HealthPartners member? Former Trades leader seeks your vote in board election

October 25, 2022 by

Harry Melander

Longtime union leader Harry Melander is hoping to give working people a voice on the HealthPartners board of directors.

Melander, who retired as president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council last year, is one of four candidates running for three open seats on the 16-member board, which oversees the largest consumer-governed health care organization in the U.S.

Over 1 million participants in HealthPartners’ coverage plans are eligible to vote in the election, including tens of thousands of union members. But it has been over two decades, Melander said, since organized labor has had a voice on the board.

“With so many participants from our Building Trades unions, our public employee unions and beyond, I think labor needs to have a voice at the table,” Melander said.

HealthPartners planned to mail ballots and voting instructions to eligible voters by the end of October. Participants can cast their ballots by mail or online through Nov. 28.

Melander and other finalists for the board seats went through a five-step vetting process, including interviews with CEO Andrea Walsh and current board members.

Melander, a longtime member of the Carpenters union, served as executive secretary of the St. Paul Building Trades Council for a decade. During that time, he led efforts to expand the Building Trades’ outreach to communities underrepresented in their unions, including women, people of color and veterans.

“The mission of HealthPartners and its focus on health care for all, no matter your economic status or zip code, goes deep within my beliefs,” Melander said. “During my career at the Building Trades, improving diversity, equity and inclusion was part of its mission, and those efforts continue today. Diversity of thought, work and opportunities within an organization is the recipe for success.”

Melander remains heavily involved in the community during his retirement.

He is vice president of the Twin City Housing Development Corporation and a board member of the Minnesota Housing Partnership and the Union Bank and Trust. For over 20 years, he has chaired the Washington County Board of Adjustment and Appeals.

Previously, he served as chair of the Metropolitan Council and as vice chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Melander said his approach to civic leadership is collaborative and open-minded. “You listen, and you learn,” he said. “And you hope that by working with other leaders, you can make some recommendations that deliver practical results.”

Learn more about the board election at healthpartners.com.

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Leadership changes, but Trades’ focus remains on building careers, communities

July 22, 2021 by

The Crow Wing County VFW color guard installs the colors at the start of the Building Trades convention.

A new president gaveled the 75th convention of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council to order at Madden’s on Gull Lake today, as delegates unanimously affirmed their Executive Board in electing Laborers Local 563 Business Manager Joe Fowler to lead the statewide organization.  

President Emeritus Harry Melander, who retired in June after 12 years leading the council, administered the oath of office to Fowler and other executive officers as one of the convention’s first orders of business. 

“I will give it my all to advocate the just cause of organized construction labor in the state of Minnesota,” Fowler said, thanking delegates for their support.  

While the leadership of the organization has changed – it’s the first convention for newly hired Executive Director Tom Dicklich, too – the Building Trades Council’s work remains focused on fostering family-sustaining, high-quality job opportunities for tradespeople across the state. 

In practice, Fowler said, that means recruiting new workers – particularly veterans and workers from underrepresented communities – into unions’ registered apprenticeship programs to keep up with the industry’s demand for skilled labor. It means organizing to end mistreatment of workers on non-union construction sites, where wage theft, employee misclassification and labor trafficking are too common. And it means opposing right-to-work laws and attacks on prevailing wage at the Capitol. 

Gov. Tim Walz greets delegates to the convention.

By most of those measures, Minnesota’s Building Trades unions have fared better than their counterparts in other Midwest states, and Fowler said the reason for that is unity. 

“Sticking together and showing solidarity is what sets us apart from other organizations that would like to see us and organized labor as a whole fail, and that will never happen,” he said. “If we do not have solidarity, we do not have a strong Building Trades, and in Minnesota that is just not an option.” 

The Trades have worked in recent years to attract bipartisan support for their agenda at the State Capitol, and that support was on display in the string of guest speakers who lined up to take the podium today. Mayors, state legislators, agency commissioners, members of Congress and Gov. Tim Walz all touted their work in support of union tradespeople. 

Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, a Republican whose district includes the Gull Lake area, told delegates his caucus, unlike Republicans in states like Wisconsin, won’t advance measures to undermine collective bargaining or attack prevailing wage. 

