Ellison joins final push for administrative citations in St. Paul

October 30, 2025 by

Attorney General Keith Ellison today joined St. Paul workers, renters, small business owners and community activists making one last appeal for a “yes” vote on administrative citations.

St. Paul currently lacks authority under the city’s charter to enforce labor standards, property codes, renter protections and other ordinances by issuing civil fines. That makes it an outlier among Minnesota’s largest cities.

When local officials have both civil and criminal enforcement options, Ellison said, they are less likely to tap the Attorney General’s Office for assistance, and their low-income residents are less likely to turn to nonprofits for legal aid.

“We’ve had to sue bad landlords all over the state,” Ellison said during a press conference with the Vote Yes for a Fairer St. Paul campaign outside City Hall. “Every time we do, that means time, money and people, and it means that there’s some other problem that is not being addressed.”

Question 1 on the ballot in the City of St. Paul asks voters whether to amend the charter to allow enforcement of certain ordinances through civil fines, rather than criminal charges.

The proposal emerged from the city’s Charter Commission earlier this year and advanced to the City Council, where it passed unanimously. Mayor Melvin Carter supported the change, but opponents collected enough signatures to put the question before voters Nov. 4.

Labor groups, including the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, have endorsed the “Vote Yes” campaign, arguing the change will allow more efficient and equitable enforcement of labor standards that unions lobbied hard for, including a higher minimum wage and protections against wage theft.

“These ordinances make our city stand out, but, unfortunately, we also stand out for not having a critical tool to enforce them,” Rick Varco, political director of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, said.

Varco pointed to the city’s first major attempt to enforce its ordinance requiring employers to provide earned sick and safe time. The case, filed in 2020, involved about 100 workers at a home health agency who had to wait over four years to get their legally required benefit.

Forcing enforcement into the criminal courts isn’t just impractical, advocates at the press conference said; it also plays into the hands of employers and property owners, with deeper pockets than workers and renters.

“Without administrative citations, the city is left with only two extremes: send a warning letter or pursue a time-consuming, costly criminal case,” Housing Justice Center attorney Jessica Szuminski said. “Predictably, most violations result in no actions at all.”

With a victory for administrative citations Nov. 4, Szuminski added, “tenant protections in St. Paul will finally have teeth, and renters can be assured that their calls for help to the city will mean something.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , ,

Educators, families, students unite behind St. Paul levy campaign

October 24, 2025 by

Victor Xiong, a student at Central Senior High, speaks to volunteers at the Yes for SPPS campaign’s kickoff doorknock.

Voters will decide the fate of a $37.2 million levy request from the St. Paul Public Schools this fall, and the stakes are too high – for students, families and the community – to tune out during this quiet election year.

That’s the message educators, students and school board members delivered during a rally to kick off the Vote Yes for SPPS campaign last month. And volunteers have been delivering it to voters across the district, door by door, in the weeks since then.

“We know that our public schools are the heart of our democracy and our community,” St. Paul Federation of Educators President Leah VanDassor said. “This is the work we need to do, and we’re all in it together.”

The levy referendum is a fork in the road for SPPS. District leaders covered most of a $51.1 million budget shortfall this school year by pulling about $35 million from reserves, but SPPS faces another projected shortfall in 2026-27.

The district is seeking voter approval to increase its operating levy by $1,073 per student for the next 10 years. If it passes, the levy would position SPPS to stabilize its budget, retain and attract quality educators and preserve programming inside and outside the classroom, district leaders say.

But if it fails, the district will need to cut programming and services by $37.2 million before school starts next fall.

Carlo Franco, a member of the district’s Board of Education, said many programs that give students opportunities to “find their passion” – arts, languages, cultural enrichment, athletics and after-school opportunities – will not survive without the new operating levy.

“We have done our best to keep cuts away from the classroom as best we can,” Franco told volunteers at the kickoff rally Sept. 20. “Without an additional $37 million, the reality is we’re going to be looking at some of those programs that are the motivators, the college and career readiness, that we need to make sure our students thrive. That is what’s on the ballot right now.”

Horace Mann science specialist Sarah Bosch, a member of the St. Paul Federation of Educators, offers support for the $37.2 million operating levy request during a “Vote Yes for SPPS” kickoff event.

Cuts leave students ‘heartbroken’

Educators, students and families in the district – and across Minnesota – have dealt with budget cuts before, of course.

