Hotel workers in downtown St. Paul authorize strike, cite wage gap with Minneapolis

September 18, 2025 by

“One Job Should Be Enough” has become UNITE HERE’s rallying cry in contract campaigns.

Workers at two hotels in downtown St. Paul, the InterContinental and the DoubleTree, have voted to authorize a strike over wages that lag their peers’ in Minneapolis, according to UNITE HERE Local 17, the Twin Cities hospitality union.

“St. Paul shouldn’t be paid less than Minneapolis,” Local 17 President Christa Sarrack said in a press release announcing the strike vote. “By authorizing a strike, workers have shown they will stand together until they get what they all need.

“InterContinental and DoubleTree have more than enough money to do the right thing and settle a fair contract, but workers are prepared if they don’t.”

To show they are ready to strike if necessary, workers plan to hold informational picketing outside the InterContinental tomorrow, Sept. 19, at 4:30 p.m.

In ongoing negotiations with the two hotels, union members are demanding wage increases that keep up with the rising cost of living in the Twin Cities. UNITE HERE members have rallied around the slogan “One Job Should Be Enough,” calling out an economy that requires some to have more than one job to survive.

Local 17 represents housekeepers, attendants, cooks, dishwashers, servers, bartenders, bell persons and other workers who have been in bargaining with the hotels since February, working under an expired contract since the end of that month.

At a previous informational picketing session Sept. 12, St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker joined workers and led a delegation to deliver a message to hotel management that she supports the union’s demands.

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Union investment fund backs $42.3 million project in Lowertown

February 18, 2016 by
333 on the Park

333 on the Park

A union investment fund announced plans today to renovate an aging, eight-story office building in St. Paul’s Lowertown district. The project will create 134 market-rate multifamily housing units and an estimated 190 union construction jobs.

The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) unveiled the $42.3 million project, dubbed “333 on the Park,” in a press release. A fixed-income investment company, the HIT manages over $5.5 billion in assets for over 380 investors, including union and public-employee pension plans.

Don Mullin, head of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, said the Lowertown project exemplifies the HIT’s commitment to investing in the value of union craftsmanship.

“The rehabilitation will provide jobs for our members while increasing the area’s number of multifamily housing units,” Mullin said. “This is a good example of investing union pension dollars to create construction jobs with health care and retirement benefits, at the same time benefiting the community at large. It’s a win-win scenario for St. Paul residents, HIT, and the St. Paul Building Trades.”

Originally constructed in 1913, the property is located at the intersection of 5th and Sibley, alongside many older buildings also being renovated into multifamily, retail and office uses. The property will include approximately 6,900 square feet of commercial space and underground parking, with studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.

Federal and state historic tax credits will contribute to the total development cost; HIT’s total investment is $27.7 million.

“333 on the Park exemplifies the HIT’s continuing commitment to St. Paul,” said HIT Senior Investment Officer Chris Shaw. “It represents quality housing that is close to mass transit and within walking distance of many attractions so that people have better access to jobs and services and community amenities. We are pleased to help make this project a reality.”

The new project marks the HIT’s 10th investment in St. Paul, creating 1,181 housing units, an estimated 1,120 union construction jobs and nearly 2,700 total jobs across industries in the community. HIT projects have generated an estimated $420 million in economic benefits and nearly $150 million in personal income, including salaries and benefits, according to the fund.

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Lunds gives downtown St. Paul a full-service, union grocery store

May 23, 2014 by
UFCW Local 1189 members Diane Kramer (L) and Jillian Roemer ring up the first two customers on Lunds' first day open for business downtown St. Paul.

UFCW Local 1189 members Diane Kramer (L) and Jillian Roemer ring up the first two customers on Lunds’ first day open for business downtown St. Paul.

Good news: Downtown St. Paul finally has the full-service grocery store residents have been clamoring for. Even better news: It’s a union shop.

After years of planning and waiting, Lunds opened a 27,000-square-foot store on the ground floor of the Penfield Apartments at 10th and Robert streets May 15. The store’s 80 workers are members of Local 1189 of the United Food and Commercial Workers.

At the store’s grand-opening celebration May 15, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman touted the grocer’s arrival as more evidence that St. Paul’s downtown area is thriving.

“To be a full community, you absolutely have to have a full-service grocery store,” Coleman said. “This is a gigantic leap forward for the City of St. Paul.”

Bartara Gonzales serves a customer at the deli inside Lunds' downtown location.

Bartara Gonzales serves a customer at the deli inside Lunds’ downtown location.

St. Paul has added 1,100 new housing units downtown in the last year, Coleman noted. A new microbrewery, a new minor-league ballpark and, thanks to funding from the state bonding bill, a renovated Palace Theater soon will open just blocks away from Lunds.

Lund Food Holdings CEO Tres Lund acknowledged the “renewed vitality taking place downtown St. Paul” was a factor in the company’s decision to expand into the district.

“One thing the community has lacked, until now, is a full‐service grocery store,” Lund said. “Our store team of nearly 80 employees is eager to provide the community with this much‐needed amenity. Whether you live or work in and around the downtown area, we look forward to becoming your new neighbor.”

A ‘full-service’ grocer

Lunds and Bylerly’s, which Lund Food Holdings acquired in 1997, have 25 retail locations across the Twin Cities area. The chain, celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, has established a reputation for upscale, full-service operations.

The downtown St. Paul Lunds figures to become a popular lunch destination among people working in the area, and the store has a café seating area to accommodate the lunch rush.

Deli workers celebrate the store's grand opening (L to R): Bartara Gonzales, Alaina Moseng and Kristina Kong.

Deli workers celebrate the store’s grand opening (L to R): Bartara Gonzales, Alaina Moseng and Kristina Kong.

The store’s deli features a salad bar, sandwiches, soups and other hot foods. There’s also sushi, prepared in the store daily, and a Big Bowl Chinese Express counter.

Other services and offerings include cake decorating at Lunds’ bakery, hundreds of specialty cheeses from around the world, the largest olive and antipasti bar in any Lunds or Byerly’s, and free knife sharpening from the store’s meat department.

Bachman’s Floral, Caribou Coffee and St. Croix Cleaners dry cleaning operate counters inside Lunds, providing additional convenience for shoppers.

Access to the store is equally convenient, with 95 stalls in an attached parking ramp and, beginning June 14, a Green Line light-rail stop just one block away.

Penfield pays off

The Penfield, which houses Lunds, is built on the former site of the St. Paul Public Safety Building, the façade of which has been absorbed into the new structure.

The 80 or so members of UFCW Local 1189 who staff Lunds are the latest in a string of union members who have found employment as a result of The Penfield development. But there was a time when many wondered if The Penfield would get off the ground at all.

After the housing market collapsed with the Great Recession, the development stalled, as did Lunds’ plans to open in the downtown market. Financing from the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, which invests union pension capital into union-built construction projects, helped revive the project.

“When I took office in 2006, the Penfield project was one of our No. 1 priorities. We knew it would help the rest of the city develop,” Coleman said. “The challenge was, as the economy collapsed, the resources that we needed [for] the project were scarcer and scarcer. It was the Housing Investment Trust that allowed us the resources we needed to get this project in the ground and get people to work building it.”

Now that investment is putting union members to work inside The Penfield as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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