Resident physicians call on U of M to get serious in first-contract talks

September 25, 2026 by Leave a Comment

Dr. Schuyler Gaillard, a resident in the U of M Medical Center’s internal medicine and dermatology programs, describes first-contract talks as “antagonistic.”

Residents at the University of Minnesota Medical Center are fed up with their employer’s “antagonistic” approach to bargaining a first union contract, and asking for public support in pressuring the U of M to settle a fair deal.

Resident physicians and fellows formed their union with the Committee of Interns and Residents, a Service Employees (SEIU) affiliate, in March 2025. The bargaining unit brings together nearly 1,000 medical-school graduates who treat patients under the supervision of a senior physician while training in specialized care.

Contract negotiations with the university began over a year ago, and union members’ demands include fair wages, better health and dental benefits, and a matching contribution to their retirement savings, as well as language that codifies protections for immigrant and LGBTQ staff members.

But during a press conference last month outside the U’s East Bank hospital, union members said the employer has failed to match their sense of urgency at the bargaining table – slow-walking the process “to the point where they have been union-busting,” CIR bargaining team member Schuyler Gaillard said.

The third-year resident, training in internal medicine and dermatology, offered several examples of bad-faith bargaining by the university, including an attempt to schedule sessions in the middle of the workday without allowing members of the bargaining team paid time off to attend.

The U also has flatly refused to discuss some union proposals, while its own have often been insulting. Supriya Reddy, a resident in the pediatrics program, recalled being among 100 CIR members who showed up to a session where university administrators made their initial wage offer.

“They sat in front of over 100 of us and offered a 1% raise, less than the cost of inflation,” Reddy said. “Moreover, they proposed broad fiscal emergency language that would allow them to get rid of the raises entirely under any circumstances they choose.”

As the university drags its feet at the bargaining table, Reddy said, she and other resident physicians continue to struggle with widespread burnout, understaffing, workweeks that sometimes exceed 80 hours and the rising cost of living – not to mention the burden of a debt load that averages $250,000 for medical school graduates.

“We are proud of the care that we provide to our patients, but it is increasingly harder to be the best version of ourselves,” Reddy said.

A first contract that improves residents’ working conditions, Gaillard added, will improve patient care, too.

“We took an oath to protect our patients, and that starts at the bargaining table,” she said. “We won’t settle for anything less than what we need to continue to provide quality care for our patients.”

Resident physicians and fellows at the U of M Medical Center are asking members of the public to sign onto their petition for a fair first contract at act.seiu.org/a/umn-cir-community-petition.

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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

Bargaining moves slowly for Macalester’s newly organized unions

September 25, 2026 by Leave a Comment

Macalaster student workers held a union rally on campus in May 2025.

First, it was the undergraduates at Macalester who unionized with the United Auto Workers (UAW). Then the non-faculty staff followed suit, unionizing with the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE).

So why is Macalester dragging their feet on hammering out the needed contracts?

Undergraduate cafeteria workers get fed up

“It started with a group of cafeteria workers,” student Luca Schira explained. “That was the place with the most issues for student employees. It was unsafe, and students weren’t trained on most things. And then the demand (for unionization) quickly spread to all the student workers.”

After connecting with students from as far as Oregon and as close as the U of M graduate students, the Macalester students decided to unionize with the United Auto Workers (UAW). They formed Macalester Undergraduate Workers Union (MUWU), the first union of undergraduate workers in Minnesota.

“UAW had the reputation for being a progressive, fighting union, and they had a high-profile strike at the time,” student Xavier Honer said. “Also, we looked at Grinnell as a model: A small liberal arts college that also started as cafeteria workers and branched out.”

The hard part

The successful vote to unionize the student workers took place Feb. 25 and 26. After the initial relief and celebration came the hard part: Negotiating a contract.

Said Honer: “It started slowly, and the ICE invasion forced us to cancel one or two of our meetings. The bargaining sessions were scheduled for every other week. Beyond scheduling, there is a lot of resistance. We joke that their favorite phrase is ‘the employer is not interested in hearing this proposal,’ and they would only put into writing that they would follow the current law, basically doing the bare minimum already required of them.”