Victor Xiong, a Central High School student, remembered learning that his teacher in freshman world history class had lost her job in a round of budget cuts. “I was basically heartbroken,” he said during the rally.

“We can’t cut any more without harming students,” added Sarah Bosch, a science teacher at Horace Mann Elementary, where students lost a reading support specialist this school year.

Staring down a ‘triple financial threat’

Inflation has steadily chipped away at the buying power of school districts like SPPS over the last two decades. SPPS estimates it would have an extra $50 million this school year if state-aid increases had matched inflation rates.

An influx of federal funds during the COVID-19 pandemic helped SPPS cover its budget shortfalls temporarily. Not only have those funding streams dried up, but in July the Trump administration threatened to rescind nearly $7 billion in support for public school districts nationwide, before backing away from the plan in August.

Lagging state aid, loss of COVID relief and federal uncertainty represent a “triple financial threat” to school districts, according to Teresa Mozur, campaign manager for the Vote Yes committee and a SPPS parent.

“Now more than ever, with support eroding at the federal level, we need to protect the things that make Saint Paul Public Schools strong,” Mozur said. “Local funding is the only way we can prevent devastating cuts that will have a direct impact on families, our community and our local economy.”

Labor backs school levies across East Metro

St. Paul isn’t the only school district asking local voters for more funding.

In the Nov. 4 election, school districts in Minnesota have authorized 44 ballot questions seeking additional operating revenue. Another 80 ballot questions ask voters to approve money for construction, renovations, technology and other capital projects.

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, which brings together over 100 affiliated local unions with over 50,000 members, has endorsed the SPPS levy referendum, as well as levy requests in the following east-metro districts:

Find a full list of labor endorsements in the Nov. 4 election at stpaulunions.org.

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Unions join coalition pushing ‘yes’ vote on administrative citations in St. Paul

September 24, 2025 by

Representatives of labor, faith and community organizations participating in the Vote Yes for a Fairer St. Paul coalition hold a kickoff event outside City Hall.

St. Paul unions are teaming up with labor and community groups this fall on a campaign to advance administrative citations from the general election ballot to the capital city’s charter.

The Vote Yes for a Fairer St. Paul campaign launched with a press conference outside City Hall on Aug. 27. Leaders of labor and faith groups joined workers and tenants in making the case for a “yes” vote on the ballot question before St. Paul voters this fall.

By passing the initiative, voters would confirm the St. Paul City Council’s unanimous vote last spring amending the charter to allow enforcement of certain ordinances through civil fines, rather than criminal charges.

The proposal emerged from the city’s Charter Commission, which voted overwhelmingly late last year to advance it to the council. But opponents collected enough signatures to put the question before voters Nov. 4.

At the kickoff event, Vote Yes leaders said they’re confident the more people learn about administrative citations, the more likely they are to support them. That means education – through press coverage, community engagement and the campaign’s website – will be key to their success.

“The public doesn’t know a whole lot about this,” Rick Varco, political director of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, acknowledged. “We’re working with community organizations to educate their members and supporters, and we hope people who are looking into what this complex thing is will use those resources to decide to vote ‘yes.’”

Some people, though, are familiar with St. Paul’s inability to enforce ordinances with civil penalties – often because they’ve found themselves waiting on a response to code violations that, in most other cities, would not play out in the criminal-justice system.

Of the state’s 25 largest cities, only St. Paul does not allow for administrative citations.

The city’s police department can issue fines for parking tickets and related violations under state law, and the city can assess fines to recover the cost of some property-related matters, like sidewalk shoveling.

James Blake shares their experience as a renter trying to hold a landlord accountable for unsafe conditions.

But advocates say the city needs more power to take swift action in enforcing labor standards and housing codes, preventing bad employers and corporate landlords from dragging the process out in court.

That’s what recently happened to James Blake after moving into their dream apartment in St. Paul. Blake soon discovered wood rot and mold in the kitchen and a moth infestation in the apartment’s built-in cabinets.

Requests for repairs went unanswered. Blake reported several code violations to the city, which began legal proceedings against the company, but nothing changed, they said, until Blake made the decision to move out four months into their lease.

“The rental company violated multiple deadlines from the city inspectors and even a court order to make repairs,” Blake said. “Watching them face zero consequences left me helpless and exhausted.”

The city’s current structure, advocates say, too often forces renters like Blake – and workers who experience wage theft – to seek relief through the legal system.

