Labor endorsed in Ward 2, Tobolt ready to stand up for working families ‘on day one’

October 22, 2015 by
Volunteers with the Minnesota Nurses Association door knock for Darren Tobolt (R) in St. Paul’s Ward 2

Volunteers with the Minnesota Nurses Association door knock for Darren Tobolt (R) in St. Paul’s Ward 2

When a non-union electrical contractor was undermining area wages and benefits on a project funded by Ramsey County several years back, IBEW Local 110’s Brian Winkelaar didn’t think twice about what to do.

He called Darren Tobolt, County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt’s longtime assistant.

“I called him up and said, ‘Darren, how come they’re on this project?’” Winkelaar remembered. “He called me back five minutes later, and they were off the site.”

Now, Local 110 is supporting Tobolt in his campaign for St. Paul City Council, and the Electrical Workers are not alone. Nurses, Firefighters, Steelworkers, the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation and others have endorsed Tobolt, making him the only labor candidate in a tight race to succeed Dave Thune in Ward 2.

“He asked for our endorsement, and I didn’t waver for one minute,” Winkelaar said. “He truly believes in our movement, in our cause and in what we do – Project Labor Agreements, prevailing wages, family-supporting careers. He gets it. I don’t need to educate him on our issues.”

Tobolt said his vision for the city is to “keep building on what we’ve been accomplishing, but making sure that we’re bringing everyone along.” That means making sure all workers have access to earned sick and safe time, fighting wage theft and raising wages, he said.

“My experience working with everyone across St. Paul for such a long time means I’m ready to do the job on day one,” Tobolt said. “I’ve spent 20 years engaging and making sure people have a voice in politics. People understand that and remember that.”

Union roots

Tobolt grew up in a middle-class, union family. His father worked began his career as a telephone man with Northwest Bell and retired from Qwest, a member of the Communications Workers of America throughout his career. His mother sold Tupperware, and watching her work gave Darren a healthy appreciation for organizing and networking.

Those are skills he’s put to use in several roles since graduating from the University of Minnesota – as a community organizer for ACORN, working on Paul Wellstone’s first Senate campaign, running get-out-the-vote efforts statewide for John Kerry’s presidential campaign, as chair of the St. Paul DFL and, for the last 17 years, as the top aide to Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt.

A longtime ally of organized labor, Reinhardt describes Tobolt as “a caring, compassionate, listening, dedicated person with a keen eye toward what is fair, what is right.”

Community connections

Tobolt and his wife, Wendy Underwood, live in the West 7th neighborhood, where they’ve established deep roots. She serves on the St. Paul Planning Commission, and he has served on his district council, the Fort Road Federation, as well the board of Transit for Livable Communities, a transportation-based nonprofit.

As proof of his readiness to deliver results for Ward 2, Tobolt points to his service on the City of St. Paul’s task force on public facilities. Tobolt served as chair of the task for last year, when it secured funding for needed improvements to Ward 2’s Palace Rec Center.

Tobolt also has been an advocate for his neighborhood in planning sessions for potential enhancement of the West 7th Street corridor, connecting downtown St. Paul with Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

“Whenever we’re doing work on our streets, I want to make sure we’re making them complete streets, building safe crossings and making them safe for all users,” he said. “If there’s a train, we need to make sure it isn’t a train that goes through our neighborhood, but that it actually serves our neighborhood.”

Labor endorsed

When he walked into screenings with St. Paul unions and labor federations early in the Ward 2 campaign, Tobolt’s was a familiar face to union activists and labor leaders like Linda Hamilton, president of the Minnesota Nurses Association.

“Darren has been a leader in his community, organizing around the issues that matter to working families,” Hamilton said. “He has dedicated his life to public service and has worked hard bringing people together to get things done for this community.

“Nurses support Darren Tolbot because we share the value that ‘we all do better, when we all do better.’”

As her assistant, Reinhardt said, Tobolt developed “a strong background in labor issues, working with union folks on prevailing wage, ordinances regarding contracting and PLA’s.”

Tobolt worked on Ramsey County’s push for a stronger prevailing wage ordinance, which prevent contractors on publicly funded projects from bringing in low-paid workers and undercutting the area standard of living. As a result, the Ramsey County Attorney’s office created a position dedicated entirely to prevailing-wage enforcement.