“Times are changing,” Gazelka said. “We’re the ones that are fighting for the mining jobs, whether it’s copper-nickel or taconite mining. We’re the ones standing up for the pipelines.” 

But Walz warned against politicians who frame a “false choice” when it comes to energy policy and mining. He said his administration is determined not to “cut corners,” but has moved projects like the Polymet mine through the permitting and review processes quickly. It is Senate Republicans’ move to force out his head of the state’s Pollution Control Agency, Walz said, that has slowed that process down. 

Joe Fowler, business manager of Laborers Local 563, is the new president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council.

“They’re playing games with your jobs,” Walz said. “They’re playing games with a process that now works. This isn’t about me picking winners or losers, it’s about following the science, following the law and following the process.  

“We did all those things. And we’re a long ways down that process on the Polymet mine, but it’s pretty damn hard to go back to an agency when that commissioner is no longer there.” 

DFL lawmakers also called out Republicans for bailing on the Building Trades-backed refinery safety measure during the special session last month.  

The measure, which would have required skilled laborers at sensitive petroleum facilities complete a registered apprenticeship program, gained steam after Marathon replaced local, union contractors at its St. Paul Park refinery with workers from out-of-state, non-union contractors. It passed the DFL-controlled House but was stripped from the Senate jobs bill after more than a dozen Republicans who originally voted to advance the measure withdrew their support. 

Rep. Rob Ecklund, a DFLer from International Falls, said the vote revealed who is “standing with labor not just when it’s politically convenient, but all of the time.” 

A diplomatic Fowler sought to cool the political rhetoric, insisting the council, under his leadership, “will always be nonpartisan in the sense that we support those who support us and who understand labor is always on the side of the worker.” 

There were some issues on which everyone in the room could agree, including a renewed state investment in Helmets to Hardhats, which has successfully introduced thousands of military veterans to career opportunities in the union trades. Justin Ross, a former Marine who heads the statewide initiative, said 840 Minnesota veterans have enrolled in unions’ apprenticeship programs over the last three years after accessing the program.

President Emeritus Harry Melander (L) congratulates Secretary Treasurer Craig Olson after swearing in the officers.

“I know firsthand what it can be like returning from military service,” Ross said. “I spent over five years bouncing from job to job, trying college a couple times. It wasn’t until I found my way into an apprenticeship program with Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 that I really found a home.” 

Another point of universal agreement: appreciation for Melander’s leadership during the 12 years he served as president of the council. Walz presented the president emeritus with a plaque declaring today Harry Melander Day in Minnesota. 

In characteristically brief remarks, Melander assured delegates their organization is in good hands, and left them with a few words of wisdom. 

“Teach the trade; honor the craft,” he said. “Just remember that. Teach the trade to the young people, and honor the craft amongst ourselves. And thank you for the privilege of serving the last 12 years.” 

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

Area Building Trades councils honored for community outreach

April 20, 2018 by

At the Ayers Award ceremony (L to R): Duluth Council President Craig Olson, NABTU President Sean McGarvey, Dan McConnell and Jenny Winkelaar of the Minneapolis Building Trades, Minnesota Executive Director Carly Melin, Minneapolis President Dave Ybarra, St. Paul Executive Secretary Don Mullin, St. Paul President Tom McCarthy and NABTU Secretary-Treasurer Brent Booker. submitted photo

Local Building Trades unions have put an emphasis in recent years on reaching out to make more women, veterans and people of color aware of their registered apprenticeship programs and the middle class career opportunities they make possible.

Those efforts earned national recognition Wednesday in Washington, D.C., when North America’s Building Trades Unions presented the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Minnesota Building Trades councils with the annual Mark H. Ayers Community Achievement Award.

After the longtime president of NABTU died in 2012, the organization created the award to honor Ayers’ passionate belief that Building Trades unions are a force for good in their local communities.

Tradespeople deliver value to communities not only on the jobsite, Ayers believed, but also as stewards of their registered apprenticeship programs, which create a pathway for thousands of people across the country to get good jobs with family-supporting benefits and a secure retirement.

In presenting the award to the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Minnesota councils, NABTU recognized several union-driven initiatives piloted here – and replicated across the country – that recruit and prepare people for construction apprenticeships.

