aerospace, furniture, and appliances.

Negotiations between Local 1140 and WEG Electric Machinery are scheduled to continue through September. The contract expires in early October.

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

With unanimous support, Public News Service staffers win union recognition

June 14, 2022 by

Three weeks after going public with their union, 16 employees of Public News Service (PNS) won voluntary recognition from management May 24 and will begin contract negotiations as members of the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild, TNG-CWA Local 37002.

“We’re thrilled that management [at Public News Service] has voluntarily recognized our union,” the Public News Service Union posted on Twitter. “We look forward to negotiating our first contract, and working with management to create a sustainable and equitable future for PNS.”

The nonprofit, member-supported news organization covers 37 states, providing content to over 10,000 media outlets. The new bargaining unit brings together journalists, editors, audio engineers, and outreach and membership specialists based in locations across the country.

Nadia Ramlagan, a producer from Louisville, Ky., said PNS’s far-flung newsroom complicated the organizing process when it began about a year ago. But it proved a satisfying challenge to overcome.

“We’ve all really forged these deep relationships with one another, despite working remotely,” Ramlagan said. “I feel like my work life has been enriched. No matter what happens with the bargaining process, it’s really been a game changer.”

Workers requested voluntary recognition of their union after a petition for representation drew unanimous support from eligible employees. By granting voluntary recognition, PNS bypassed the lengthy National Labor Relations Board election process.

“I respect and recognize PNS employees’ right to unionize,” PNS founder and CEO Lark Corbeil said in a public statement. “Journalists have a staggering responsibility, and every editorial decision is a choice. Together, we must continue to put forward a collective vision of a just and sustainable future, and journalists’ safety and well being is central to that mission.”

Guild members said their top priorities in bargaining a first contract with PNS will be equitable working conditions and a fairer pay scale. They also will look to negotiations as a way to improve the news outlet and ensure its future viability.

“This is a group of really passionate producers and journalists who all saw ways that we could make our workplace better,” Ramlagan said.

In the last decade, workers at over 200 media outlets have launched union drives, according to the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Locally, workers at MinnPost won recognition of their union with the Guild a year ago, and Minnesota Public Radio News staff members organized with SAG-AFTRA in 2017.

Ramlagan said PNS employees “definitely see ourselves as part of that wave of newsroom, white-collar and nonprofit workers” seeking a voice on the job.

“I think we’re at a crossroads collectively where the state of journalism can run on a system of exploitation forever until it totally collapses, or we change our approach to our industry, so it continues to be viable and sustainable and to attract good people who are in the work for the right reasons,” she said.

Bargaining, like the organizing process, will be a learn-as-you-go experience for most members of the fledgling union. Ramlagan, who has been with PNS for over three years, admitted to “a very limited understanding” of what unions do until recently.

“Everybody seemed to be in the same boat as me in that the idea of having agency as an employee and having the power to change your workplace for the better hadn’t really occurred to me, individually,” she said. “We’ve had some producers who’ve worked for Public News Service for seven to 12 years and are the most supportive of this effort, but they hadn’t taken that action until now.”

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

Don’t be fooled by AT&T’s authorized retailers, CWA members warn

December 17, 2021 by

Union members and supporters demonstrate outside the AT&T authorized retailer in Roseville, where CWA members used to work.

After a push from union members in Minnesota, the Communications Workers of America is stepping up its campaign to fight back against job cuts and union busting at AT&T retail stores nationwide, asking supporters to do business with stores that employ CWA members.

AT&T workers were in the streets outside dozens of “AT&T authorized retailers” across the country last weekend, including stores in St. Cloud and Roseville. The actions drew attention to the company’s recent move convert corporate-owned stores, staffed by CWA members, to third-party dealers.

That’s union-busting, said Kieran Knutson, president of CWA Local 7250, which represents AT&T wireless sales reps, technicians and call-center employees in Minnesota.

“It’s an attack not just on our union and on the working conditions in those stores, but also on the communities because there are less union jobs available,” Knutson said during a protest Saturday outside the authorized retailer in Roseville. “We’re not going to let them off the hook for that.”

AT&T has closed or converted more than 650 corporate-owned stores in the last two years, including 12 of 36 stores in Minnesota. The cuts have come despite AT&T’s promise that then-President Trump’s 2017 tax cut, which put billions into the company’s coffers, would create new jobs.