In the meantime, MAPE at Mac was born, representing non-faculty, non-supervisory staff. They also began negotiating with the college administration over benefit and wage disputes.

How a storied liberal arts college responds

The ball was in Macalester’s court. This is Macalester, the storied liberal arts college, whose mission reads: “Macalester is committed to being a preeminent liberal arts college with an educational program known for its high standards for scholarship and its special emphasis on internationalism, multiculturalism, and service to society.”

Macalester’s response? They hired Felhaber Larson, which has a reputation for advising corporate clients on how to fight unionization. They have provided counsel with companies like Starbucks, for example, and are often viewed as legal defenders of anti-union policies.

Next steps

Now that summer is over, there is a break in the action as school gets rolling into the fall semester. The negotiations are expected to begin again in earnest. What will happen next?

“We need people in the community aware of what’s going on and how slow Macalester is making the bargaining process,” Honer said. “Joining our mailing list to keep up with our events and bargaining updates is the best place to start.

“We always appreciate anybody showing up to our events whether they’re students, alumni, or just community members wanting to support us.”

Show your solidarity

Find links to support student workers and their union at region4.uaw.org/local5105.

– Joel Haskard, Special to The Union Advocate

Filed Under: Organizing Tagged With: , , ,

First union contract delivers gains for Mississippi Market workers

February 2, 2026 by

Members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189 voted last month to ratify a first contract with Mississippi Market after 11 months of bargaining with the St. Paul co-op grocer.

Union negotiators said the three-year contract delivers on the demands that sparked co-op workers’ organizing drive, including more agency in the workplace, economic gains and improvements to scheduling.

Clara Cady, produce buyer and lead who served on Local 1189’s bargaining committee, described the process as empowering.

“I feel like I have a voice in the workplace now, and I feel like my peers and my co-workers have a voice in the workplace,” Cady said. “That’s what we all deserve.”

The bargaining unit brings together over 150 workers at Mississippi Market’s three locations. They voted to form a union with Local 1189 in October 2024.

Bargaining began the following January, after the busy holiday season had passed – and after union members had an opportunity to participate in a survey of what they wanted to accomplish in a first contract. At the top of the list, Cady said, were fairer scheduling policies and more communication with management.

The new contract delivered on both.

A new labor-management committee (LMC) allows workers to bring their issues and ideas to management in a formal setting. Cady, who works at the co-op on Dale Street and Selby Avenue, said she envisions the committee as a place to work through ongoing safety concerns at her location.

“A lot of these concerns have been brought up to the market, and people feel like it’s fallen on deaf ears,” she said. “A lot of what, I think, people wanted was that feeling of being heard – and in return, hearing from management, ‘We’re going to address this, and here’s how.’

“Now, anyone can go and voice their concerns regarding whatever issues they may have, and it will be addressed in those LMC meetings.”

Workers also now get their schedules two weeks in advance, with changes allowed only if they are agreed to by staff. The contract includes protections for workers who are late or miss work during a severe weather event, and it bars managers from scheduling them to “clopen” – working consecutive closing and opening shifts.

The first contract improves union members’ wages and benefits, too. A restructured wage scale will deliver two raises per year – one on a worker’s hiring anniversary date and another on the anniversary of the contract ratification.

Co-op workers also won more paid time off, longer breaks and a more generous and flexible bereavement policy.

Local 1189 President Adam Evenstad credited Mississippi Market workers, who “trudged through a long, hard-fought process” but “never wavered” in their support for each other.

“Their solidarity has been inspiring,” he added.

For her part, Cady said she was proud of the new contract and glad she participated in the negotiations process, even if it meant stepping outside her comfort zone.

“I think a lot of us felt very out of our element sitting in a room across from a lawyer and all of these higher ups from your job,” Cady said. “But I learned so much about myself, and I feel really good about the way we were able to advocate for my peers and for my co-workers.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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

As baristas warn of strike, Starbucks closes MN’s first unionized store

October 17, 2025 by

Baristas walk the picket line with community supporters at the unionized Starbucks in St. Anthony.

