Building Trades notch win for prevailing wage in West St. Paul

February 3, 2026 by

photo courtesy IBEW 110

By mobilizing their members and tapping solidarity from the local labor movement, Building Trades unions won an unexpected fight over prevailing wage in West St. Paul last year.

The city has long required developers to pay prevailing wages on any project that receives $50,000 or more in public assistance. But in July council members and the mayor voted narrowly to allow exemptions on certain projects, with an eye toward a housing development at 150 Thompson Ave.

The vote caught Building Trades unions off guard, but it also “kicked us into overdrive,” Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 110 representative Brian Winkelaar said. “We thought West St. Paul understood our issues.”

Electricians were among four crafts that would have been exempted from prevailing wage on the 150 Thompson project, along with plumbers, sheet metal workers and sprinkler fitters.

But other unions in the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council treated the proposed exemption as an attack on their members, too.

Prevailing-wage rules establish minimum hourly rates, plus benefits, that contractors must pay their workers. The rates are determined by an annual survey so that they reflect area standards, and they are specific to each construction trade.

Federal, state and local governments use prevailing-wage laws to ensure public investments support good jobs – and prevent low-road contractors from squeezing workers’ pay to win a public bid.

“This was an opportunity for the West St. Paul City Council to stand up and say, we want livable wages in our community,” St. Paul Building Trades Executive Secretary Don Mullin said. “We asked them to stand up for the middle class, to hold a standard in our neighborhoods – and they held that standard.”

The council originally scheduled a vote on the exemption for 150 Thompson in early September, but Building Trades unions successfully lobbied members to pump the brakes.

In the meantime, union organizers went to work, scheduling meetings with council members, encouraging tradespeople who live in West St. Paul to raise their voices and building support among the broader labor community.

“We had support from the nurses, SEIU, AFSCME, IBEW, the Building Trades,” Winkelaar said. “People said, ‘Even though it might not affect me, we’re standing with them.’

“There’s so much division in our world, whether it’s between parties or between unions, it really was great to see everybody come together.”

When the issue finally came before the council Dec. 8, union representatives and a strong majority of council members had identified a path forward for the 150 Thompson project that also protected prevailing wage.

With a crowd of about 75 union members in the meeting room, the council voted to apply the State of Minnesota’s rules on prevailing wage to 150 Thompson. Those rules allow contractors to hire registered apprentices, who earn less than journey-level tradespeople, to work on projects covered by prevailing wage.

The move will give the developer some relief while ensuring an even footing for union contractors in the bidding process, as the overwhelming majority of registered construction apprenticeship programs are sponsored by unions.

Council Member Robyn Gulley said the vote showed West St. Paul does, in fact, understand labor’s issues.

“One of the reasons that we protect strong wages is that they protect people in the community who work on these projects, and that is incredibly important,” said Gulley, a labor organizer and educator, who has earned an early labor endorsement in this year’s Senate District 65 election. “We cannot sacrifice our workers.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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

Up for a challenge: Competitors test their skills at WBS Trade Games

December 10, 2024 by

Ashley Kula (L) and Anya Davis raced to finish Cement Masons Local 633’s challenge.

It wasn’t gold, silver or bronze, but there was plenty of metal in play during the Trade Games Challenge at St. Paul Pipefitters Local 455’s training center Nov. 21.

Hosted by Women Building Success (WBS) to celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, the friendly, hands-on competition drew nearly 200 participants in its second year.

“This event has hands-on challenge activities for each trade,” WBS board member Jenny Winkelaar, director of workforce and community development for Operating Engineers Local 49, said. “It is a fun way to showcase what the trades have to offer.”

Competitors included apprentices, journey workers and community members with an interest in exploring careers in the union construction trades.

Cement Masons apprentice Grace Olson checked out her virtual paint job.

Participants walked from station to station on the shop floor, trying their hand at challenges sponsored by different local union apprenticeship programs. Each union designed the challenge to reflect their unique craft.