• Construct Tomorrow. In this program, representatives of different Building Trades apprenticeships set up interactive, hands-on exhibits in a school gymnasium, rec center or other public space, offering young people an opportunity to try out more than a dozen different construction crafts in the same day.

• Minnesota Trades Academy. This paid summer internship brings teenagers from a handful of urban schools into several different unions’ training facilities, where they spend their days learning from registered apprenticeship instructors.

• Outreach into public schools. Building Trades councils have been aggressive in cultivating new relationships with public schools, so that students, counselors and technical-education instructors are more aware of the opportunities available through unions’ apprenticeship programs.

Don Mullin, executive secretary of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, credited the award to the “broad efforts” of the council’s affiliate unions, as well as the vision laid out by his predecessor in office, Harry Melander, who now serves as the top officer of the state Building Trades council.

“All of our affiliates have had a hand in earning this recognition,” Mullin said. “We’ve worked together – in St. Paul, Minneapolis and statewide – to create opportunities for people across our state to take advantage of construction apprenticeship as a pathway to the middle class. And we’re proud of that work.

“President Ayers was a strong believer in community, that as Building Trades union members we live and work and volunteer in our communities. To be associated with his legacy is an amazing honor.”

The University of Minnesota’s Labor Education Service produced the video below for the 2018 Ayers Award ceremony.

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Workers to legislators: Finish the job on transportation, bonding

May 26, 2016 by
web.transpo-omalley

Lori O’Malley, president of a small construction business in Le Center, speaks to the importance of stable transportation funding, especially in rural economies.

 

Construction workers and contractors formed a united front at the Capitol today in support of a special session allowing state legislators to compromise on two shared priorities – transportation and infrastructure – left unaddressed when session adjourned Sunday night.

Lawmakers “still have time to finish,” Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council President Harry Melander said at a press conference this morning, flanked by dozens of tradespeople in hard hats.

“We’re requesting that, with the leadership of the governor, legislators find a long-term solution to the state’s transportation crisis and pass a strong bonding bill that will provide not only needed infrastructure repairs in the Metro Area, but in greater Minnesota,” Melander said.

Such a compromise already is “on the table,” according to Dave Semerad, head of the Associated General Contractors of Minnesota. It likely would involve some general fund money from a sales tax on auto parts, dedicated license tab fees, a local option to pay for transit projects and Met Council reform.

Harry Melander, a former industrial tech teacher, said there's still time for lawmakers to earn "a passing grade, not an (incomplete) on our state’s report card.”

Harry Melander (R), a former industrial tech teacher, said there’s still time for lawmakers to put “a passing grade, not an (incomplete) on our state’s report card.”

“All that’s lacking is political courage,” Semerad said. “Now’s the time for leadership, not partisan bickering and political games.”

Much is at stake in finding a compromise. The AGC’s 350 employers statewide rely on public investments to create jobs for 50,000 union tradespeople.

Lori O’Malley, president of a small construction business in Le Center, warned that without stable and continuous funding for transportation and infrastructure, “the industry will react, and those reactions will take a long time to recover from.”

With each year lawmakers wait to pass a long-term transportation plan, more of the state’s roads and bridges fall into disrepair. Already, more than half of Minnesota’s roads are more than 50 years old, and 40 percent of the state’s bridges are more than 40 years old.

“Our mission is to build a better Minnesota, but without long-term and sustained funding, it cannot be accomplished,” Semerad said.

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Melander steps down as St. Paul Building Trades’ top officer

August 3, 2015 by
Incoming and outgoing officers of the St. Paul Building Trades: (L to R) Tom McCarthy, Stan Theis, Harry Melander and Don Mullin.

Incoming and outgoing officers of the St. Paul Building Trades: (L to R) Tom McCarthy, Stan Theis, Harry Melander and Don Mullin.

 

Harry Melander has stepped down after 10 years as the executive secretary of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, which swore Don Mullin into office as Melander’s successor in the full-time position at a delegate meeting tonight.

Delegates voted unanimously to elect Mullin at a meeting last month. They also elected Tom McCarthy of Plumbers Local 34 to serve as president. McCarthy replaces Local 34’s Stan Theis, who retired earlier this year.