Starbucks has closed its café at 300 Snelling Ave. South in St. Paul, where baristas became the first in Minnesota to win a union election in April 2022.

The closure was part of a corporate restructuring in September that saw about 500 locations shut down.

Union shops, including Starbucks’ flagship coffee house in Seattle, were disproportionately impacted by the closures.

Starbucks Workers United represents over 12,000 baristas at 650 stores, roughly 3% of Starbucks locations in the U.S. Unionized locations made up about 14% of shuttered stores.

Phil Rienstra, who worked in the St. Paul store for two years before it closed, said he and other baristas learned on Thursday, Sept. 25, that the location would shut down for good that weekend.

Phil Rienstra is a former barista at the 300 Snelling store.

“It was sudden, it was callous and it was cruel,” Rienstra said of the abrupt closing. “Months and years of work for the company have been cast aside.”

Starbucks has yet to settle a first contract with any of the bargaining units that began forming at cafés across the country in late 2021. Workers at the St. Paul store briefly negotiated with the company’s representatives, who walked out of the meeting after about five minutes.

Talks shifted away from local bargaining teams in February 2024, when the company and Starbucks Workers United announced they would begin bargaining a national framework contract. The process shifted to mediation earlier this year and has stalled out under the leadership of new CEO Brian Niccol.

Union negotiators were able, however, to win an improved severance package for members impacted by the latest restructuring. In effects bargaining last month, Workers United secured, among other gains, severance pay for union baristas even if they turn down a transfer offer – a guarantee not extended to non-union baristas.

Rienstra said he and other union members were disappointed but not deterred by the closure, and he pledged to keep organizing for a union contract at Starbucks, wherever he ends up next.

Abby Haland says baristas at the St. Anthony Starbucks are ready to strike for a fair first contract.

“This round of layoffs created hundreds of angry but capable people, ready to fight for what they are owed and do whatever it takes to make our union heard,” Rienstra said. “Starbucks does not get to just ignore us.”

To that end, union baristas picketed outside a Starbucks in St. Anthony and in 35 other cities across the country during the week of Sept. 30, giving the company a taste of what could be coming if it doesn’t settle a fair contract soon.

The action in St. Anthony drew about 40 picketers – union members and community supporters – to the Starbucks at 3704 Silver Lake Rd., where they chanted, “no contract, no coffee!” and drew honks of encouragement from passing drivers.

As rush-hour traffic whizzed by, several baristas took the bullhorn to voice their contract demands – like better staffing, more reliable hours and higher pay. Abby Haland, a St. Anthony barista, told the crowd she’s ready to strike for a first contract – and asked for their support.

“Take the pledge, ‘No Contract, No Coffee!’” she said. “And pledge to stand with us on the picket line if we have to go on strike, which we are prepared to do.”

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

Legal Services staff look to increase transparency in first contract

September 19, 2025 by

SMRLS workers, joined by labor allies, support their bargaining team on Day 1 of negotiations.

Newly organized workers at Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services entered negotiations on a first contract Wednesday in St. Paul, less than four months after voting to form a union with Council 5 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Workers held a brief, morning rally with supporters outside SMRLS’s St. Paul offices before the union’s elected bargaining team met with management at Minnesota’s longest-standing legal aid nonprofit.

Sarah Palm, a senior staff attorney based in Albert Lea, said increasing transparency at SMRLS was a main driver of the unionization push that began over a year ago, and it remains a priority in bargaining – particularly when it comes to wages.

“Nobody really knew what our pay scale is,” Palm said. “But we would like to get our wages to keep increasing. We’ve never had a COLA (cost-of-living adjustment).”

The union also hopes to establish basic rights in the workplace, codify benefits and remote-work rules, and expand holidays to reflect the cultural diversity in its bargaining unit, Palm said.

Bargaining could move quickly. The union’s negotiating team had sent management a full contract proposal before the two sides even sat down.

Negotiators modeled their proposal on existing union contracts at other legal aid providers, including Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid. Workers there formed a union with Council 5 in January 2024 and settled their first contract, with 14% wage increases, last June.

