Kip Hedges: Labor has a big stake in St. Paul’s fight for $15

Former Delta baggage handler Kip Hedges was fired for speaking up in favor of $15 for all workers.

There’s no question, the labor movement is under severe attack. The Janus decision is only the latest example of damage inflicted on workers by the billionaire class of the United States and their political allies.

How can we rebuild? How can we, as a union movement, be relevant to millions of workers who know little of unions? Because of nearly four decades of defeats, retreats and attacks on labor, many of these workers have never been in a union and don’t have family members or friends who have been in unions.

The fight for a $15 minimum wage must be part of any fightback strategy. Why? First, because using 15 as part of a union organizing strategy can pay real dividends. At MSP airport the demand for $15 was a key part of the Service Employees International Union’s ability to bring 700 aircraft cleaners and cart drivers into the union. Like many positions that had once been career jobs, outsourcing had turned these into minimum-wage jobs. When SEIU Local 26 became a champion of $15 for all airport workers, aircraft cleaners started to pay real attention to the union.

Another string of impressive organizing victories came when United Food and Commercial Workers Local 653 used the demand for $15 to win union representation for hundreds of grocery workers at Minneapolis food co-op stores.

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL), a Twin Cities worker center, has been at the forefront of the Fight for 15. It has effectively organized to bring hundreds of mostly immigrant workers into the labor movement. This is, in no small part, because workers saw CTUL fighting alongside them for higher wages and dignity even before they were in a union.

The second reason why 15 must be part of rebuilding the union movement is because we must break out of our isolation. The labor movement was at its strongest when we took on fights that benefited the entire working class, like the 8-hour day, unemployment insurance, workers compensation, social security and an end to child labor. By leading these fights, unions brought many unorganized workers into the labor movement.

Too often we have moved away from the philosophy of solidarity, the idea of social movement unionism. Instead of fighting for Medicare for All, the fight becomes for better health insurance for just our members. Instead of fighting for real increases in Social Security, we fight just for our pensions or an increase in company contributions to our 401(k).

We know from years of experience how this ends up. Our employers are able to isolate us from other workers and then pick us off. If the working class as a whole is drowning, it’s only a matter of time before the rising waves wash union workers away as well, no matter how skilled we are or how secure we feel.

If we are able to attract and become relevant to young workers, workers of color, immigrant workers and workers on the low end of the pay scale, then unions actually have a bright future. The fight for 15 is a key part of that future.

Here in St. Paul we expect that the City Council will be voting on an ordinance to raise the minimum wage by late November. We still face a fight over carve-outs like a lower minimum wage for tipped workers (often called a tip penalty), an expanded youth training wage and a lower minimum wage for personal care attendants and other workers. We are demanding One Fair Wage for all St. Paul workers, no carve-outs or exemptions.

Unions and union retirees have been at the center of the Fight for 15 in St. Paul. Union members always show up strong at 15 rallies and turn out for public listening sessions. There will be another opportunity to have an impact on Saturday, Aug. 4, during the next minimum wage listening session sponsored by the city. It’s scheduled from 9 to 11:15 a.m. at the Metropolitan State University Student Center, 690 East Seventh Street.

Please come to support One Fair Wage of $15 for St. Paul!

– A former baggage handler fired by Delta for his support of 15 for all airport workers, Hedges remains active in local organizing campaigns, including the 15 Now campaign and the union drive at Delta Air Lines.

Drawing closer to union elections, Delta workers plan April 4 rally

Delta Air Lines is the world’s second-largest carrier and a highly profitable corporation, but its 40,000 baggage handlers and flight attendants do not have a union on the job. Not yet, anyway.

Both groups of Delta employees are organizing with the International Association of Machinists, and the union plans an April 4 rally in St. Paul to show labor and community support for the workers’ organizing drive.

“Delta uses all their friends and allies to defeat unions,” former Delta baggage handler and longtime union activist Kip Hedges said. “We must do the same to win union representation.”

Delta, headquartered in the anti-union South, has a shameful track record of union avoidance going back 80 years. After acquiring Twin Cities-based Northwest Airlines in 2008, Delta management won a series of narrow workplace elections that shed the company of most collective bargaining agreements.