Local 7250 authored a resolution, passed by the CWA at its international convention in October, calling for the day of action against AT&T’s job cuts, held Saturday during the holiday shopping season.

The union also has launched a campaign to help AT&T customers tell the difference between union and non-union stores, which look alike except for a small sign on the front indicating which are authorized retailers.

Union stores in the east metro include Burnsville, Maplewood, St. Paul (Highland Park) and Woodbury. Find a complete list of union stores nationwide at CWA.org/ATTstore.

Union members and supporters all but shut down the AT&T authorized retailer in Roseville for nearly two hours Saturday, marching outside the storefront with signs and distributing fliers in the parking lot.

The store used to be staffed by union members, Knutson said, but recently closed and reopened as an authorized retailer owned by Prime Communications. That company’s leadership includes several former AT&T executives.

“The sole purpose of Prime Communications is to franchise AT&T retail stores, to turn them from union into non-union stores,” Knutson said. “It’s not like they also franchise Verizon; they are purely a creation for union-busting.”

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

Union pledges fight as AT&T plans more Twin Cities store closings

February 26, 2021 by

Local job cuts at AT&T will continue this spring, when the company plans to close three more wireless retail locations in the Twin Cities suburbs, according to Communications Workers Local 7250.

The union, which represents AT&T wireless sales reps, technicians and call-center employees in Minnesota, received official notification of the store closings yesterday.

AT&T closed nine retail stores across the state last summer, and has been shamelessly outsourcing and offshoring American jobs at a steady clip in recent years. The cuts have come despite AT&T’s promise that then-President Trump’s 2017 tax cut, which put billions into the company’s coffers, would create new jobs.

That will never happen, AT&T retail sales consultant Larry Thompson said, unless executives feel pressured to live up to their promises. Thompson, a Local 7250 officer who works in the company’s St. Paul store, said the union is at work on plans to exert that pressure.

“We all see the writing on the wall,” he said.

A year ago, Local 7250 represented workers in 36 AT&T Wireless locations statewide. By June that total will have dropped to 24.

Each store employs five sales reps, on average. They typically earn around $17 per hour in base pay, plus commission and benefits, Thompson said.

The company closed 250 stores nationwide last summer and, in October, warned of more cuts to come. CWA Local 7250 President Kieran Knutson said the three Minnesota stores set to close this spring – in Apple Valley, Shakopee and West St. Paul – are among 95 closing nationwide in April and May.

CWA’s nationwide contract with AT&T guarantees workers the opportunity to transfer to other wireless stores within a 30-mile radius or, if they meet the qualifications, to work from home as a customer-service consultant.

That softens the blow some. But Thompson said customer-service reps earn considerably less than sales reps without commission, and AT&T “has closed so many stores, we’re running out of places to put people.”

Stores slated to close typically reopen as nonunion “authorized retailers,” selling AT&T products and services but not owned by the company. The products are the same, but the experience inside the store is different for both workers and customers.

“They typically reduce sales staff to he bone, and they don’t offer the same kinds of benefits, wages and job security that our contract guarantees on top of the commissions,” Knutson said.

“They don’t operate with the same integrity,” Thompson added. “Everybody who works at a corporate-owned store has had a negative experience with authorized retailers because of that.

“We get paid well, we do a great job and we keep our jobs. It’s that simple.”

Find a list of corporate-owned stores, staffed by Local 7250 members, on the union’s website.

Meanwhile, supporters should stay tuned to the union’s social media feed for upcoming actions pushing back against job cuts at AT&T, Knutson said.

“This is a clear union-busting move by the company,” he said. “Behind all of these cuts are some real people and their families. We’re not going to take this lying down.”

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

Labor values are lived, not learned for union members on the 2020 ballot

October 28, 2020 by

Members of labor unions make the best labor-endorsed candidates. Fortunately for working families, several union members are running for office this year with the Labor 2020 endorsement.

“We know that when union members hold public office, they champion our values and work hard to shift the balance of power for working people,” said Bill McCarthy, president of the state’s largest labor federation, the Minnesota AFL-CIO.

A power shift is exactly what Josiah Hill, an English teacher in the Stillwater school system, has in mind with his campaign to represent Senate District 39, which straddles the St. Croix River in Washington County.