SMRLS’s new “wall-to-wall” bargaining unit brings together over 70 workers, including staff attorneys, support staff, accountants and development professionals at the organization, which provides services to low-income residents of 33 counties in southern Minnesota, including the Twin Cities’ east and south metro, as well as agricultural workers throughout Minnesota and North Dakota.

Paralegals at SMRLS have long been unionized.

Mario Solis, a member of the bargaining team who works as an attorney in SMRLS’ Agricultural Worker Project in Moorhead, was a member of the paralegal bargaining unit for nearly 10 years before obtaining his law degree last year. Working under a union contract, he said, is better.

“It’s a lot of security – this beneficial state of understanding your rights, what you’re entitled to and what your benefits are. And I hope this doesn’t come up, but if things go badly I’d like to think there’s going to be solidarity among the workers and we’ll have an understanding of how things should be dealt with.

“I felt that security in the paralegal union, and I miss it. So I’m excited to get that back.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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

Grad worker union calls on U leadership to engage in first-contract talks

September 26, 2024 by

On the Twin Cities campus, picketing graduate workers marched from Northrup Mall to McNamara Alumni Center, where the U’s Board of Regents was meeting.

As their union’s bargaining team met in mediation with the University of Minnesota on Sept. 13, graduate workers held informational picketing on three campuses, escalating a first-contract campaign that just entered its second year.

On the Twin Cities campus, picketers with the UMN Graduate Labor Union (UMN-GLU) marched from a gathering spot along the Northrup Mall to McNamara Alumni Center, where the Board of Regents was meeting.

Bargaining committee member Sam Boland, pursuing his doctorate in biomedical engineering at the U, said union members wanted to “bring the fight” to decision-makers with the power to move their contract talks forward.

So far, those administrators have kept the process at arm’s length, Boland said, sending representatives to negotiations on their behalf.

“Ultimately, everything they do has to get approved by this upper echelon of administration at the U who aren’t even in the room,” he added, calling it “a point of frustration through this yearlong process.”

Graduate workers only recently received the U’s financial proposal, and union members at the picket said it falls well short of the livable wages they are demanding.

The U’s proposal also does not provide relief from student fees that teaching and research assistants are forced to pay back to their employer “for the privilege of working here,” mathematics Ph.D. candidate David DeMark said. The fees vary but are especially high for international student workers, who often pay over $1,000 per year, according to the UMN-GLU.

To complicate matters, university administrators and graduate workers have clashed over the implications of a new law that allows academic employees known as “fellows” to join the graduate workers’ bargaining unit.

Fellows’ work, Boland said, “is completely indistinguishable” from that of the teaching and research assistants already included in the bargaining unit, which is why the union successfully lobbied state lawmakers to amend the Public Employees Labor Relations Act (PELRA) during the last state legislative session.

“The university has, more or less, chosen to ignore that,” Boland said. “It’s never happened before where, during contract negotiations, a bargaining unit was significantly expanded. They’re not really sure how to proceed.”

Although Boland acknowledged that the issue may likely end up decided in court, the UMN-GLU plans to continue putting pressure on the U to accept fellows in the bargaining unit, both at the bargaining table and, with support from lawmakers who drafted the new law, outside negotiations.

The U can also expect more contract actions on its campuses unless it ramps up the urgency toward reaching a first contract with graduate workers, many of whom have been in the fight for a collective bargaining agreement for three years or longer.

DeMark, who uses they/them pronouns, began organizing in support of the union in 2021, and they have grown tired of waiting for a “contract we can enforce, a stewardship system and a grievance procedure.”

“At the moment, we are subject to the whims of U of M policy, the whims of individual administrators,” DeMark added. “We don’t have anything we can use to hold them to their own policies even.

“I am hopeful that we can get a contract that’s fair for everyone, but I do not anticipate we are going to be able to do that without further escalation.”

Does that mean a strike?

“We really hope the key decision-makers at the university, including the Board of Regents, know this isn’t going away,” Boland said. “We’re standing together, and we’re willing to show the university how much they rely on us if we’re forced to do that.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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

After trendsetting campaign, Twin Cities workers ratify first contracts with Half Price Books

June 12, 2024 by

Workers at Half Price Books in Roseville shut down the store during a two-day strike in July 2023. (UA file photo)

After an organizing drive that sparked similar efforts at bookstores across the country, workers at four Half Price Books stores in the Twin Cities ratified their first union contracts May 31, winning higher wages, job security and a voice on the job.