At booths hosted by Plumbers Local 34 and Sprinklerfitters Local 417, instructors timed competitors as they followed the instructions for connecting pieces of pipe into a “pipe guy.” Insulators Local 34 challenged competitors to affix insulation to the proper place on a pipe structure, like a puzzle.

Some Trade Games challenges pitted competitors against each other. Laborers Local 563 held wheelbarrow races. At Pipefitters Local 455’s station, it was a chain hoist race, with competitors racing to raise their large spool to the finish point fastest.

Madi Jennings, a fourth-year apprentice with the Insulators union, tied rebar at Ironworkers Local 512’s station, clocking the second-fastest time of the event’s early session. Local 512 training coordinator Erik Hansen said that it’s good for apprentices like Jennings to gain exposure to other crafts – and good for apprenticeship programs’ recruitment efforts, too.

“We’re hoping this kind of becomes a word-of-mouth thing,” Hansen said. “OK, you’re already in a trade, but maybe you know someone considering their options, and you tell them, ‘Hey, check out the Ironworkers.’”

For competitors like Matt Segal, who learned about the event from a friend, the Trade Games Challenge also served as a career fair. After working in the tech industry for a decade, he’s looking for a change.

“I’m exploring my options and seeing what’s out there,” Segal, 34, said after splitting a pair of chain hoist races – hosted by the Pipefitters – with IBEW Local 110 member Marisa McAndrew. “I like working with my hands, and I’d like to learn some skills that I can take with me – that are applicable in my home and anywhere I go.

“It’s been exciting to be here and talk not only to trades instructors, but tradespeople, too.”

Dorlisa Squires (L), an apprentice with Local 49, and Glenda Tejada race to assemble a “pipe guy” at Sprinklerfitters Local 417’s challenge.
Ironworkers Local 512’s Erik Hansen timed Madi Jennings, an Insulators apprentice, as she raced to tie rebar.
Rockett (R), who said she uses just one name, matched insulation with piping at Insulators Local 34’s station during the Trade Games Challenge.
Mahaila Houle (R), a career navigator with Operating Engineers Local 49, guided Plumbers Local 34 apprentice Karen Severson through the excavator event.

For most attendees, though, the primary objective was fun and fellowship.

At Cement Masons Local 633’s station, that meant playing in the “mud,” as competitors raced to flatten and level wet cement, edge the sides and install control joints – the cuts in walkways or other slabs that allow for movement due to temperature or moisture.

Local 633 apprentice Grace Olson was not tempted to leave her craft behind after trying the virtual spraypainting booth, hosted by the Finishing Trades Institute, Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 82’s training arm.

“I think I did OK, but I probably could have done better,” the third-year apprentice laughed. “I think I over-sprayed it a little.”

But Plumbers Local 34 apprentice Karen Severson joked that she “might switch trades” after climbing into the excavator that Operating Engineers Local 49 parked inside the Pipefitters’ training hall, challenging participants to pick up and transfer a flagpole from one road cone to another. “That was fun,” Severson said.

WBS was founded in 2017 to recognize and promote the achievements of women in union construction trades. WBS hosts an annual awards ceremony, an apprenticeship photo contest and other events.

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Women Building Success celebrates tradeswomen at awards ceremony

June 3, 2022 by

WBS award winners, L to R, include (back) Claire Boeke, Karin Dahlin, Dani Moss, Rosey Grab, (front) Marissa Goodsky, Brittney Bray and Robin Chuhel.

Union tradeswomen and labor leaders gathered June 1 in White Bear Lake for the Women Building Success Awards, a celebration of local apprentices, journey workers and advocates for women pursuing careers in the construction trades.

Women Building Success (WBS) is a Minnesota organization founded in 2017 to recognize and promote the achievements of women in union construction trades. The awards ceremony is among its biggest events of the year, said Barb Pecks, a WBS board member and member of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters.

“We do have amazing women out there, and we definitely don’t recognize them often enough,” said Pecks, who emceed the ceremony.