In the fall of 2010, flight attendants voted 51 percent to 49 percent against union representation with the Communications Workers of America. Baggage handlers and passenger service representatives rejected Machinists representation by similarly narrow margins.

Both the CWA and Machinists accused Delta of running an illegal campaign to intimidate and harass its employees into voting “no” – bribing workers, monitoring them with surveillance and meddling in the secret-ballot process. Just weeks before voting began, Delta distributed “bonuses” to non-union staff – a final nail in the coffin for the union drive.

Hedges said the company is up to its old tricks again.

“Workers face a Delta management team that is entrenched in its opposition to unionization and proud of their 80-year record as a non-union carrier,” he said. “Delta regularly tries to narrow the ability of rank and file organizers to reach their coworkers through intimidation and rules that flirt with the edge of federal law.”

Still, Hedges reported a “sharp uptick” in the number of Delta workers signing union cards, a trend driven by “ever-harsher working conditions.” And despite record returns, Delta scaled back its profit-sharing initiative last year, frustrating workers even more.

Organizers hope to file for organizing elections with the National Mediation Board in 2018.

The April 4 rally will feature speakers, food and music beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the St. Paul Labor Center, 353 W. 7th St. Doors will open at 6 p.m.

Union volunteers give $15 petition drive a boost in Minneapolis

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Alec Johnson (ATU Local 1005) and Katie Quarles (MNA) door-knock for a $15 minimum wage in Minneapolis.

Katie Quarles, a nurse at United Hospital in St. Paul, was among 40 union members who answered the call for volunteers to take action Saturday in support of a $15 minimum wage in Minneapolis.

“Fighting for higher wages for working people is what the labor movement does,” Quarles said before knocking on doors in Minneapolis’ Longfellow neighborhood with Alec Johnson, a member of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005.

Union members like Quarles and Johnson are helping 15 Now Minnesota gather signatures on a petition that could compel the city to hold a vote on a $15 minimum wage, by way of a city-charter amendment.

Organizer Kip Hedges said the threshold for putting $15 on the November ballot is around 7,000 signatures, but the campaign’s goal is to file the petition with closer to 20,000. Already, over 4,000 people in Minneapolis have signed.

A former member of the Machinists union fired by Delta Air Lines for his outspoken support of a $15 minimum wage at MSP Airport, Hedges said unions have played a critical role in helping pass $15 minimum-wage laws in cities like Seattle and Los Angeles.

“Our unions are strong when we’re working in coalition with other groups in the community,” Hedges said.

The event Saturday was such a success, organizers plan another labor door-knock in support of the 15 Now petition drive June 18, starting at 11 a.m. out of the Communications Workers of America Local 7200 Hall, 3521 E. Lake St., Minneapolis.

About 40 union volunteers gather in the CWA Local 7200 Hall before knocking doors in Minneapolis.

About 40 union volunteers gather in the CWA Local 7200 Hall before knocking doors in Minneapolis.

“Fifteen dollars per hour isn’t even enough; it’s just a starting point,” Mona Meyer, president of the CWA Minnesota State Council, said. “And success in Minneapolis spills over into other areas like St. Paul.”

Union members like Quarles and Johnson see the need to raise wages each day on the job. Johnson, a Metro Transit operator, gets low-wage workers to and from their jobs, while Quarles, a member of the Minnesota Nurses Association, provides care when workers and their families get sick.

“As a nurse, I see it as a public health issue,” she said. “People working for poverty wages can’t afford real food, and many have to work more than one job to make ends meet. If you have to work all the time, you don’t have time to cook for your family.”

“When you lift the minimum,” Johnson added, “it lifts the conditions for everyone.”

To sign the petition, stop by the MPIRG offices in Minneapolis, at 2722 University Ave. SE., or join the door-knock June 18!

Union groups supporting the 15 Now petition drive in Minneapolis include: CWA Local 7250, the CWA Minnesota State Council, Machinists Local 1833, the Machinists Minnesota State Council, Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59, MNA, the Minnesota State Association of Letter Carriers and Teamsters Local 320.