It’s something Tobolt hopes to replicate in St. Paul.

“We need to work across boundaries,” he said. “If you’re an irresponsible bidder for Ramsey County, you’re going to be an irresponsible bidder for St. Paul, for school boards and other, smaller municipalities. It works better if we all work together.

“The money the city spends is the public’s money, so it should reflect our public values. And our values include making sure workers are adequately compensated and fairly treated.”

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Building Trades invited, but unwelcome at Bonfe’s job fair

October 9, 2015 by
Shirts worn by Building Trades union members at Bonfe's employment open house.

Shirts worn by Building Trades union members at Bonfe’s employment open house.

Bonfe’s might want to consider a new recruiting strategy.

For the second year in a row, the non-union mechanical and electrical contractor invited members of area Building Trades unions to attend an open house for prospective employees. And just like last year, Bonfe’s recruiters spent most of the open house trying to keep union members out.

After receiving the invitations, a group of 11 unions teamed up to reserve a room at the Embassy Suites in Bloomington, where Bonfe’s held the open house Tuesday, looking to “piggyback” off the non-union contractor’s promotion.

“We just saw an opportunity where workers might be walking in and looking for jobs,” Ironworkers Local 512 representative Mike Loftus said.

Of course, Local 512 and other Building Trades unions offer more than just a job.

“This was an opportunity to reach people looking for a career,” Steve Dilger of the Minnesota Pipe Trades said. “We set the area standards in wages and benefits. Bonfe’s flat out doesn’t pay area-standard wages and benefits.”

Unfortunately, the Trades’ effort to offer job seekers a choice met stiff resistance.

First, the Embassy Suites gave the unions a room in a remote corner of the hotel. “You needed a highway map to get back there,” Bill Malecha of IBEW Local 110 said.

And when union members attempted to post signs with directions to their suite, hotel staff removed them.

“They told us we couldn’t have any signs up, told us we couldn’t hand out any literature,” Dilger said. “The police tried to tell us our shirts were picket signs. And we were told if we handed out business cards – even in the bar – we would be immediately asked to leave.

“They didn’t treat us very well, Embassy Suites included.”

Still, the unions succeeded in diverting much of Bonfe’s energy from recruiting new workers. And the police presence likely didn’t do much for the job fair’s ambience.

Bonfe’s once was among the Building Trades’ signatory contractors, but it decertified about six years ago. The company no longer hires union electricians, plumbers or sheet metal workers. Bonfe’s is completely non-union.

[To find a union electrical contractor in the Twin Cities, visit the IBEW’s Pro 5 Quality website. For a union plumbing or pipefitting contractor, check out the Minnesota Mechanical Contractors Association website.]

The group of Building Trades unions joining the effort included some crafts whose contractors don’t compete with Bonfe’s for labor: Ironworkers Local 512, Sheet Metal Workers Local 10, Heat & Frost Insulators Local 34, Roofers Local 96, Pipefitters Locals 455 and 539, Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82, Plumbers Locals 34 and 15, and Electrical Workers Local 110 and 292.

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

Photos: IBEW volunteers keep lights on at veterans memorial

September 18, 2015 by
Local 110 volunteers (L to R): Dan Hachfeld, Jake Halling, Joe Kaderlik, Chancy Tutak and Steve White.

Local 110 volunteers (L to R): Dan Hachfeld, Jake Halling, Joe Kaderlik, Chancy Tutak and Steve White.

Union electricians are making sure a spotlight continues to shine on the All American Veterans Memorial in Shieldsville.

Active and retired IBEW Local 110 members volunteered their time and skills this morning in Shieldsville, about an hour south of the Twin Cities. The crew installed new light posts, donated by union contractor Muska Electric, and updated wiring to floodlights that illuminate the memorial after dark.

St. Paul-based Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers maintains a chapter based in Faribault, and members take on several volunteer projects throughout the year, including Habitat for Humanity builds in Faribault and Dundas over the next two weekends.

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City of St. Paul employees volunteer to help build Habitat house in Frogtown

July 29, 2015 by
City employees (L to R) Laura Haynssen, Barb Morin, Nora Riemenschneider and AFSCME member K.C. Blees pause for a photo on the scaffolding at the Habitat construction site in Frogtown.