Although Melander is stepping down from the St. Paul Building Trades, he will continue to serve as president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, a part-time position. Two years remain on his term in office.

To facilitate a smooth transition in leadership, Mullin began working alongside Melander in the Building Trades’ office last month. Mullin acknowledged he has big shoes to fill in his new job.

“Harry has so much knowledge and so many connections,” Mullin said. “He understands that all of the Trades have a part to play. He understands what the ‘Fitters are doing, what the Plumbers are doing, what the Ironworkers are doing and the rest.

“He’s done so much, given back so much to St. Paul and the state of Minnesota. He really cares about people and the advancement of the middle class.”

Harry Melander, second from left, shown in a Union Advocate file photo from 1988, when he was president of Carpenters Local 87. Melander and Al Garcia of Centro Cultural Chicano spoke at a press conference deploring conditions at a construction site in Bloomington that employed migrant workers.

Harry Melander is second from left in this Union Advocate file photo from 1988, when he was president of Carpenters Local 87. Melander and Al Garcia of Centro Cultural Chicano spoke at a press conference deploring conditions at a construction site in Bloomington that employed migrant workers.

A ‘lasting impact’ on St. Paul

A member of the Carpenters union, Melander rose to the position of president in Local 87 before going to work full time as a business representative for the St. Paul Building Trades in 1997, assisting then-Executive Secretary Dick Anfang.

Anfang and his predecessor in office, Bill Peterson, reached out to elected officials, community leaders and developers, cultivating relationships, Melander said, that would create jobs for Building Trades union members for years to come. Melander’s focus over the last 10 years has been on maintaining those relationships – and building new ones.

“We have a great relationship with cities, counties and school boards in the area,” Melander said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have an excellent mayor to work with in St. Paul, as well as the City Council.”

The admiration is mutual, St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said.

“Harry is a good friend and has been an incredible public servant for the City of Saint Paul,” Coleman said. “He is a strong advocate for women and immigrants entering the Building Trades, a determined and resolute trade unionist and an unwavering voice for job creation and economic development.

“While we will all miss his colorful quips and great sense of humor, his leadership within the labor movement will leave a lasting impact on our city.”

Melander’s tenure with the St. Paul Building Trades was not without challenges. He was at the helm during a sharp downturn in the industry following the economic collapse of 2008, with work falling off in some crafts by as much as 70 percent. But infrastructure investments like the Green Line and major construction projects like Target Field – both aided by the Building Trades’ lobbying efforts at City Hall and the Capitol – helped soften the recession’s blow.

“The reason we as a council stayed together is because we have affiliates who appreciate what the council does and who believe in what the Building Trades do,” Melander said. “The industry is very cyclical. But the Building Trades remain a great place for men and women to have a middle-class lifestyle.”

In addition to staying on as president of the statewide Building Trades council, Melander will remain involved in overseeing construction of a new labor center at 345 W. 7th St. “We’re going to give people a new home in St. Paul for a strong labor movement in the future,” he said.

Melander’s advice to Mullin, his successor?

“It’s about relationships and trust,” Melander said of the job. “You’re not always going to get to ‘yes,’ but if you can’t do the deal, you walk away with a smile on your face anyway.”

Don Mullen

Don Mullin

Mullin takes the reins

Mullin, 43, is a White Bear Lake resident and a 20-year member of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. Before his election to the Building Trades Council, Mullin worked as political director of IUPAT District Council 82 and as business representative of Sign and Display Local 880.

Mullin said he hopes to maintain and build on the Council’s existing relationships with local governments, including school boards, city councils and county boards. When those relationships are strong, the Council is in a better position to “police our work,” he said.

“We can look for opportunities to see project labor agreements and enforcement of prevailing wage laws,” he said. “A lot of development comes through city dollars. We need to be developing those relationships and engaging these communities in what we’re all about.”

Ramsey County recently dedicated a staff person to investigating and enforcing prevailing wage on a part-time basis. Mullin said he hopes to recruit other municipalities in the region to pool their resources with the county to support a full-time position.