Victory in Los Angeles buoys hopes of local 15 Now supporters

Paul Ahrens, a business representative for IATSE Local 44 in Southern California, offers details on the 15 Now victory in Los Angeles during a forum on the movement in St. Paul.

Paul Ahrens, a business representative for the Stagehands union in California, offers details on the 15 Now victory in Los Angeles during a forum in St. Paul.

 

Workers taking collective action and communities organizing for political change form the groundwork of 15 Now, panelists said Wednesday during a forum on the nationwide movement to raise wages.

The discussion was the second in a new series of monthly educational events hosted by the East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul, co-sponsored by the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation’s Community Connections Committee.

Panelists included low-wage workers, union organizers and local activists in the 15 Now campaign, which advocates for $15 minimum-wage laws at the local level.

The East Side Freedom Library hosts a forum on 15 Now.

The East Side Freedom Library hosts a forum on 15 Now.

Already, 15 Now has achieved victories in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago and, most recently, Los Angeles. Organizers are pushing a similar measure in Minneapolis, and if they succeed, St. Paul likely would be next.

Several unions are backing the 15 Now campaign, both in rhetoric and with resources – even though most union members already earn more than $15 per hour. Why?

“It’s the right thing to do,” Machinists union representative Rick Ryan said.

Paul Ahrens, a business representative for IATSE Local 44 in Southern California, said organized labor in Los Angeles “really came together around (the $15 minimum wage) in a big way.” The wage increase stands to benefit an estimated 800,000 workers in the city.

But political organizing alone isn’t enough to win a $15 minimum wage, panelists agreed.

Ahrens credited the heavy lifting in Los Angeles to “feeder movements” like OUR Walmart, fast food workers’ Fight for $15 and other groups organizing low-wage workers.

15 Now panelists include Cantare Davunt of OUR Walmart, Rick Ryan of the Machinists union (center) and Kip Hedges.

15 Now panelists include Cantare Davunt of OUR Walmart, Rick Ryan of the Machinists union (center) and Kip Hedges.

Such groups are alive and thriving in the Twin Cities too, former Walmart worker Cantaré Davunt said. Davunt was fired last winter, she believes, as a result of her support for OUR Walmart, a nationwide campaign to improve wages and working conditions at the retail chain.

“Without taking political or organizing action, we end up having to beg or hope they’ll give us decent pay,” Davunt said. “Meanwhile, too many workers can’t afford to take those risks to make our lives better.”

Low-wage workers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport have taken collective action to make gains at work, winning paid sick days and, potentially, a $10 minimum wage by August. So, too, have janitors at big-box retailers across the Twin Cities, organizing with the local worker center CTUL.

The challenge for 15 Now, local activist Kip Hedges said, is building a coalition around these organizations, bolstering it with support from the labor movement and the progressive community, and turning that collective strength into political change.

“The ghost of 15 is kind of dancing around all these things,” said Hedges, a former Delta baggage handler who was fired for publicly supporting 15 Now. “It will push forward the effort to get $15 in Minneapolis and St. Paul.”

The next Community Connections forum at the East Side Freedom Library, scheduled for June 24, is on the topic “Common Sense Economics.” To learn more about the series, or about the St. Paul RLF’s Community Connections Committee, contact Vicki Beebe at vbeebe@stpaulunions.org or 651-222-3787, extension 20.

A $15 minimum wage in Minneapolis? Backers look to Seattle for blueprint

Kip Hedges, a former baggage handler fired by Delta for publicly supporting 15 Now, addressed a meeting in Minneapolis Sunday night.

Kip Hedges, a baggage handler fired by Delta for publicly supporting 15 Now, spoke during the coalition’s meeting in Minneapolis Sunday night.

More than 100 activists gathered in a Minneapolis union hall last night to begin the work of raising the minimum wage within city limits to $15 per hour.

Lest anyone suggest tempering expectations, 15 Now organizers invited Kshama Sawant, the city council member who spearheaded Seattle’s successful fight for $15 just over a year ago, to recount how labor, faith and community activists there turned an improbable goal into a reality for working people.