“Try to see what kind of lawyer you can hire with my paycheck,” Blake said. “I don’t think I deserve to live with mold, pests and an unusable kitchen because I can’t afford a lawyer.”

Minister JaNaé Bates, co-Executive Director of the progressive faith organization ISAIAH, said administrative citations will make St. Paul a more equitable place to live and work. For residents who commit minor infractions, the change allows them to avoid criminal proceedings, while tenants and workers can leverage real, immediate consequences when powerful bad actors violate their rights.

“Right now, our existing enforcement mechanisms fall hardest on working families and communities of color, while wealthy corporations with deep pockets and legal teams can delay and dodge accountability,” Bates said. “Administrative citations level the playing field.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

Filed Under: Community, Politics Tagged With: , , , , ,

St. Paul school levy gets labor endorsement

September 18, 2025 by

Organized labor is backing the campaign to pass a new operating levy in the St. Paul school district this fall. Administrators and union leaders say the increased funds are necessary to maintain educational programming and avoid steep budget cuts.

Delegates to the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, which unites over 100 affiliate unions in the East Metro, voted Sept. 10 to endorse a “yes” vote on the levy request, which will appear on the ballot Nov. 4.

The St. Paul Federation of Educators, which represents about 4,000 teachers, education assistants and school professionals in the district, also endorsed the levy request, as did AFSCME Council 5, representing nearly 300 school clerical and technical workers.

Labor endorsement means unions will support the community campaign to pass the levy, Yes for St. Paul Public Schools, with both resources and volunteers. SPFE Executive Board member Quentin Ocama, a kindergarten teacher at Maxfield Elementary and SPPS graduate, is chair of the campaign.

“Labor knows how important strong public education is to our community and our city’s future,” Ocama said.

The campaign will hold a kickoff rally Saturday, Sept. 20 – the day after early voting begins. Organizers also invite volunteers to join regular door knocks and phone banks; learn more at www.yesforspps.com/events.

If passed, the levy referendum would raise $1,073 per student annually for the next 10 years, or about $37.2 million per year in additional revenue for the district. It also includes annual inflationary adjustments.

The new funding stream would help the state’s second-largest school district address a projected annual funding gap of over $50 million per year.

Several factors have contributed to the shortfall. Per-pupil funding from the state, although recently tied to inflation, lagged districts’ rising costs for two decades. Federal pandemic-relief funds helped bridge the gap temporarily, but the Trump administration has threatened to close the Department of Education, putting federal funding streams at risk.

Without an influx of revenue, SPPS leaders warn, the school system will be forced to make steep service cuts at its 69 schools, which serve over 33,000 students.

Erica Schatzlein, SPFE’s lead negotiator in contract talks with the district earlier this year, said those cuts would be “drastic” – and risk gains the union has made over the last decade in bargaining for classroom staffing, mental health services, outreach initiatives and other supports for students and families.

To make those gains, SPFE pushed administrators to dip into the district’s fund balance, arguing cash reserves were larger than necessary. That’s no longer the case, Schatzlein said.

“Now it’s at the bare minimum,” she said. “We didn’t ask them to dip into their fund balance to settle our contract this year because they can’t. We know. We looked at the numbers.

“This is a levy to keep the district stable and strong. We’re looking to the taxpayers of St. Paul to keep us on that track of providing the resources the schools St. Paul students deserve – and we don’t do that lightly.”

Investments in local public schools, St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson said, have a ripple effect throughout the community.

“Union members know that high-quality public schools are a key part of St. Paul’s economic vitality,” she said. “They equip the next generation of workers with the skills to meet employers’ needs. They are essential to the fabric of our community.”

“Strong public schools are necessary for St. Paul to continue to be a place where working families choose to live,” Ocama, the Yes for SPPS chair, said. “Public schools are a vital part of our civil fabric, and they are important so that we can raise the next generation of our city’s residents.”

Visit spps.org/vote to learn more about the levy referendum.

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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

McMurtrey carries labor endorsement into Ramsey County Board special election Feb. 11

February 4, 2025 by

Ask Garrison McMurtrey why he pursued labor support in his campaign to fill the open seat on the Ramsey County Board, and he will point to his childhood in Mississippi, where union density is roughly half of Minnesota’s.