Mullin also will work to support unions in their efforts to reach out to communities and demographic groups underrepresented in the Trades.

“If you look at most union members today, they’ve gotten here through a family member or somebody else they know,” he said. “We need to be engaging other communities to make sure they know we’ve got a great pathway into the middle class. There are some great career opportunities in this area.”

In addition to his work with IUPAT District Council 82, Mullin has served two years on the White Bear Lake School Board, and he sits on Ramsey County’s Workforce Investment Board and its task force on ice arenas.

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

Minnesota unions make case for Sandpiper oil pipeline

January 6, 2015 by
Phillip Wallace, a representative of the United Association of Pipeliners Local 798, testifies at the public hearing on the proposed Sandpiper project.

Phillip Wallace of the United Association of Pipeliners Local 798 weighs in on the proposed Sandpiper project.

A series of five public hearings on a proposed oil pipeline through Minnesota opened in St. Paul yesterday, and members of several Building Trades unions stepped forward to support the $2.5 billion venture, projected to create 1,500 construction jobs.

The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is collecting public testimony at sites across the state this week regarding the Sandpiper pipeline, which would transport crude oil from North Dakota’s booming Bakken region to terminals in Clearbrook and Superior, Wis.

Union members like David LaBorde of Duluth-based Teamsters Local 346 touted the jobs Sandpiper would create for northern Minnesota workers and the potential boost for the area’s struggling economy.

“The members (of Local 346) need this work,” LaBorde said. “In northern Minnesota we have a significant problem with getting good-paying jobs.”

Northern Minnesota isn’t the only area that would benefit from Sandpiper. Many supporters at the St. Paul hearing said Sandpiper would ease congestion in the state’s rail system and reduce the risk of accidents in highly populated areas. Three of four rail routes used to transport Bakken oil cross through the Twin Cities.

The new pipeline would enable parent company Enbridge to transport 225,000 barrels per day from the Bakken to its Clearbrook terminal, and 375,000 barrels per day from Clearbrook to Superior. That’s oil that might otherwise travel through Minnesota by train.

“It’s more hazardous to transport that oil by rail and truck than by pipeline,” said Mike Ratka, a Laborers Union member from Foley who has worked on multiple pipeline projects. “It’s a win-win situation.”

The proposed Sandpiper route through northern Minnesota.

The proposed Sandpiper route through northern Minnesota.

Sandpiper also would yield about $25 million in property taxes annually for local governments in Minnesota, according to Enbridge. And increased domestic oil production helps keep fuel prices down and reduces the country’s reliance on less stable foreign sources, supporters noted.

Some opponents of the pipeline worried that Sandpiper’s 616-mile route passes too close to the headwaters of the Mississippi River and poses a threat to Minnesota’s “Lakes Region,” including Cass and Crow Wing counties. Others argued construction of the pipeline would contribute to climate change.

But Matt Duncombe, a skilled pipeliner from East Grand Forks, said pipelines are the safest means of transporting crude oil because Enbridge, its contractors and their employees make safety their top priority during construction.

“Enbridge does more to set and enforce high quality and safety standards, in my experience, than any other pipeline owner I’ve worked for,” Duncombe said, noting the company’s use of third-party inspectors to monitor safety during construction.

Supporters of the pipeline wore stickers to the public hearing.

Supporters of the pipeline wore stickers to the public hearing.

Duncombe, a member of Laborers Local 563, said he received pipeline-specific, hands-on training at the union’s Lino Lakes facility – training he has since used as a laborer and foreman on the environmental crew during pipeline construction projects.

“Our top priority on the environmental crew is protection of wetlands and waterways,” Duncombe said. “The measures we installed included silt fences, hay bales, water logs, and berms, which are designed to contain runoff or prevent soil erosion. At the end of a project, our work included seeding and mulching to restore vegetation.”

Members of Operating Engineers Local 49, the Pipefitters union and other labor unions were scheduled to provide testimony at the hearing as well. They appeared before Judge Eric Lipman, a specialist in dispute resolution with the state’s Office of Administrative Hearings.