“Through the hard work of the entire bargaining committee, we have shown all of our co-workers the priceless value of having a union contract,” Aaron Kerr, a bookseller at the Roseville store, said. “This is going to help everyone at Half Price Books, and it will continue for decades to come.”

The contracts cover workers at Half Price Books locations in Roseville and St. Paul, who are members of United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1189, as well as workers at stores in Coon Rapids and St. Louis Park, who are members of UFCW Local 663.

Union members from all four stores bargained jointly with the company. Their new contracts include higher starting wages – up from $12 to $16 across the company since workers formed their union, according to a statement released by the UFCW.

The contracts also include job protections like a “just cause” discipline policy with grievance procedures, protections for transgender workers and new rules governing layoff and recall process, scheduling and job classifications.

But those gains didn’t come without a fight.

Beginning in November 2021, local bookstore workers voted to unionize in four separate National Labor Relations Board elections, after Half Price Books refused their petition for voluntary recognition.

Contract bargaining began in spring 2022, but momentum toward first contracts slowed when talks reached the economic phase. Workers began appealing to customers for support, wearing union pins and demonstrating outside their stores.

In July 2023, workers at all four stores walked off the job in a two-day strike over unfair labor practices, accusing the company of dragging out negotiations in an attempt to bust their union.

Local 1189 President Jim Gleb praised the “commitment and incredible solidarity” that Half Price Books workers showed during their organizing and contract campaigns.

“They have shown workers all around the country what can be achieved by standing up for your rights, and I am proud to have them as members of the UFCW,” Gleb said. “The labor community is lucky to count them among us.”

Indeed, since Minnesota workers formed the first union at a Half Price Books location, booksellers at stores in Indiana, Illinois, Kansas and California have unionized, too.

Minnesota workers were the second Half Price Books union to ratify first contracts, following UFCW members at the Half Price Books in Greenwood, Ind., who voted on their union contract a week earlier.

“Workers at Half Price Books have blazed a path that inspires others to follow,” Local 663 Secretary-Treasurer Michael LaCoste said. “UFCW welcomes any workers that want to build a better life together.”

Wyatt Feten, a bookseller at the Northtown Half Price Books in Coon Rapids, added: “This victory comes from the work of everyone at all of our stores. We are looking forward to this new era at Half Price Books with an official union contract and representation.”

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

Museum workers rally public support for contract campaign

April 23, 2024 by

Science Museum of Minnesota workers supported their union’s bargaining team during an informational picket and rally outside the museum in St. Paul.

Union members at the Science Museum of Minnesota tapped into a well of solidarity during their contract rally April 2, pulling support from hundreds of fellow AFSCME Council 5 members taking part in a convention across the street.

Together, they turned Kellogg Avenue’s sidewalk into a river of AFSCME’s trademark green, holding informational picketing to demand museum management pick up the pace in negotiations over a first union contract for the newly formed bargaining unit of over 200 workers.

“It’s been a real slog,” Gretchen Haupt, a member of the Science Museum of Minnesota Workers Union, said. “But the small gains we have gotten usually come after some action or public pressure. That’s why we’re out here today.”

When Haupt and other museum workers voted to unionize in January 2023, they cited a need for pay transparency, fair grievance and disciplinary processes, and compensation increases to reflect their skill levels and experience. The union’s bargaining team has turned those issues into more than 20 contract proposals over the course of negotiations that began over eight months ago.

Getting management to counter their proposals, though, has taken as long as five months. And when they do get a response, Haupt said, it’s usually unproductive.

“They laughed, actually, at our initial pay scale proposal,” she said. “But they still haven’t said what they would rather have, other than the way it is now. It’s really disheartening.”

[Show your solidarity! Supporters can sign a petition calling on the Science Museum to stop committing unfair labor practices and settle a fair contract.]