City employees (L to R) Laura Haynssen, Barb Morin, Nora Riemenschneider and AFSCME member K.C. Blees pause for a photo on the scaffolding at the Habitat construction site in Frogtown.

City of St. Paul employees serve the public every day at work. But this summer, some are using their vacation time to give back to the community as well.

In a coordinated effort among the city’s agencies and departments, city staffers are adopting six daylong volunteer shifts on a Habitat for Humanity construction site in Frogtown. They’re helping build a single-family home on a previously vacant lot at 632 Edmund Ave.

Ricardo Cervantes, director of the Department of Safety and Inspections, coordinates the city’s participation in the Habitat build. He said the volunteer effort is a growing event for the city, which increased its commitment from five days last year to six this year.

“Nobody’s getting paid to be here,” Cervantes said. “Yet the number of people willing to volunteer continues to grow. We set a goal of getting as many departments to participate as we can, and this year we’re probably getting close to 95 percent.”

Erica Brown (L), Jim Giebel and Dolly Lee haul lumber on the site.
AFSCME member Kate Aamot (R) and Bridget Morales apply caulk along the exterior wall.
IBEW Local 110 member Dan Moynihan, a senior electrical inspector with the city, works along the roof.
Planning and Economic Development intern Kanneelah Britton
Habitat for Humanity site supervisor McKinsie Clyde (R) and AFSCME member Todd Freking watch as Nance Lee Mosquera works with a saw.

Construction at the Frogtown site began in June, and volunteers – roughly 15 to 18 per day – will be on hand five days per week for roughly 10 to 12 weeks, site supervisor McKinsie Clyde said. The City of St. Paul teamed with Travelers Insurance and Securian Financial to fill most shifts at the site this summer.

Along with North Minneapolis, Frogtown is an “area of emphasis” for Habitat in the Twin Cities. Clyde can point to other homes in the neighborhood Habitat has built or refurbished.

“This area was really hard hit by the foreclosure crisis,” she said. “The worst of it is over now in most places, but this is where we have need in our community.”

Working as an electrical inspector, IBEW Local 110 member Dan Moynihan has been inside plenty of low-income properties across the city.

“You see how people have to try to get by, and if I can help, I’m going to when I can,” Moynihan said. “We’re always trying to improve our housing stock here. This is an exciting program to be a part of.”

Habitat vets potential owners, requiring applicants to complete a class in home ownership and put in 300 to 500 hours of “sweat equity” on the construction site. The three-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot house on Edmund Avenue will be sold to a family of five, with two adult immigrants from Ethiopia. The tentative closing date is in December.

How are members of your union giving back?

We know union members across the Twin Cities are giving back to their communities. Help us give them the recognition they deserve! Send story tips to mmoore@stpaulunions.org.

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Electrical Workers crash Bonfe’s open house

September 26, 2014 by
IBEW Local 110 members (L to R) Jaime Hubbard, Dan Crawmer and Ray Lee called out Bonfe's for not paying area-standard wages and benefits to its electricians.

IBEW Local 110 members (L to R) Jaime Hubbard, Dan Crawmer and Ray Lee called out Bonfe’s for not paying area-standard wages and benefits to its electricians.

Bonfe’s Plumbing, Heating and Air Service held an open house for prospective employees last night in St. Paul, but not everyone on the guest list appreciated the invite.

About two dozen members of St. Paul-based Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers surrounded Bonfe’s property during the open house. They carried signs and banners, distributed leaflets and warned the public – and potential employees – that Bonfe’s does not pay its electricians wages and benefits that meet area standards.

Bonfe's, a non-union contractor, mailed open-house invitations to members of IBEW Local 110 in an apparent attempt to "poach" skilled workers.

Bonfe’s, a non-union contractor, mailed open-house invitations to members of IBEW Local 110 in an apparent attempt to “poach” skilled workers.

The open house drew IBEW Local 110’s attention after members reported receiving invitations in the mail, union representative Jeff Anderson said.

“They invited me here, and I came,” Anderson said. “Now they don’t want me here.”

Anderson speculated that Bonfe’s accessed Local 110 members’ mailing addresses via the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry’s registry. The open house, he said, was nothing more than an attempt to “poach” skilled workers from the IBEW and its signatory contractors.

Bonfe’s once was among Local 110’s signatory contractors, but it decertified about five years ago. The company no longer hires union electricians, plumbers or sheet metal workers. Bonfe’s is completely non-union.