Republicans hold a narrow, three-seat majority in the Senate, and they have used it to thwart progress on “environmental protection, public-school funding and expanding access to affordable health care coverage,” Hill said. Unseating his incumbent opponent would be a step toward a labor majority in the chamber.

Hill has served six terms as president of his union, the St. Croix Education Association. It’s an experience he considers the “perfect training exercise” for the Legislature because it involved reaching compromise, not scoring political points.

“I’m solutions focused,” Hill said. “I’m not interested in short-term wins. The work I’ve had to engage in makes it necessary to listen deeply to all parties and to find solutions that allow us to move forward with the resources available.”

Like Hill, Erin Preese is a union educator vying to unseat an incumbent. Preese’s work teaching English-language learners in the Lakeville schools has informed the type of legislator she hopes to be for the residents of House District 58A.

In fact, it’s why she’s running in the first place. Two years ago, as a member of the Lakeville Education Association’s committee on government relations, Preese paid a visit to her House representative – now her opponent – to advocate for fair funding of public schools.

“It was frustrating,” Preese remembered. “Our current representative, he has two daughters in private school, and sometimes it’s hard to understand life experiences that are not your own.”

Preese said she plans to continue teaching in Lakeville if she wins Nov. 3, with a leave of absence during the legislative session.

“The decisions made at the Capitol have real effects on people here at our school, on their everyday lives,” she said. “Working will help me stay grounded. I think maybe if you’re at the Capitol too much you can get caught up in the politics.”

Jim Swenson makes a point of keeping politics out of the City of North Branch’s business. A member of Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Swenson is seeking reelection this fall to a second two-year term as the Chisago County community’s mayor.

North Branch is growing, and Swenson’s focus has been on making that growth sustainable for everyone. Building permits are up over 250% this year, and the city has seen 96 new homes built already in 2020. A 48-unit, income-based housing development has opened, and last year the city added a 20-unit apartment complex for people struggling with mental-health issues and homelessness.

In August, Gov. Tim Walz visited North Branch to present the city with a “Telecommuter Forward!” award for its efforts to expand broadband internet access citywide – something of critical importance to workers during the pandemic. During the ceremony, Swenson said, he pulled Walz aside and touted the nonpartisan, community effort that led to North Branch’s success.

“This is the way government needs to work, with two people from totally separate parties working together,” Swenson told Walz. “Can you believe that? It’s the way government should work – for the people.”

Bringing people together is, of course, what unions do. So it should come as no surprise Swenson and other candidates with union backgrounds are good at it. As a member of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) for the last six years, House District 58B candidate Sara Wolf has seen firsthand the power of collective voice.

“It’s telling that when the topic of health insurance comes up and someone says, ‘I’m union,’ everybody knows that it means they have good insurance!” Wolf laughed.

Kaela Berg, a flight attendant seeking office in House District 56B, remembered how she felt upon joining her union, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, 17 years ago. It was “a spark that was ignited that became a fire in my belly for fighting for working families,” she said.

Since signing that union card, Berg has taken an active role in local movements for economic and environmental justice, serving a stint as director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition. Now she’s ready to go to work in the Legislature, fighting to advance the priorities she and all labor-endorsed candidates share, like accessible health care, fully funded schools and economic opportunity for everyone.

“They aren’t just legislative talking points to me,” Berg said. “They are my lived experience. I’m passionate about a Minnesota that works for working families.”

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

As nonprofits face uncertain times, some employees look to unionize

September 3, 2020 by

Hope Community workers are bargaining their first union contract after winning voluntary recognition from the Minneapolis nonprofit in July.

The new bargaining unit, organized with Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild – TNG-CWA Local 37002, brings together 10 frontline workers.

They announced their victory in a video posted on social media, calling themselves “part of the increasing number of nonprofit workers joining organized labor because we believe that our power plus your power equals more power.”

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Hope Community works out of the city’s Phillips neighborhood. Frontline employees work in the community to find alternatives to development through gentrification, and to grow a network of leaders who work for racial and economic equity.

The work requires long hours and is often stressful, Hope parks and power organizer Shruthi Kamisetty said. And like many jobs in the nonprofit sector, the wages are low.

“Everyone should get paid more,” Kamisetty said.