In a recorded video, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar congratulated the 44 women nominated for WBS awards, and she praised WBS and local construction unions for their ongoing efforts to support tradeswomen and make the unionized construction industry a more welcoming place for women to work.

“When our tradeswomen succeed, our economy succeeds,” Klobuchar said. “And when our economy succeeds, America succeeds.”

WBS board members honor Terri Stave with a Lifetime Achievement award. Pictured (L to R) are Barry Davies, Carrie Robles, Barb Pecks, Stave, Jenny Winkelaar and Jennifer Mudge.

Lifetime Achievement

WBS presented a Lifetime Achievement award to Terri Stave, a retired member, instructor and officer with Elevator Constructors Local 9 who serves on the WBS Board of Directors.

Throughout her career, Stave was a trailblazer both within Local 9 and the International Union of Elevator Constructors (IUEC). In 2016, she became the first woman sworn in as business agent of an IUEC local, and she was one of two women who attended the union’s international convention that year. She recently became the first female member to retire out of Local 9.

“When I started as a 19-year-old, and I just went to work, kept my head down and went home,” Stave said. But after attending the Tradeswomen Build Nations conference in 2014 and finding only four other elevator constructors, she said, “I decided we’ve got to do something about this.”

Stave started a Facebook group for women in the IUEC, which has grown to nearly 300 members and provides support and connections to organizations like Tradeswomen Build Nations.

IBEW 110 Business Manager Jamie McNamara introduces Advocate of the Year Robin Chuhel (L).

Advocate of the Year

Robin Chuhel of St. Paul-based Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 110 received the Advocate of the Year award, with honorable mention going to Rosey Grab, an apprentice with Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 49.

Chuhel, an Air Force veteran, joined Local 110 in 1994, and she is a union steward in her current job with the St. Paul Public Schools, “a place for her to recruit, train and help retain as many women in our field as possible,” Local 110 Business Manager Jamie McNamara said.

Chuhel also has served nearly 20 years in a leadership role with the union’s apprenticeship program, often advocating for better pay and benefits for apprentices, McNamara said.

“When Robin would engage apprentices who were women, she would take them under her wing, advising, protecting and teaching the apprentices like they were her own family,” McNamara said. “She has not only taught the women in our local how to be better in our industry, she has taught the whole industry how to be better for women.”

Journey Workers of the Year Marissa Goodsky holds her award during a photo with Local 633 Business Manager Dave Schutta and her sister Alexa.

Journey Worker of the Year

Marissa Goodsky, a member of Cement Masons Local 633, received Journey Worker of the Year honors, with honorable mention going to Brittney Bray of IUOE Local 49.

Goodsky is a graduate of Local 633’s summer training program, offered in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Transportation since 2010, that introduces young workers from area tribal nations to careers in the concrete and cement industry.

Goodsky “stood out in that program with her energy and attention to detail,” Local 633 Business Manager Dave Schutta said, and in 2015 she began an apprenticeship with the local. Now, she serves as an instructor in the very program that introduced her to the union.

“She’s come full circle,” Schutta said. “What a mentor she’s going to be.”

Apprentice of the Year

Karin Dahlin of Minneapolis St. Cloud Pipefitters Local 539 was named Apprentice of the Year. The overwhelming number of outstanding apprentices nominated for the award prompted WBS to name two honorable mention winners: Dani Moss of Laborers (LIUNA) Local 563 and Claire Boeke of the Carpenters.

In addition to the award, winners in each category received a $300 honorarium and a set of Milwaukee tools. Honorable mention recipients received $100 honorariums.

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IBEW 110, Rice County Habitat enter third decade of partnership

January 25, 2022 by

(photo courtesy Logan Beere)

It’s said that many hands make light work. But to make the lights work at a new fourplex under construction in Northfield, Habitat for Humanity tapped the expertise of local union electricians.

About 40 members of St. Paul-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 110 joined a volunteer project at the fourplex Jan. 15, installing light fixtures, hooking up electrical receptacles and switches, and turning on power.