“Minneapolis is one of the cities that is poised to win $15 this year,” Sawant told activists. “Let the fight for $15 in Seattle be your guide, that with only one member of the City Council (initially supportive), we were able to get this done.”

Indeed, Seattle’s minimum wage will jump from $9.47 an hour to $11 an hour April 1, and it’s slated to reach $15 by 2021 at the latest. Sawant, an economics professor who upset a four-term incumbent on the Council, said the minimum-wage hike could lift as many as 100,000 workers out of poverty.

“Ultimately, what we are talking about are real people,” she said. “These are the people who make this city run. Just imagine if all of them decided not to go to work on one day. The city would shut down.”

Seattle City Council Member Ksharma Sawant addressed 15 Now supporters in Minneapolis.

Seattle City Council Member Kshama Sawant addressed 15 Now supporters in Minneapolis.

How did Seattle do it?

Success in Minneapolis – as it did in Seattle – will depend on 15 Now’s ability to build a broad coalition of support, Sawant said. That means faith groups, community organizations and, of course, labor unions.

A delegate to Seattle’s central labor council, Sawant said local unions in her city supported 15 Now out of a shared belief that a rising tide lifts all boats.

Most union members in Seattle earn much more than $15 per hour, she said. “They have pensions, they have health care,” Sawant said. “But they were there in solidarity with their sisters and brothers anyway.”

Ubah Aden was among them. A member of the Service Employees International Union and a leader in her neighborhood, Aden wanted to “walk the walk” when it came to advocating for a higher minimum wage. So she quit a higher-paying job and took one in health care that paid $10.95 per hour.

With two children monthly rent of $1,200, Aden found it impossible to make ends meet. “I couldn’t do it,” she said, adding that she quit the lower-paying job and went back to her previous field.

Aden, who also traveled to Minneapolis last week, acknowledged she was lucky to have a career path to resume. “Many low-wage workers don’t have that opportunity,” she said. “It’s just sad that they don’t have enough money to meet their basic needs.”

Expect a fight

No matter how broad a coalition 15 Now builds in Minneapolis, opposition will be fierce and well-financed, Sawant warned.

In Seattle opponents lamented the impact of a $15 minimum wage on small businesses – a public-relations campaign underwritten, covertly and ironically, by the city’s biggest corporations. “Suddenly, you found Starbucks lamenting the fate of local coffee shops,” Sawant said.

In response, 15 Now tapped into popular frustration with a global economy and political structures that seem rigged in favor of corporations and the very wealthy. In that sense, Sawant said, 15 Now builds on the message of Occupy Wall Street and the resistance of fast-food and retail strikers, offering a plan of political action to combat the growth of income inequality.

“We have been on the retreat, on the defensive,” she said. “That’s the beautiful thing about 15 Now – it’s the beginning of an offense… When we organize collectively around concrete political demands, we can absolutely win.”

Guillermo Lindsey, a McDonald’s worker, member of CTUL, said he usually works 55 hours per week with just one day off to spend with his family.

Guillermo Lindsey, a McDonald’s worker, member of CTUL, said he usually works 55 hours per week with just one day off to spend with his family.

Moving the Council

If turnout for Sawant’s appearance is any indication, 15 Now already has a strong base of support from which to draw in Minneapolis.

Two members of the Minneapolis City Council who attended the rally said they supported raising the city’s minimum wage. Alondra Cano of Ward 9 pledged to support $15 per hour; Ward 3’s Jacob Frey said he would support an increase, but needed more time to research how much.

Several community organizations had a presence at the event as well, including the low-wage worker center CTUL and Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, a grassroots organizing effort for racial and economic justice in Minneapolis.

“It’s time for us to stop settling for a minimum wage and start reaching for a living wage,” NOC Field Director Mike Griffin said.

Ty Moore, a national organizer for 15 Now, pointed to an already-successful 15 Now campaign at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport – where a worker-led rally briefly shut down traffic on a roadway to Terminal 1 in December – as helping “boost the credibility” of 15 Now locally.