“I’ve seen the impacts of not having a strong labor movement in our community,” McMurtrey said. “I have family members and friends who have probably experienced employee misclassification or wage theft – the things that result from not having a strong apparatus to protect workers in our community, particularly workers of color.

“I know unions are in for the fight, and I’m in for that fight with them.”

Since moving to Minnesota, McMurtrey has fought for economic justice and workers’ rights, most recently as U.S. Rep. Angie Craig’s district director and, previously, on staff with Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Craig, who represents Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, tapped McMurtrey to head up her office’s response to recent service and staffing issues with the U.S. Postal Service.

In that role, McMurtrey worked closely with postal unions and saw firsthand, he said, the voice that comes with union representation, from sounding the alarm on short staffing to demanding a response to safety and equipment concerns.

Perry Schmidt, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers’ statewide council, said McMurtrey earned his support by “showing up for postal issues.”

“He takes phone calls and calls me back,” Schmidt said. “He seems to me to be a real, genuine person and good for labor families. I think he’s a very good pick for union members.”

McMurtrey said he intends to continue partnering with unions on the Ramsey County Board as a commissioner for District 3, which includes Falcon Heights and St. Paul’s Payne/Phalen, North End, Como, Frogtown, Hamline-Midway and St. Anthony Park neighborhoods.

Already, McMurtrey said, he has “shadowed” county workers on the job and met with union leaders to discuss their members’ issues, including safety on the job, high turnover rates and competitive pay and benefits. The county employs about 4,000 people.

“I want to work closely with our new County Manager Ling Becker to be a better resource,” McMurtrey said. “I want to get our workers the resources and pay that they deserve – not only to be competitive as an employer, but also because Ramsey County is growing and we want to ensure we’re delivering the best services to our residents.

“We may not agree on everything, but I want to make sure all our union members understand where I’m coming from and I understand where they’re coming from.”

In addition to supporting county employees, McMurtrey won over labor’s support by identifying opportunities to support union jobs in the county’ economic-development work. That includes investments in affordable housing and efforts to increase the county’s sustainability and resiliency in a fast-changing economy.

Richard Kolodziejski, director of government affairs for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, said union tradespeople can trust McMurtrey to support high-road economic development, whether it’s reimagining downtown St. Paul or revitalizing the Rice Street corridor.

“He understands that jobs and exceptional training go hand in hand, and that fair wages and worker protections are essential to the growth and security of Minnesota’s communities,” Kolodziejski said. “His past work on behalf of Congresswoman Angie Craig’s fight for working families and access to a career in the skilled trades … emphasizes not only his own vision but the steps he will take to make that vision a reality.”

Early voting in the District 3 special election has already begun, with polls open for in-person voting from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day, Feb. 11.

– Michael Moore, UA editor

Filed Under: Labor Voices Tagged With: , ,

Peterson: Support candidates who support union workers

October 23, 2024 by

When Vice President Harris chose Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate this summer, it put Minnesota in the spotlight. Americans digging into Walz’s record are getting a fresh look at what the governor and labor-endorsed majorities in our Legislatures – the so-called “trifecta” – have accomplished in just two years. They are seeing what can happen when elected leaders like Gov. Walz, leaders who share our union values, put working people and their families first: historic investments in infrastructure and public education, expanded family leave benefits, and the programs that help crack down on wage theft. And they’re inspired to see a state moving forward, not backward.

And make no mistake about it, Donald Trump and JD Vance want to take the country backward. It’s all spelled out in their Project 2025 Agenda, which would threaten our union contracts, limit our freedom to join a union and undercut our wages. Trump and Vance may claim to be on workers’ side, but Trump proudly stands with greedy, union-busting CEOs like Elon Musk – and he even praised Musk for firing striking workers. Trump and Vance claim to care about union members, but they are really just in it for themselves and their rich friends. They want to cut our pay, eviscerate our retirement, take away our health care and destroy our unions, just so they can dole out more tax giveaways to the wealthy and well-connected. Harris and Walz have walked on picket lines with workers. Trump crosses them.

Under Gov. Walz’s leadership, our state has become the gold standard for state governments aiming to do right by workers, and it’s exciting to see the governor celebrate his pro-worker, pro-union agenda on the campaign trail. The governor and labor majorities in the Legislature have been bold since taking power in 2023, delivering on campaign promises to guarantee workers have paid family and medical leave benefits and expand access to earned sick and safe time. Minnesota has banned anti-worker noncompete clauses and anti-union captive audience meetings. New laws have strengthened protections for meatpacking and warehouse workers, improved wages and working conditions in nursing homes and expanded collective bargaining rights for educators, university workers and others.