In April, Lipman will present the PUC with a report based on evidence and testimony gathered during public hearings across the state and a “trial-type hearing” later this month. People unable to attend a public hearing can offer their input using the PUC’s online forum, “Speak Up!“

The five-member commission is expected to issue a decision on approval of the Sandpiper pipeline in June.

“This isn’t the labor community against the environmental community,” said Harry Melander, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council. “This is a needed update of a vital pipeline that the State of Minnesota and the region will benefit from.”

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

Forum to consider East Metro’s transportation issues

November 19, 2014 by
Abby Tomasek wore a cardboard light-rail costume to the ribbon cutting. She and other activists used the event as an opportunity to sign transit-users up for MoveMN, an advocacy group pushing broad investments in the state's transportation infrastructure.

MoveMN, an advocacy group pushing broad investments in the state’s transportation infrastructure, engaged riders on the opening day of Green Line light-rail service. The group’s field director, Bethany Winkels, will participate in a forum on East Metro transportation issues Dec. 7.

What can East Metro residents do to increase their access to effective transportation, and what should lawmakers do about the issue when the Legislature convenes in next year? That’s the topic of a free, public program in Oakdale next month.

  • What: “Getting There from Here: Transportation Challenges in the East Metro
  • When: 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9
  • Where: Guardian Angels Church, Peter O’Neill Hall, 8260 4th St. N., Oakdale (off I-94 and Radio Drive)

Dr. David Schultz, professor of political science at Hamline University, will moderate a panel discussion with Jan Lucke, Washington County’s transportation planning manager; Harry Melander, president of the Minnesota Building & Construction Trades Council and Metropolitan Council member; and Bethany Winkels, field director of Move MN, a transportation advocacy group.

The program also will include time for the audience to ask panelists questions, offer ideas and take action to ensure legislative progress in 2015.

The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.

For more information, visit www.RiverValleyAction.org.

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At convention, Trades build momentum for 2014 election push

August 1, 2014 by
Jessica Looman, an assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, addresses Building Trades delegates.

Jessica Looman, an assistant commissioner at the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, addresses Building Trades delegates.

ROCHESTER – With two new stadiums in the works and $1 billion in new state infrastructure investments – as well as jobs-creating regional improvements like the Destination Medical Center here – the Building Trades unions in Minnesota are riding a wave of momentum.

That momentum is at stake in elections up and down the Nov. 4 ballot, speakers warned delegates to the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council’s annual convention at the Kahler Hotel this week.

“With less than 100 days before the election, it becomes an anxious time,” Council President Harry Melander said. “We have made great progress, and to go backwards would be a shame.”

At the top of Building Trades unions’ agenda this year, Melander said, is re-electing Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton. In an address to delegates yesterday, the labor-endorsed DFLer listed his credentials for re-election, including new investments in education and infrastructure, 159,000 new jobs statewide and the first increase in Minnesota’s minimum wage in a decade.

But those accomplishments, the governor acknowledged, would not have been possible without DFL majorities in the Legislature. He noted the change in atmosphere at the Capitol since voters ousted Republican majorities in the House and Senate two years into his first term as governor.

“I hope to come back, obviously, but I don’t want to come back with a Republican House of Representatives,” Dayton said, adding that it would mean “gridlock, deadlock and other budget showdown.”

“We need to keep moving ahead, and that’s going to mean a DFL house and a DFL governor because everything we’ve accomplished can be reversed.”

Gov. Mark Dayton greets Building Trades delegates at their annual convention.

Gov. Mark Dayton greets Building Trades delegates at their annual convention.

Challenges remain

As successful as Dayton and DFL lawmakers have been in bringing Minnesota’s economy back, Dayton noted that only half of the construction-industry jobs lost during the Great Recession have been recovered. Making needed investments in transportation and transit, he said, will keep the industry on the right path.

“There’s no avoiding the responsibility we have for deciding whether we want a better transportation system, the same one or something that’s going to continue to get worse,” Dayton said. “It’s going to take $6 billion just to keep things where they are now.”

The governor also reminded delegates that he was the last line of defense against efforts to undermine prevailing wage, which ensures fair pay for workers on public construction projects. That effort died in the Legislature, as did efforts to undermine collective bargaining via a Right to Work constitutional amendment. But both remain alive among Dayton’s challengers, Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson warned.