It’s the latest example of a partnership between Local 110’s Faribault chapter and Rice County Habitat for Humanity that has spanned more than 20 years. The union also has supported Habitat builds in Cannon Falls and the Cambridge area.

Union members at People’s Electric began volunteering with Rice County Habitat in 1999, according to retired member Steven White. The union later took over the initiative “wholeheartedly,” White said, and currently partners with contractor Muska Electric to pull permits necessary for the electrical work.

With single-digit temperatures, Local 110 journeyman Dave Slattery (front) and apprentice Jeremy Dohrmann install wiring outside the fourplex.
IBEW Local 110 apprentice Helen Spindler and Local 110 President Doug Suchanek work together to install a light fixture.
IBEW Local 110 retirees Bob Delesha (L) and Steven White are mainstays of the union’s Habitat volunteer projects in Rice County.

White and Bob Delesha, chair of the Faribault chapter, estimated the union has volunteered on 40 Habitat projects. Local 110 donates the wire, panels, outlets, switches and other materials installed in each home.

“I’ve been fortunate to come back to finish some of the work, and I’ve gotten to meet some of the homeowners,” White said. “They are beyond thrilled. This is a meaningful way to give back to the community.”

Delesha said his wife used to joke that he spends more time volunteering in other people’s homes than his own. “But it’s a skilled trade we were fortunate to learn, and we are fortunate to be able to give back,” Delesha said.

Another benefit of the Habitat partnership, he added, is that it gives Electrical Workers experience with residential work. It also gives apprentices, journey-level workers and retirees an opportunity to learn from each other.

“For most locals out of major cities, a lot of people don’t get much experience with residential wiring anymore,” Delesha said. “We update our education, but it isn’t the same as putting in time on a job. And the younger people get an opportunity to work with some of the gray-hairs, too.”

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St. Paul unions take on new role getting fresh food to families

February 23, 2021 by

Dave Hallas (L) of United Steelworkers Local 7263 and Tom Edwards, a retired Postal Worker from St. Paul, wave cars through a contactless food distribution event in St. Paul Park, where nearly 200 refinery workers are locked out.

Local unions are stepping up this winter to connect thousands of Minnesotans with free, fresh food available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box program.

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, which brings together over 100 local unions in Chisago, Dakota, Ramsey and Washington counties, is spearheading the effort, working in partnership with local unions and labor councils to plan and stage distribution events outside union halls and training centers – and even blocks away from a picket line.

The distribution events are open to all, and with food-shelf visits at an all-time high in Minnesota, they are drawing a lot of interest.

[Find a list of scheduled food events on the Regional Labor Federation’s Facebook page.]

Unions like Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) are eager to help meet the growing need for food, Business Manager Jamie McNamara said. The union hosted a distribution event at its facility on Conway Street Feb. 20, one of 12 organized by the Regional Labor Federation and its partners last month.

“We’re extremely honored to be able to provide food to the East Side of St. Paul,” McNamara said. “The IBEW has a great partnership with the community here, and we’re very grateful to be of service to a community that’s been so good to us. We look forward to doing another one of these in the future.”

Union volunteers are eager to support food distribution events like this one at IBEW Local 110.

Each distribution site that participates in the Farmers to Families program receives a truckload of around 1,300 food packages. Each package contains 25 to 30 pounds of fresh fruits, vegetables and meat and dairy products, including a gallon of milk.

The events are opportunity to restock the refrigerator, whereas food pantries mostly offer non-perishable, shelf-stable goods.

Erica Dalager Reed, an AFL-CIO Community Services liaison with the Regional Labor Federation, said the fresh food boxes help families struggling with food insecurity to “supplement what they are getting from other resources,” like food shelves.

But offering fresh food comes with unique challenges for Dalager Reed and the federation’s partner organizations.

Timing is everything. When a truck arrives at a distribution site, volunteers must be ready to unload and sort the food for contactless pickup. Distribution must begin – and end – shortly after the food leaves the truck to prevent it from spoiling.

It’s a labor-intensive process, which makes unions uniquely qualified for the job. And through their training centers and industry connections, unions can usually access a pallet jack or forklift to unload the trailer, too.