“The debate is alive, and big campaigns are moving to help raise up working people’s wages and working conditions,” Moore said. “We need (Minneapolis) city leaders to play the kind of role of … Kshama Sawant, to stand steadfastly in the interest of working-class policies.”

Airserv workers take on company’s ‘standby’ scheduling

Airserv workers deliver a petition to a representative of the Metropolitan Airports Commission.

Airserv workers deliver their petition to a representative of the Metropolitan Airports Commission.

Suado Gabo, a wheelchair agent at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport, arrives at work not knowing if she’ll be sent home midway through her scheduled shift. And on her way out the door, Gabo checks to see if her employer, Airserv, has picked up her “standby” days later in the week.

Airserv’s new scheduling practices have riled airport workers like Gabo, whose paycheck shrunk by about 25 percent as a result of the changes. And while she spends fewer hours on the clock, Gabo must remain available to work on “standby” days, making it difficult to recoup lost wages with a second job.

“I go home every day and think, what am I going to do if there’s no work tomorrow?” Gabo said. “I just want to work.”

Gabo was among more than 20 Airserv workers who registered their frustrations with the company’s new scheduling practices during a rally inside Terminal 1 at MSP today.

Wheelchair agent Darcy Landau said he used to work 40 hours per week, but now works just 20 hours, “if not one day,” per week.

“Every single week you’ve got to check if you’re working or not working,” Airserv worker Randa Jama added. “It’s crazy.”

A petition signed by 225 workers calls on Airserv to provide hard copies of workers' paycheck stubs.

A petition signed by 225 workers calls on Airserv to provide hard copies of workers’ paycheck stubs.

Joined by workers from other airport employers, including fired Delta baggage handler Kip Hedges, Airserv employees delivered a petition with 225 signatures to their managers and the Metropolitan Airports Commission. The petition calls on Airserv to meet with workers about their scheduling complaints and to give workers paper copies of their paycheck stubs, so that they can ensure they’re being paid in full.

Airserv recently switched to an electronic payroll system, with paycheck information available only via a website. But many workers reported trouble loading the site, and others said they lack the skills or resources necessary to get online.

The rally at MSP echoed worker-led protests at airports across the country, timed to mark the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. Hundreds of workers in New York briefly blocked access to LaGuardia Airport, calling for higher wages.

Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union is supporting Airserv workers in efforts to organize a union. Many of the workers who participated in the rally also are active in the “Fight for $15” campaign to establish a $15 minimum wage at MSP.

Airport workers win paid sick leave, continue fight to reinstate fired Delta worker

Members of the 15 Now coalition stand in support of Ahmed Ahmed, who testified at the Metropolitan Airports Commission meeting today in favor of a proposed paid leave policy, passed by commissioners later in the meeting

Members of the 15 Now coalition stand in support of Ahmed Ahmed, who testified at the Metropolitan Airports Commission meeting today in favor of a proposed paid leave policy, passed by commissioners later in the meeting

Airport workers’ campaign for better wages and conditions took a step forward today, as the Metropolitan Airports Commission unanimously approved a measure requiring employers to provide paid sick leave to all workers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Supporters of 15 Now, a worker-led coalition seeking to raise the minimum wage at MSP to $15 per hour, cheered the MAC’s vote as a victory, but one that came at a steep cost for one of the campaign’s most vocal supporters.

Kip Hedges, a baggage handler and 26-year airline employee, was fired by Delta Air Lines recently for comments he made in support of the 15 Now campaign in an interview with the labor-news website Workday Minnesota. During the open forum portion of today’s meeting, Hedges and other airport workers urged MAC members to publicly denounce the firing.

“It’s important that MAC supports the rights of workers who are fighting for change,” AirServ worker Ahmed Ahmed said, “because we know there’s a lot that must change.”

Hedges praised MAC members for supporting paid sick leave, and he acknowledged they have no say over hiring and firing at Delta. “But what you do have is moral authority,” Hedges said. “I would like you to make it clear to Delta Air Lines that they stand alone on this.”

Fired Delta worker Kip Hedges speaks during the open forum portion of the MAC meeting. "I can assure everyone here that I, for sure, am not going to stop doing what I’m doing," he said.