Knutson gave a glimpse of Republican candidates vying to take Dayton’s place. All four major candidates said in a radio debate yesterday that they support “unsafe, unfair and unnecessary” Right to Work legislation, she noted.

“Jeff Johnson goes even farther,” Knutson added. “In a debate a couple days ago he said he wants to change prevailing wage laws. And a few months ago he told a group of activists he wants to ‘go all Scott Walker’ on Minnesota. I don’t know exactly what that means, but I know it’s not good.”

Hearing from both sides

Although the lineup of speakers was heavy on DFLers, two Republican state senators, Dave Senjem and Carla Nelson, whose district includes Rochester, made a pitch to Building Trades delegates as well.

“Your jobs cannot be – they should not be – a partisan issue,” Nelson said. “Construction jobs lead our economic recovery. Your industry is one of the largest growth segments in the Minnesota workforce, and we anticipate that will continue.”

In a show of bipartisan support for the Trades, the Senate voted 59-0 last spring to pass a new law that ensures firms working on public construction projects have a track record of obeying prevailing-wage, overtime and other labor laws.

“Minnesota is the only place in America where a responsible contracting law exists statewide,” Melander said.

Senjem also noted bipartisan support for bonding bills, the Minnesota Vikings stadium and the Destination Medical Center, a $6 billion investment, backed by public and private funds, that will transform the Mayo Clinic and downtown Rochester – and create thousands of construction jobs.

Senjem also recalled that as a majority leader in the Senate two years ago, he “took that Right To Work bill, and we put it in the drawer.”

“We didn’t need that kind of Minnesota,” he said. “We can work together. We don’t need that kind of conflict. It doesn’t get you anywhere.”

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An engine for economic growth, Green Line opens to big crowds

June 20, 2014 by
City, county, state and federal funding made the Green Line a reality, and elected officials from all four levels of government helped cut the ribbon at the Green Line's Opening Day celebration outside Union Depot. (UA photo by Mike Weerts)

City, county, state and federal funding made the Green Line a reality, and elected officials from all four levels of government helped cut the ribbon at the Green Line’s Opening Day celebration outside Union Depot. (UA photo by Mike Weerts)

Minnesotans celebrated the opening of Metro Transit’s Green Line with ribbon-cuttings, neighborhood-centric events and more than 107,000 free rides June 14-15. But there was more to celebrate than the long-anticipated arrival of a sleek, new transit option between the Twin Cities’ downtown areas.

Jobs – and plenty of them – were also reason to celebrate.

Construction of the $957 million light-rail line, with 9.8 miles of new track and 18 new stations, created more than 5,500 construction jobs, and payroll expenses for the project exceeded $252 million. Additionally, Metro Transit hired 200 operators and maintenance workers for the Green Line, according to the Metropolitan Council.

The project created work for members of Building Trades unions during an otherwise lean period for the construction industry, as investment capital dried up and development ground to a halt following the financial collapse of 2008.

“It was a blessing that it happened during a time when the construction industry saw unemployment at levels it hasn’t seen since the Great Depression,” Harry Melander, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, said.

But job creation isn’t confined to the Green Line’s rear-view mirror.

Riders looking out the train’s windows are likely to see scaffolding, cranes and other heavy equipment, signs of the private development that has been popping up along the Central Corridor since the Green Line since got the green light five years ago.

The Met Council predicts employment along the line will grow by more than 90,000 jobs over the next 16 years. Already, more than 100 projects have been built, are under construction or are in the planning phase along the Green Line. Together, the developments account for more than $2.5 billion in job-creating private investments.

“The development we’ve seen so far only marks the beginning of new opportunities in the Central Corridor,” Met Council Chair Sue Haigh said. “For decades to come, the Green Line will be a catalyst for employment and economic growth along its 11-mile route.”

In that regard the Green Line is an example of the “ripple effect” that makes transit a particularly effective public investment. Every dollar a community invests in public transportation brings approximately $4 in economic returns, according to the American Public Transit Association.

The nonpartisan organization also found that, in a study conducted between 2006 and 2011, residential property values performed 42 percent better, on average, if they were located near public transportation.