“Not only do they not pay area standards,” Anderson said, “but from the reviews I’ve read online, it does not appear they are passing those saving on to their customers either.”

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

In Forest Lake, Electrical Workers picket City Hall construction site

May 22, 2014 by
Members of IBEW Local 110 picket the non-union entrance to the construction site of Forest Lake's new City Hall. Picketing, from L to R, are Gary Kispert, Mike Finamore and John Vejtruba.

Members of IBEW Local 110 picket the non-union entrance to the construction site of Forest Lake’s new City Hall. Picketing, from L to R, are Gary Kispert, Mike Finamore and John Vejtruba.

FOREST LAKE – Construction of a new City Hall in this northeast suburb slowed to a snail’s pace yesterday, as members of Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers erected a picket line to protest the city’s use of an electrical contractor that, members say, undermines area standards for wages and benefits.

Efforts to reach an agreement with Vinco Inc. to pay wages and benefits on par with area standards have been unsuccessful, Local 110 organizer Bill Malecha said. Union members have greeted the contractor with “Shame On You” banners at its job sites more than a dozen times in recent months.

But when the City of Forest Lake awarded the electrical work on the City Hall project to Vinco, it was the final straw.

“We decided to step up the pressure with a three-day picket,” Malecha said, adding that the action had been sanctioned by the St. Paul Building & Construction Trades Council. “We can’t tell our union brothers and sisters not cross the line, but you can see pretty much the only people on the jobsite are the non-union electrical workers.”

Laborers Local 563 was among the unions who honored Local 110’s picket line yesterday, business agent Chris Peltier said. He and a handful of other Laborers bolstered the IBEW members’ ranks on the picket line today.

“When there’s a dispute on a job, we try to do whatever we can to support the other Trades,” Peltier said. “Yesterday we were able to keep all our people out, along with the other Trades.”

Before work began this morning, the general contractor on the construction site, Kraus-Anderson, established a “double-gate system.” It allows union contractors to access the construction site through a picket-free entrance. Work has picked up somewhat as a result.

It’s not the first time in recent months that the City of Forest Lake, under City Administrator Aaron Parrish, has found itself the target of a union protest. In fact, the IBEW’s three-day picket isn’t even the only demonstration taking place on the City Hall construction site.

Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34 has put up a banner protesting R.J. Mechanical for subcontracting insulation work on the site to O’Leary Insulation, a non-union contractor that fails to pay the industry-standard wages and benefits established by Local 34.

Last fall members of Local 517 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees pushed back against Parrish’s drastic plan to reorganize city staff. Most notoriously, Parrish made firefighting a part of five workers’ job descriptions, despite the fact most were older than 50 with no previous firefighting experience.

“We’ve heard it many, many times from people who stop to ask us what we’re doing. They say, ‘It’s about time somebody does something in this town,’” Malecha said. “I would only hope the city would understand the reason this project is being held up is because they hired a non-union contractor who doesn’t pay area-standard wages and benefits.”

Local 110 plans to keep the picket line up through Friday.

“Our goal is to have Vinco sign a letter of assent with Local 110,” Malecha said.

Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34 protested alongside IBEW members on the Forest Lake City Hall construction site, targeting a non-union insulating contractor. Holding the banner, from L to R, are Brandon Sebesta, Robin Carlen and Angela Sheehan.

Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34 protested alongside IBEW members on the Forest Lake City Hall construction site, targeting a non-union insulating contractor. Holding the banner, from L to R, are Brandon Sebesta, Robin Carlen and Angela Sheehan.

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Stopping the Presses: Pioneer Press to close printing plant, lay off 170 workers

February 10, 2014 by
The Pioneer Press closing affects about 170 workers, including press operators (L to R) Bill Henry, Gary Weakley and Dan Grant. Henry has worked at the plant for 44 years, Weakley for 42 and Grant for 15.

The Pioneer Press closing affects about 170 workers, including press operators (L to R) Bill Henry, Gary Weakley and Dan Grant. Henry has worked at the plant for 44 years, Weakley for 42 and Grant for 15.

 

Darrin Seiberlich followed in his father’s footsteps when he took a job in the St. Paul Pioneer Press printing plant nearly 30 years ago. Seiberlich’s co-worker Jim Anderson traces his roots at the newspaper one generation further, to his grandfather.