“When we first hosted a food distribution site at the Labor Center last October, it gave us a real sense of the need that exists in our community,” Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson said. “Since then, our affiliate unions and volunteers have given their time and talents generously at event after event, outside and in the cold. I am deeply appreciative.”

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation and St. Paul Building Trades teamed up for a distribution event at the Labor Center Feb. 3.

The Regional Labor Federation’s nonprofit arm, the St. Paul Labor Studies and Resource Center, plays a key role in accessing the USDA program, which allows only registered nonprofit organizations to arrange for delivery of a Farmers to Families truckload.

The program has been so popular that union groups statewide – and even in North Dakota – have reached out to Dalager Reed about setting up distribution events in partnership with the St. Paul federation and the LSRC.

“We’re just looking to help the community,” Tony Poole, business manager of St. Paul Pipefitters Local 455, said during an event Feb. 16 at the union’s training center in the North End. “We’ve got a lot of low-income families around this neighborhood, and we just want to help. It worked out really well.”

Officers, staff and volunteers from Pipefitters Local 455 pause for a photo during a food distribution event at their North End facility.

It’s gone over well with the public, too.

Dalager Reed said she saw several comments on social media after the Pipefitters’ event, with some users thanking the union and others expressing surprise. One person, she said, wrote: ‘That’s my dad’s union! I didn’t know unions did stuff like that.’”

St. Paul Building Trades Executive Secretary Don Mullin, whose council co-hosted a distribution event Feb. 3 at the St. Paul Labor Center, said that while unions and union members have a long history of giving back to their communities, they aren’t always good at taking credit for it.

“This has been a great opportunity to provide meals to the community, and it really speaks to everything labor does as a whole,” Mullin said. “We help out. We work with the community. And we’re showing the community what we’re all about.”

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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: , , , , , , , ,

Trades celebrate Women Build Success awards

February 27, 2020 by

Pictured after the Women Build Success awards ceremony are (L to R) Megan Ringwelski, Nancy Leppink, Peggy Flanagan, Amy Peterson, Clara Schiller, Connie Smallman, Rachel Malmer and Derra Range.

Union tradeswomen celebrated the most badass among them at a spirited awards ceremony in Minneapolis last night.

“Six women, selected from dozens of nominees for apprentice, journey worker and advocate of the year, took home honors at the Women Building Success Awards Ceremony.

Board members for Women Building Success include Jenny Winkelaar, Operating Engineers Local 49; Jennifer Mudge, IBEW Local 292; Carrie Robles, Laborers Local 563; Matt Fairbanks, Sheet Metal Workers Local 10; Tasha Lawrence Plumbers Local 34; Barry Davies, Ironworkers Local 512; Teri Stave, Elevator Constructors Local 9; and Barb Pecks, North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters

Two high-profile guests of honor handed out the awards: Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry Commissioner Nancy Leppink and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who encouraged tradeswomen in the room to continue building each other up, both on the job site and with events like the awards ceremony.

“Empowered women empower women,” Winkelaar said.

Advocate of the Year

Connie Smallman, a member of Operating Engineers Local 49 in her 33rd year working construction, received Advocate of the Year honors. Smallman co-founded Local 49’s women’s group, the first of its kind among Operating Engineers locals. Since then, she has helped other unions across the country launch women’s groups of their own.

“I used to be the only girl on the job site,” Smallman said. “The last job I worked on, I had the pleasure of working with over 50 tradeswomen. How cool is that?”

Honorable mention in the category went to Amy Peterson, a member of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82. Terry Nelson, the council’s business manager, said Peterson works as an apprenticeship instructor with the Finishing Trades Institute of the Upper Midwest, and has trained hundreds of union apprentices in drywall finishing and thousands in workplace safety.

“She is always there to help other women,” Nelson said. “Amy has worked hard to get where she is, and she is always there for other women to help them make their way in the trade.”