And she doesn’t just mean everyone in her bargaining unit.

Kamisetty, who has been on staff at Hope for almost two years, wants the union drive and contract campaign at Hope to be a catalyst for more worker power in the local nonprofit community, and many of her co-workers feel the same, she said.

“We have our grievances specific to Hope, but our campaign can’t be divorced from other (nonprofit) organizations,” Kamisetty said. “We’re grounded in our issues, but we’re going to use that as fodder and fuel to help others organize.”

Local union organizers report an increasing level of interest among nonprofit workers in collective bargaining recently.

In fact, Hope Community is the second nonprofit to unionize this summer. In June, employees of Jewish Community Action, a local nonprofit committed to racial and economic justice, won representation with Local 12 of the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU).

Members of the seven-person bargaining unit include community organizers, a business and office manager, a communications director and an outreach and engagement manager. In a statement, they said they are looking forward to bargaining a first contract with JCA.

“We repair the world as a ‘bnai brit’ – covenantal partners,” union members said. “Forming a union binds us in covenantal relationship with one another and commits us to take responsibility for one another as fellow workers. It also allows us to make more explicit the implicit covenant that forms our relationship with JCA as an organization and with our members.

“We are looking forward to entering this new covenant, one that brings us all towards a just world, together.”

Ripe for organizing? 

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the local nonprofit landscape. The Minnesota Council of Nonprofits estimates organizations statewide saw their revenue drop by $1 billion in April alone.

Nonprofit workers have been hit hard by the budget problems. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported in July that roughly a third of nonprofit employees in Minnesota had filed for unemployment benefits since the coronavirus outbreak reached the state.

(MN Department of Employment and Economic Development)

Even before the pandemic, workers at nonprofits like Hope – advocacy, arts, environmental and social service organizations – were seeing lower pay than workers in both the for-profit and public sectors. Median pay for nonprofit workers, excluding those at hospitals, clinics and colleges, was about $18 per hour in 2018.

Making a career of nonprofit work, Hope workers say, usually means going into management. And climbing the ladder requires learning to squeeze as much programming as possible out of limited resources, while finding favor with the powerful foundations and donors who fund nonprofit work.

Workers closest to the mission, parks and power lead organizer Jake Virden said, are too often left without a seat at the table in nonprofit decisions. And that makes the industry ripe for union organizing.

“The people who drive the nonprofit ecosystem are billion-dollar foundations,” Virden said. “And yet a lot of our co-workers are working two or three jobs, part-time jobs on weekends or after work at Hope.

“There’s this idea we are acting out of our values or our mission. But I think a lot of people are waking up to the idea that there are these big pots of money, billions of dollars, and it’s the people who are well connected setting policies and agendas. But it’s the youth workers, the health care workers, the policy workers on the ground, doing the grunt work, who have good ideas and a lot to say, who are really shut out.”

A voice for workers 

Having won recognition of their union from Hope Community’s board of directors – a process Kamissety described as “not super smooth” – workers are turning their attention to the first contract. In addition to higher wages, they plan to seek greater clarity regarding expectations and disciplinary procedures.

They will also be looking for a bigger voice in the organization’s decision making. Virden said that for many of his colleagues, their lack of voice at work hit home during a recent all-staff meeting to discuss proposed changes to Hope’s mission statement. “What became clear to us was we were the very last people to see this mission statement, and it was already written,” he said. “The meeting was for us to just check the box.

“We’re the ones who do the work of the organization. All the grant money, accolades, prestige – it comes from the work we do in the community. So how is it management, the board and outside consultants have seen this document before we did?”

If it happened to them, it’s probably happening to workers at other nonprofits. That’s why, although their own organizing drive may be over, Hope workers haven’t stopped talking about the power of a union in the nonprofit workplace.

“I never thought about myself as a worker until we started our union campaign,” Kamissety said. “I’m working. I’m getting a wage. I depend on this wage to support myself. Yet I never thought of myself as a worker. So I’m very invested in making sure my friends, people at other nonprofits, know everyone can unionize.”

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

House votes to restore worker voice on the job

February 6, 2020 by

Dee Ann Christensen and Mike Landers, both retired union members who attended the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s campaigns conference today, call their representatives in support of the PRO Act.