Fired Delta worker Kip Hedges: “I can assure everyone here that I, for sure, am not going to stop doing what I’m doing.”

“Come out on my side,” he added. “Come out on Ahmed’s side, for the workers who make this the best airport in the country.”

[Add your name to a petition calling on Delta to reinstate Hedges.]

If the MAC fails to send a message, Delta and other employers will be emboldened to retaliate against other workers who, like Hedges, take a stand against low wages – or for collective bargaining.

Before being fired, Hedges was active in efforts to organize baggage handlers at Delta, a campaign supported by the Machinists union. He said a former co-worker reported being questioned last week by Delta management about his role in collecting signed cards in support of an organizing election.

“It was a shot across the bow,” Hedges said. “You can do something about that by using your moral authority to make sure that Delta and other employers understand that … workers have the right to raise their voice in the workplace and get a union.”

MAC members appeared receptive to workers’ concerns.

Carl Crimmins, a past president of the Minnesota Pipe Trades Association who serves on the MAC, said attempts by any employer to intimidate pro-union workers were unacceptable. He called for an ordinance to establish standards for labor relations at the airport.

“I think a good, healthy discussion on a labor peace ordinance is something this commission should take up,” Crimmins said.

Commissioner Erica Prosser said the work of drafting and implementing a paid leave policy, which will allow airport workers to accrue up to 72 hours of sick, family or emergency leave annually, would not fall on the MAC “if all the employees at the airport were allowed collective-bargaining rights.”

“We wouldn’t, as a commission, have to deal with these issues ourselves,” Prosser said.

Airport workers rally behind Delta baggage handler fired for activism

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison speaks in support of fired Delta baggage handler Kip Hedges (blue coat) at a rally at MSP Airport.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison speaks in support of fired Delta baggage handler Kip Hedges (blue coat) during a rally at MSP Airport.

Airport workers, union members and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison today called on Delta Air Lines to reinstate Kip Hedges, a pro-union activist fired just days ago for speaking publicly in favor of a $15 minimum wage at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

About 200 people joined the demonstration outside Termainal 1 at MSP Airport. They shut down the terminal’s Upper Level Roadway before being ordered by police to disperse.

Originally planned as part of the Black Friday Week of Action that also included Walmart and fast-food strikes, the airport protest became an outlet for activists and co-workers outraged at Hedges’ dismissal. Protesters carried signs and joined chants urging Delta to “bring Kip back.”

Hedges, a baggage handler and 26-year airline employee, told Workday Minnesota that Delta management issued the termination after citing comments he made in a video supporting of the “15 Now” campaign for a higher airport minimum wage.

In this video from today’s protest, Hedges recounts what he said about Delta, as his supporters echo his statement.

“In spite of being fired by Delta, I don’t plan to stop speaking out about low-wage workers at Delta, or the issue of unionizing,” Hedges said. “In the past two days, I’ve received massive support from my co-workers, from brother and sister flight attendants at Delta, the International Association of Machinists and the labor movement in Minnesota. This is the kind of force that it will take to win $15 at MSP, and it’s the kind of spirit that will lead to unionizing Air Serv and Delta ramp workers.”

About 200 people joined the march along outside the upper level of Terminal 1, calling for $15 wages and union rights.

About 200 people joined the march along outside the upper level of Terminal 1, calling for $15 wages and union rights.

Meanwhile, passenger-support workers at MSP, employed by contractors like AirServ, said Delta’s effort to silence Hedges would not keep them from working for a $15 minimum wage and a union.

“I do important work at the Airport for other peoples families,” said Randa Jama, a mother of two who works as a wheelchair assistant for AirServ. “I wish AirServ would support my kids the way I help Delta passengers and unaccompanied minors.”

Ellison, a DFLer from Minneapolis, called on Delta to reinstate Hedges. He also encouraged passenger-support workers’ to continue their organizing campaign.

“We can go a day, a week, a month without the CEO of Delta. We actually don’t need him,” Ellison said. “But you try to go even a short period of time without the cleaners or the drivers or the baggage handlers, and this whole place stops.

“You deserve respect, and you must be paid fairly.”