Journey Worker of the Year

St. Paul Steamfitters-Pipefitters Local 455’s Clara Schiller took home Journey Worker of the Year honors. Jim Sloan, a business representative with the local, said Schiller “consistently proves to be one of our local’s most vocal and dedicated members.”

Schiller puts in extra time both with the local, as an apprenticeship instructor, and in the community, exposing underrepresented communities to opportunities in the union trades. “She embodies what it means to be a union tradeswoman,” Sloan said.

Schiller offered words of encouragement to union tradeswomen in the banquet room. “Remember your heart out there on the job,” she said. “Remember who you are.”

Honorable mention in the category went to Derra Range of LIUNA Laborers Local 563. Sixteen years after leaving her job as a hairstylist, Range now works as a foreman on the job site, Local 563 Business Manager Joe Fowler said.

Range told Fowler she earned the respect of her all-male crews the old fashioned way: “by working my ass off five times harder than most everyone else.”

Apprentice of the Year

Megan Ringwelski, in her fourth year of training with Sprinklerfitters Local 417, was named Apprentice of the Year. As an example of the dedication she brings to the craft, Local 417 Business Manager Trinidad Uribe III said Ringwelski recently continued working into the eighth month of her pregnancy.

“They literally had to pull her away from the tools,” Uribe said. “She’s a hard worker and dedicated, to say the least.”

Honorable mention in the category went to Rachel Malmer, a member of Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Local 110’s business manager, Jamie McNamara, said he nominated Malmer for the award, in part, because she has volunteered in support of the union’s political program – “phone banking, door knocking” – while simultaneously working toward her journey-level certification.

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IBEW 110’s growing minority caucus hooks up Habitat house in Faribault

November 18, 2019 by

Saturday was a national day of service for the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus, and 25 volunteers from St. Paul-based Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers spent the morning roughing in a Habitat for Humanity home in Faribault.

The service project brought together journey-level workers, apprentices and their family members. Volunteer turnout was the highest Local 110 has seen since the union began participating in the day of service five years ago.

Mike Roberts, a journey-level worker who participated in the volunteer project, said Local 110’s minority caucus is growing.

“IBEW members are recognizing that the Electrical Workers Minority Caucus is not just a minority committee,” said Roberts, who serves as caucus president. “They’re recognizing the important work happening in the committee, and they’re getting behind us. We’re all doing this together.”

First-year apprentice Nurbayan Hassan (L), Mike Roberts and second-year apprentice Luke Favreau
Logan Beere
Fifth-year apprentice Jeff Winsor
Kit Moreno, an IBEW householder
Timmi Glewwe
Third-year apprentice Cat Levander (L) and first-year apprentice Jessica Hayes

The Habitat build offered several newly registered apprentices an opportunity to sharpen their skills working alongside more experience Electrical Workers, connect with fellow union members and have some fun.

“Everybody likes to do Habitat houses,” Roberts said.

For the Rice County chapter of Habitat for Humanity, the feeling is mutual. The Minority Caucus day of service is among several projects adopted by Local 110 volunteers throughout the year.

“We are very grateful for the strong partnership with IBEW,” Dayna Norvold, executive director of Rice County Habitat, said. “The crews are great to work with, and we couldn’t fulfill our mission of building safe, decent and affordable homes without their partnership.”

The home IBEW volunteers wired Saturday is a one-story rambler with two bedrooms, one bathroom and a two-car garage. Norvold said she hopes to see it completed in March 2020, with a deserving family taking ownership in the following weeks.

Roberts said union members take pride in every job they do, but there’s something unique about projects that improve people’s lives.

“As IBEW members, we feel like we are obligated to give back and serve our communities,” he said.

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Labor community, TEAM help get IBEW apprentice’s family on track

January 31, 2017 by
The Hudak family (L to R): Dustin, Brady, Jocelynn and Heather.

The Hudak family (L to R): Dustin, Brady, Jocelynn and Heather.

It seemed to Dustin Hudak that any time he made progress on his goals, disaster was bound to strike. One step forward, two steps back.