During the rally, Science Museum workers described a growing frustration among their ranks. Several speakers wondered how the nonprofit could claim, in its statement of values, a commitment “to achieve collective liberation” while showing such disdain for collective bargaining.

For Megan Goeke, an evaluation and research associate, the frustration has been building for some time. She has been stuck at the bottom of the recommended pay range – or lower – for her job classification since accepting her current role with the Science Museum six years ago. As she gained experience and moved closer to her doctoral degree, Goeke asked for a pay increase, but management refused, keeping her at the bottom of the pay scale.

“I love my work, and I truly believe in the vision and impact the Science Museum of Minnesota has on our community,” Goeke said. “When I decided to go into nonprofit museum work, I knew I wouldn’t see the biggest paycheck in town, but what I didn’t know is that my pay would forever be limited by my initial pay.”

Her message to museum management: “I’ve experienced my share of delays. Let’s see some action.”

But instead of working swiftly toward a first contract, Science Museum management has been engaging in unfair labor practices, according to 12 separate complaints filed by Council 5 with the National Labor Relations Board since workers voted to unionize.

The NLRB has upheld three charges, and others remain pending. Many of the complaints allege that the museum has made unilateral changes to benefits and working conditions – and even layoffs – without engaging the union.

Bart Anderson, Council 5’s interim executive director, said Science Museum bosses seem to believe that ignoring their workers’ union will make it go away. In fact, he said, it’s only going to bring more public pressure on the museum.

“AFSCME Council 5, our union of more than 43,000 workers, is standing firm on our commitment to support our Science Museum of Minnesota members every day as they fight to secure a first contract that respects the rights, contributions and dignity of all workers,” he said.

By sticking together as a bargaining unit and rallying public support to their campaign, union members at the museum believe they have the formula to achieve a fair first contract, Haupt said.

“It’s not just a small group of people who are at the bargaining table, we have broad internal support,” she said. “And today we’re showing we have broad community support, too.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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

Union approves first contract at Planned Parenthood North Central States

January 19, 2024 by

PPNCS United members held informational picketing in November – a strategy that workers credit with pressuring management to improve its health coverage.

Planned Parenthood North Central States workers in Minnesota and four other states voted to ratify their first union contract this week, capping a tumultuous round of negotiations with the reproductive health organization, where workers voted to unionize in July 2022.

The new contract takes effect retroactively to Jan. 1 and covers about 430 members of PPNCS United, who will see immediate gains in wages and health benefits, according to the union.

The contract establishes a 15-year wage scale and provides raises of 11.75% over three years, including a 4.5% increase in year No. 1. For Planned Parenthood’s lowest-paid employees, a new $19 minimum wage, combined with the first-year wage hike, will mean 17% increase in their pay.

“That’s a huge victory,” said PPNCS triage nurse Nicole Anschutz, who served on the union’s bargaining team. “Some staff who were getting $17 an hour are seeing that increase to almost $20 per hour immediately.”

Union members also won grievance and arbitration rights and a progressive discipline process that requires just cause for terminations – no small victory for a union whose elected leaders alleged that they were targeted and intimidated by management away from the bargaining table.

Anschutz joined the bargaining team after a wave of resignations and firings, prompted by PPNCS management’s move to deliver “final written notices” to all 14 workers elected to represent their union in negotiations. With no grievance or arbitration process in place, union members filed charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board last March – and are still awaiting a decision.

“There were other staff that weren’t a part of the bargaining team that were fired during this process for various reasons too, and we couldn’t fight that,” Anschutz said.

Shay Gingras, a senior research coordinator who served on the union’s bargaining team from the start, noted that the process has played out as PPNCS and its workers face new challenges – and attacks – in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“We’ve lost too many amazing staff members because of issues we have been facing inside and outside of the organization, so I am happy we won protections and other gains to recognize our important work supporting our patients,” Gingras said.

“As an original bargaining team member, I’m so proud of our team who have fought so hard for so long to win these gains. This has been a really long and difficult process and our fight will continue, but I’m really proud of what we were able to win in this first contract.”

Union leaders and PPNCS reached a tentative agreement on the three-year contract in their 37th bargaining session. Among members who participated in the ratification vote, 84% voted to approve the deal.