The U.S. House of Representatives tonight passed a bill to strengthen protections for workers trying to join together in a union.

The Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act would create new penalties for employers who illegally intimidate or fire workers for organizing a union. It would repeal state right-to-work laws, protect the right to strike and give workers new tools for bargaining a first contract swiftly.

A top legislative priority for organized labor since Democrats took control of the House a year ago, the PRO Act would be the most consequential labor-law reform in 80 years – if it weren’t dead on arrival in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Still, the House vote affirms that labor-law reform remains a key piece of Democrats’ election-year agenda.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called the PRO Act “the most significant piece of legislation that will come before Congress this year,” and said the nation’s largest labor federation would use today’s vote to draw a line in the sand.

“Those who would oppose, derail or delay this important legislation, do not ask us for a dollar or a door-knock. We won’t be coming,” Trumka said during a Capitol press conference. “But stand with us today, and we’ll stand with you tomorrow.”

Trumka’s message echoed loud and clear with federal lawmakers from Minnesota, who received calls from over 100 union members and retirees gathered for a conference in Minneapolis today.

“Our outdated labor laws are no longer effective to make sure working people have their voices heard,” the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s Melissa Hysing told activists attending the federation’s two-day campaigns conference. “The PRO Act restores fairness to the economy and ensures working people share in the massive wealth we have helped create.”

Four DFLers co-sponsored the PRO Act: Reps. Angie Craig, Betty McCollum, Ilhan Omar and Collin Peterson. Rep. Dean Phillips also voted in favor of the bill.

McCollum, who represents Minnesota’s 4th Congressional District, said the PRO Act would restore fairness to the economy and help curb rising income inequality.

“The PRO Act strengthens workers’ power to stand together and negotiate for higher pay and better benefits,” she said. “For women who are part of a union, the gender pay gap is nearly eliminated, and union members of color have nearly five times the median wealth of their non-union counterparts.

“Anti-union and anti-worker attacks have led to the decline of the middle class. It’s time we pass the PRO Act and restore the constitutional right to organize, putting power back into the hands of American workers.”

Despite polls showing historically high public support for unions last year, the percentage of U.S. workers who belong to unions continued a four-decade decline. An MIT survey from 2018 found about half of private-sector workers, or 60 million people, wanted a union. Only 6.4% actually have one.

The disconnect, union organizers say, stems from bosses’ increasing disregard for laws meant to protect workers during union organizing drives. Employers broke the law in 41.5% of union elections overseen by the National Labor Relations Board in 2016 and 2017.

“They just view it as a cost of doing business,” Jeff Lachler, a Minneapolis-based organizer with the Communications Workers of America, said. “There’s every incentive in the world to break the law, and there’s no real downside as long as you succeed in keeping the union out.”

While federal law prohibits employers from harassing, threatening or firing workers for supporting a union drive, the penalties for breaking those laws lack teeth.

In many cases, employers found guilty of breaking the law must post a notice acknowledging their misdeeds or making workers aware of their rights. In the case of workers fired for union activity, employers have to reinstate them with back pay, if they haven’t already moved on to another job.

But the process, which includes board filings, hearings and appeals, is lengthy, and that works to employers’ benefit, Lachler said.

“Even if they have to bring the worker back, there are no punitive damages,” he said. “In the meantime, they’ve succeeded in scaring everybody else from going through with an organizing drive.”

In addition to giving the NLRB authority to fine employers who break labor law, the PRO Act allows workers to seek justice in court. That would be key for workers who can’t afford to wait for the lengthy NLRB process to run its course.

Other provisions of the bill would prohibit employers from permanently replacing workers who strike, and make so-called “secondary strikes” legal, allowing workers to strike in solidarity with their co-workers.

The PRO Act would make mediation and arbitration mandatory to settle lengthy disputes over first contracts. Nearly half of newly formed unions fail to reach a contract with the employers.

The bill also includes provisions to stop employers from misclassifying workers as “independent contractors” in order to avoid workers comp and other liabilities. It would make fast-food companies and other franchising corporations more responsible for labor practices throughout their chain.

And it would require employers to disclose whether they are paying an outside firm to help defeat a union organizing campaign. A recent analysis found employers pay about $340 million annually to outside firms for “union avoidance.”