But things are finally looking up for Hudak and his family, thanks to an apprenticeship with St. Paul-based Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and support from the labor community.

“We’re paying down our bills and hoping to be able to get into a better rental unit after getting our tax refund,” Hudak said. “All of our stuff is in storage, so we’re hoping to be first-time homebuyers down the road.”

Hudak’s story reveals the safety net unions like Local 110 and labor federations, including the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, provide for working people and their families during times of crisis. And for Dustin and his wife of 10 years, Heather, crisis has been a constant of late.

Four years ago their then-4-year-old son, Brady, suffered serious injuries after being attacked by a neighbor’s pit bull. The family, which also includes 9-year-old Jocelynn, had recently moved out of a family member’s basement and into a trailer park in Hastings. It seemed like a perfect fit as the family looked to save money for a down payment.

But the attack changed everything. “I was losing my hours,” he said. “I couldn’t work because I had to be there with Brady. Plus we had to pay for treatments, pads, prescriptions and the mileage and time it took going to doctor’s appointments.”

The requirements of Brady’s care cost both Dustin and Heather their jobs. Eventually, the trailer park evicted them, and they lived for about a month in a motel room before taking an apartment on St. Paul’s west side. The Hudaks had found work with a property manager, who arranged for them to move into the space.

There was just one problem: it was infested with bed bugs. Soon, so were the family’s beds and clothes. “It went from worse to worse to worse,” Dustin said.

Rental agencies were reluctant to lease to them, so the Hudaks moved back into motel rooms before pooling resources with Dustin’s mother on a rental unit in Coon Rapids.

But the bed bugs hadn’t gone away. Heather finally bit the bullet: a $3,200 heat-based treatment to kill the pests once and for all. It went on the family’s credit card.

When Dustin’s mother ran into difficulty paying her end of the rent, the family moved to a small apartment in Circle Pines, where they live now. Heather says the family has “always been on the fine line for public assistance,” but has rarely qualified.

But help came after Dustin, now a second-year apprentice, shared his story with Local 110’s Brotherhood Committee, which provides financial assistance to members in need. The committee helped with rent and an energy bill, allowing the family to pay down credit-card and other debts.

Local 110 also referred Dustin to the St. Paul RLF’s non-profit Labor Studies and Resource Center, which tapped its Emergency Fund and community partners to provide Cub gift cards and other assistance.

“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, they will do that for us?’ Holy cow!’” Dustin remembered.

But the real surprise came before the holidays. Employees of TEAM, an employment services provider that works with several Minnesota unions, were looking to provide a merry Christmas to a family in need. Local 110 suggested the Hudaks.

TEAM staff delivered clothes, video games, gift cards and even a state parks pass to the Hudaks, who acknowledged “feeling a little silly” making up a wish list, but deeply appreciate the relief it provided their budget.

“I’ve never had that sense where I’m feeling comfortable, that I’m not going to lose my job or have the rug pulled out from under me,” Dustin said. “Now I kick myself for not starting apprenticeship earlier.”

– To provide assistance to families like the Hudaks, the St. Paul Labor Studies & Resource Center relies on the generous support of local unions and their members. Click here to learn more about making a contribution online.

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In North Branch, union volunteers help build home for disabled veteran’s family

November 11, 2016 by

web-habitat-groupA partially disabled military veteran and his family own a new home in North Branch, thanks to a little help from East Central Minnesota Habitat for Humanity and several Building Trades unions.

After a dedication ceremony Oct. 29, Eric and JoAnn Trudeau took ownership of the 1,3252-square-foot home, with four bedrooms, two bathrooms and a 400-square-foot garage. It’s enough space for the couple and their four children: Briana, Mariana, Wyatt and Ziva.

St. Paul-based Plumbers and Gasfitters Local 34 donated bathroom fixtures, sinks, a tub, shower and other interior features. Union plumbers also volunteered their time and skills to help build the house.

So, too, did members of St. Paul-based Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, who wired the house with materials donated by the union.

Members of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters framed and closed in the building, and installed siding.

Work on the home began in July.

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