Those legacies and others will reach the end of the line Feb. 16, when the Pioneer Press plans to close its St. Paul plant and lay off about 170 full- and part-time workers, including members of the Teamsters, Electrical Workers, Newspaper Guild and Machinists unions.

“It’s a hard transition,” said Seiberlich, a foreman at the plant and member of Teamsters Local 120. “It’s not just our lives; a lot of us were brought up as kids around here.”

Under the terms of a five-year contract, the Pioneer Press, which traces its roots back to the state’s first newspaper, the Minnesota Pioneer, will outsource the work of printing a newspaper across the Mississippi River, to the rival Star Tribune. The Pioneer Press plant, located near the St. Paul Downtown Airport at 1 Ridder Circle, will go up for sale.

Workers learned about the plant closing in November, when management called an interplant meeting. David Handlos, a press operator at the newspaper since 1970 and shop steward for Teamsters Local 1M, said the news caught most employees by surprise.

“We figured it was a rah-rah type meeting,” Handlos said. “All of a sudden they say, ‘Boom, the place is closing.’ It was very unexpected. It was completely out of the blue. We didn’t have a clue.”

Foremen at the plant, Jim Anderson (L) and Darrin Seiberlich followed their fathers to work at the Pioneer Press. Anderson’s grandfather worked for the company as well.

Foremen at the plant, Jim Anderson (L) and Darrin Seiberlich followed their fathers to work at the Pioneer Press. Anderson’s grandfather worked for the company as well.

From shock to acceptance

Much has been made of print media’s decline in an increasingly digital world, and the Pioneer Press plant closing reflects a trend of job losses in the industry nationwide. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports nearly 209,000 U.S. workers were employed in “print machine operations” in 1999, a total that had dropped to 173,000 by 2012.

But longtime workers at the Pioneer Press had long since learned to deal with rumors of the newspaper’s decline.

“They’ve been saying ever since I can remember, ‘Oh, the newspaper’s going to go the way of the dinosaur, it isn’t going to last,’” Handlos said. “Well, it’s lasted.

“I’ve seen a lot of people come and go as they’ve shut down departments as the technology overtakes them, but I never thought it would be shut down completely.”

In the two months since news of the closing broke, the prevailing mood has shifted, Seiberlich said, from “total shock” to acceptance.

“Being in the news business as long as we have, we’ve watched everything change,” Seiberlich said. “Everything in the world is changing, and this is just part of it.”

As the printing equipment inside the plant changed over the years, so too did the product. Seiberlich remembered using “drums” – a cylindrical style of printer – during the first half of his career. Handlos saw the plant transition from lead-type presses to computerized, web-offset presses.

“This was a state-of-the-art facility when they moved in here,” Anderson said.

More recently, the plant has adapted to “zoning” strategies designed to customize the product to serve local audiences. “People in different neighborhoods might get two different newspapers,” Seiberlich explained.

web.pipress-pressesUncertainty awaits

In the weeks following the announcement, workers’ union representatives met with management to negotiate severance packages that will be based on tenure with the company. The Pioneer Press also has directed workers to resources available through the state’s Dislocated Worker Program.

But for printing-plant lifers like Anderson and Seiberlich, for whom a job at the press was practically a birthright, the uncertainty looming beyond Feb. 16 is a very new feeling.

“Other than four years in the Navy, this has been my only job, the only thing I’ve ever known,” Seiberlich said.

Anderson expects it will be “surreal” not driving to the plant Feb. 17.

“This is the stage in your life where if you’re going to make a career change, it’s something to think about,” he added. “But it’s always hard, and there will be some people I’m definitely going to miss.”

For older workers like Handlos, the plant closing hastens a decision to retire. “I was real close to pulling the plug anyway, but it still came earlier than I really wanted it to,” he said.

Bill Henry, a press operator with 44 years of experience at the plant, is on the fence. “I’m going to take it easy for the rest of winter, then maybe see if there’s something else out there I’m interested in,” he said.

Henry has a hard time believing he will enjoy another job as much as he’s enjoyed printing a newspaper.

“For as long as I’ve been here, I pretty much know my job inside and out,” he said. “Anything that goes wrong, you can fix it.

“At the end of each day, after you put out the product, you’re done with that day. And tomorrow it’s something new again.”

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