The Green Line also provided training opportunities that helped introduce young workers to careers in the Building Trades.

The Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota, for example, integrated a new, eight-hour course, “Introduction to Light Rail Construction,” into the curriculum at its Lino Lakes-based training center. Todd Pufahl, council president, said the $250,000 investment ensures the union and its contractors are ready to tackle transit investments coming down the pike.

“The Green Line will do great things for commuters and the communities it runs through,” said Pufahl. “We are also anxious and ready to get going on the Southwest Corridor project. Our skilled Construction Craft Laborers are skilled and ready to help improve quality of life and transportation choices for all of us.”

Abby Tomasek wore a cardboard light-rail costume to the ribbon cutting. She and other activists used the event as an opportunity to sign transit-users up for MoveMN, an advocacy group pushing broad investments in the state's transportation infrastructure.

Abby Tomasek wore a cardboard light-rail costume to the ribbon cutting. She and other activists used the event as an opportunity to sign transit-users up for MoveMN, an advocacy group pushing broad investments in the state’s transportation infrastructure.

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With support from bonding bill, MN Workers Memorial Garden nears completion

June 17, 2014 by

web.WorkerMemGarden-tallThe $1 billion package of public infrastructure investments approved by state lawmakers earlier this year includes $250,000 for a mural and other improvements that will complete the Minnesota Workers Memorial Garden in St. Paul.

Construction of the memorial, located near the intersection of 12th and Cedar in the southeast corner of the Capitol grounds, wrapped up more than four years ago, and the structure was officially dedicated in August 2010.

But earlier appropriations from the Legislature, combined with more than $130,000 in contributions from individuals and unions, were not enough to adorn the flowing, wall-like structure with more than a pair of inscriptions.

Fortunately, supporters never stopped lobbying lawmakers to finish the job, most notably former Minnesota AFL-CIO President David Roe, who will turn 90 this fall.

“This wouldn’t have happened if David didn’t have the drive and tenacity to keep this in front of decision makers,” Minnesota Building & Construction Trades Council President Harry Melander said. “It’s been 15 years of dedication to the cause.”

Roe, who served as a statewide labor leader until retiring in 1985, conceived the idea to build a workers memorial 15 years ago, along with the late Russ Fridley, former director of the Minnesota Historical Society.

The two men spearheaded private fundraising and lobbying efforts, and their work will be acknowledged with a plaque in front of the memorial. The plaque includes a favorite quote shared by Roe and Fridley: “They are not gone, we just do not see them.”

Melander will co-chair a committee charged with overseeing work on the mural with Roe’s daughter Judy Grudem and Louise Sundin, former president of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers.

The guiding principle for the muralists will be simple. “This memorial remembers those people who went to work, but, unfortunately, didn’t make it home,” Melander said.

Since its dedication four years ago, the Workers Memorial Garden has served as the site of Building Trades unions’ ceremonies on Workers Memorial Day, and the memorial adds to an impressive array of previously dedicated memorials on the Capitol grounds.

“There’s no other state that has allocated as many areas as Minnesota has to memorials. It’s fantastic,” Roe said. “There isn’t anything like it in the United States, and, for goodness sake, there ought to be a memorial for those who have died building Minnesota.”

The memorial is not limited in scope to any trade or profession, but dedicated to any worker killed in the course of doing his or her job, Roe said. Donations poured in from unions and crafts of all kinds, including public employee units, teachers’ unions, industrial unions and labor councils.

Several other individuals, Roe said, had a hand in realizing the vision for a workers memorial, including former House Speaker Harry Sieben, lobbyist Harry Fleming and Dick Anfang, the former president of the state Building Trades Council.

Judy Grudem served as treasurer for fundraising around the Workers Memorial Garden. She and Harry Melander (R) will serve on a committee to guide artists who will complete the memorial wall with a ceramic mural. Grudem's father, David Roe, conceived the idea for a memorial 15 years ago.

Judy Grudem served as treasurer for fundraising around the Workers Memorial Garden. She and Harry Melander (R) will serve on a committee to guide artists who will complete the memorial wall with a ceramic mural. Grudem’s father, David Roe, conceived the idea for a memorial 15 years ago.

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