Nothing came easily at the bargaining table, committee members said, prompting union members to steadily dial up their public pressure on PPNCS leadership to settle a fair contract. Informational picketing in November outside several facilities, including in St. Paul, had an immediate impact, according to Anschutz.

“Prior to the informational picket, the employer had made it very clear we were going to get nothing on health insurance,” she said. “After the informational picket, we started getting things done on health insurance.”

James Willging, a senior community organizer at PPNCS, said health insurance will become more affordable, especially for workers with children and families, under the new contract.

“This contract gives frontline staff more stability so we can focus on the critical work we do every day,” Willging said. “We hope this will help address our staffing shortage so we can provide the compassionate and kind care our patients deserve.”

Although they celebrated their first contract, Anschutz and other union leaders were quick to note that their union’s efforts in support of workers’ rights and abortion rights is not done.

“It seemed impossible at times, like it was never going to happen,” Anschutz said. “I didn’t expect to cry as much as I did in the whole process. But it’s worth it to have the protections we have now and this foundation that we can build upon in the future.”

PPNCS United is an affiliate of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa.

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

Great River staff union reaches first contract with St. Paul charter

September 26, 2023 by

Two years after voting to form a union with Education Minnesota, the teachers, support staff and other frontline workers of Great River School in St. Paul entered the 2023-24 school year with a first union contract in place.

Representatives of the Great River School Union and the charter school district drafted the agreement in bargaining over the course of about 18 months.

GRSU spokesperson Abby Mesnik, a high school math teacher, said the contract delivers on many objectives Great River employees had in mind when they sought a union election in May 2021, including pay transparency and greater stability in their benefits and work rules.

“People wanted some things in writing,” Mesnik said, noting that Great River was on the cusp of a leadership change during the union drive. “It wasn’t that they were necessarily unhappy with the current practices, but they wanted it preserved, and they wanted some consistency in what working in the school looked like. And I think the contract does that.”

Mesnik credited school administrators for taking a collaborative approach to negotiations. The district even brought in its own pro-union consultant to better understand the process and its staff members’ perspectives.

“We brought a draft of the contract that was very pro-union, and we just negotiated from that draft,” Mesnik said. “They never brought us their own version that we would try to reach a middle on; we would just make edits to ours.”

The contract covers about 120 employees at the Montessori charter school, which serves students in grades 1 through 12. GRSU is a “wall-to-wall” union, meaning teachers are in the same bargaining unit as support staff and even student workers, potentially.

That created a bargaining dynamic that’s unique in public education.

“We could not be separated in bargaining for funds,” Mesnik said. “We’re not just trying to move teachers up or just trying to move support staff up. We all rise together.”

The new contract puts every position covered by the unit into one of three pay scales, ensuring greater transparency and equity, Mesnik added.

“Now we can clearly track down what step and what lane people are on, what salary scale goes with which position,” she said. “Previously, there were not clear raises for folks. Some people were getting 5%, some were getting 2%, some knew to go talk to their boss and ask for a certain amount. Now there’s clarity.”

Other highlights of the contract include new incentives for advanced training in some positions, language around paid-time-off rollover, and a new independent retirement savings benefit, with an employer match after one year.

The contract also spells out for the first time what constitutes a working day and how many working days there are in Great River’s school year.

GRSU is one of five charter school unions in Minnesota. Teachers at the Twin Cities German Immersion School in St. Paul formed the state’s first charter school union in 2014.

Charter schools are publicly funded but exempt from some state laws in order to increase flexibility, autonomy and innovation. Minnesota is considered the birthplace of charter schools, having passed a first-in-the-nation law establishing their framework in 1991. Now, 180 charter schools serve about 76,000 pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade students statewide.

Mesnik said she and other GRSU activists often get asked by fellow union educators what it’s like to bargain a contract from scratch.

“I tell them it takes a lot of effort from a lot of people,” she said. “But it’s really exciting to join the labor movement and take power back as workers. We have a lot of power collectively, and it’s really cool to be on the other side with a contract and be able to say that these things are enforceable.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Organizing Tagged With: , , , ,
Next Page»