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

At organizing boot camp, workers look to build power from the inside out

July 16, 2018 by

Todd Dahlstrom (blue shirt), the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s organizing director, leads a session during the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute last week in St. Paul. The Minnesota Nurses Association hosted the three-day training.

It takes a strong union to bargain a strong contract. Or, as CWA Local 7304 member Jim Wiebe put it: “A hammer doesn’t swing by itself.”

A union steward and welder at the New Flyer bus facility in St. Cloud, Wiebe was one of 55 activists from across the Midwest who traveled to St. Paul last week for the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute, a three-day boot camp in building stronger unions.

It convened less than two weeks after the Supreme Court sided with corporate interests in Janus v. AFSCME, a decision making it harder for public-sector workers to join together and bargain strong contracts.

Janus may be a setback for labor, but activists at the training sounded ready to push back, building power from the inside out.

“Too many of our members, they think that the stewards or the reps are the union,” said Andrea Branson, a HealthPartners billing representative and steward for Office and Professional Employees Local 12. “No, they are the union, but a lot of people don’t recognize that.”

Janus makes “right-to-work” (RTW) the law of the land in public-sector workplaces, allowing workers to reap the benefits of a union contract without sharing in the costs. Under RTW, unions must convince as many workers as possible to resist the temptation of “free-riding” and, instead, sign up for membership.

At the Organizing Institute, activists picked up tips for engaging fellow workers in conversations about supporting their union. Chris Tucker, president of Machinists Local 1010 in right-to-work Iowa, called it one of the most important conversations some people will ever have.

“When you talk to someone who doesn’t have a union, it can be a life changing experience for them,” Tucker said. “They can figure out there’s a better life by bonding together with their fellow workers.”

Even in states like Minnesota without a RTW law on the books (yet), private-sector unions have seen one-on-one conversations build the foundation of successful contract campaigns.

Wiebe’s St. Cloud-based local includes some 600 members of the Communications Workers of America. (“It’s a big unit to mobilize,” he deadpanned.) But as talks with New Flyer reached a tipping point last year, the local staged a rally that drew a third of its members. It was the largest event in Local 7304’s history, Wiebe said – and the result of scores of conversations on the shop floor, in the break room and outside the plant gate.

“New Flyer came to the table after that action, and it looked like they’d lost their best friend,” Wiebe said. What’s more, the company improved its offer on the table to include double-time pay for workers logging overtime on weekends.

Chris Tucker (L), president of Machinists Local 1010 in right-to-work Iowa, said unions can remain strong in RTW states.

Bonnie Jolly, a union steward at the Pearson’s Candy plant in St. Paul, hopes for a similar outcome this fall when Bakers Local 22 enters contract negotiations with the company. She’s already making sure as many members as possible on her shift are tuned into the process.

“We’re going for wages and better benefits,” Jolly said. “Whenever I go on break, I try to talk one-on-one with somebody I work with. I tell them if you don’t get involved now, you have no right to complain after the contract is done.”

In RTW states, though, the work of engaging co-workers doesn’t start when negotiations show up on the calendar. It’s part of a constant campaign to keep the union afloat.

Duluth resident Keith Musolf, a member and organizer for Ironworkers Local 512, represents people in Wisconsin and North Dakota, both RTW states where Ironworkers can opt out of paying dues while working on union job sites.

“You don’t have to drive very far to see a large change,” he said. “We’re so secure in our island of Minnesota, and they’re on their own race to the bottom. Traveling there is just an attitude check for me.”

Indeed, many labor experts now believe RTW will be the law of the land in the near future, whether by legislative action or court decision. (Janus-style cases targeting private-sector workplaces are already in the works.)

But the outcome isn’t necessarily gloomy, Branson said. She befriended several workers from RTW states at the Organizing Institute.

“I’m listening and hearing that a lot of unions in these states got stronger,” Branson said. “They say members have a better sense of what’s at stake. They are the union, they know what it’s about and they haven’t let (RTW) discourage them. I think that is so cool.”

In the end, Wiebe said, every conversation in an organizing drive comes down to the same question, and it’s one public-sector workers in Minnesota and across the country are presently answering for themselves.

“Would you rather try going in and bargaining by yourself, or go in and bargain as a bunch?” Wiebe said. “We’ve got to get people to understand that there’s power in numbers.”

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