Now, many of the legislators who helped put Minnesota on the path to being the best state for workers are on the ballot. Labor’s majorities in the State House and in the State Senate, thanks to a special election, are at stake on Nov. 5. Lawmakers who had our back at the Capitol need union members to have their backs at the polls. That’s why union volunteers across the state, working through our regional labor federations and the Minnesota AFL-CIO, are leading the way to mobilize tens of thousands of voters. We’re knocking doors, making calls and talking to co-workers about the need to defend the progress we’ve made in Minnesota – about the need to elect labor-endorsed candidates up and down the ballot.

With so much at stake, it truly is one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and union members are well positioned to make a difference. People all over the country are realizing unions are the single best tool we have to stand up to the historic inequity and corporate greed we are up against. Every day, more workers are seeing past the lies and the well-funded anti-union campaigns from corporate America and deciding to come together. Unions are more popular with the public now than at any time since the mid-1960s. By talking to friends, family members and co-workers, union members can cut through all of the misinformation and focus on what matters this election – our freedoms, our union rights, racial and economic justice, and our democracy. So please vote on or before Nov. 5, and find out how you can get more involved in the Labor 2024 campaign at aflcio.mn/labor2024.

– Kera Peterson is president of the Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, which brings together over 100 affiliate unions representing members in Chisago, Dakota, Ramsey and Washington counties. 

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Volunteers key to Minnesota unions’ election-year goals

July 19, 2024 by

The Minnesota AFL-CIO made its first round of legislative endorsements in June, bringing into focus the statewide union federation’s objectives in the 2024 election cycle.

The 79 endorsed candidates would preserve a pro-worker majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives, one-third of the political “trifecta” responsible for delivering a historic package of investments and policy changes that, Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham said, have “set Minnesota on its way to becoming the best state for working people.”

“We can’t afford to go backwards,” she said.

But protecting the labor-endorsed majority in the Legislature – only House races are on the ballot this year, aside from special elections – is just one outcome that Burnham and other labor leaders hope to see from the Nov. 5 election.

Other goals include sending endorsed candidates to Congress, including Rep. Angie Craig in the state’s tightly contested 2nd District, and delivering the state’s electoral votes to the Biden-Harris ticket, endorsed by the national AFL-CIO over a year ago – and reaffirmed by the federation’s Executive Council after a meeting with President Biden on July 10.

“No president has been more invested in expanding the labor movement and empowering workers than President Joe Biden,” council members said in a joint statement afterward. “The AFL-CIO welcomed President Biden back to the House of Labor, and national leaders reiterated their strong solidarity with the Biden-Harris ticket.”

While narrowly-contested races like Biden’s and Craig’s are sure to dominate the airwaves and social media, the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s political work happens closer to the ground.

At the heart of the “Labor 2024” campaign, Burnham said, will be conversations between union members – in the break room, on the doorstep or over the phone – about what matters to them.

“It’s an opportunity for union folks to talk to and show their fellow union members that when we win collective power, we win tangible improvements for working people,” Burnham said. “It’s making sure that folks know that their voice counts and the more we stick together the better off we’re going to be.”

The Minnesota AFL-CIO’s member-to-member approach has a track record of success.

Labor’s unified political effort every two years represents the largest campaign in the state not affiliated with a party or candidate. In 2022, more than 450 union volunteers knocked on 62,000 doors statewide and had more than 30,000 conversations with union voters.

Unions focused their work on 34 “targeted races,” and their endorsed candidates won 25 of them.

Volunteers will need to bring the same energy to Labor 2024, Burnham said. The campaign’s phone banks, rallies and door knocks are likely to begin later this month, after the Aug. 13 primary election.

“Pretty quick here, we’re going to be on the pavement pounding it pretty hard up until Election Day,” she said. “This program is only going to do well if we have members out on the doors, have members making phone calls.

“There are really any number of ways to make a difference. Just get out and be a part of the program.”

The Minnesota AFL-CIO is expected to make additional endorsements this summer as candidates continue to screen with their area labor councils.

To learn more about volunteering, or to receive invites to Labor 2024 campaign events, go to mnaflcio.org and click “Get Updates.”

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

Unions back Little in Dakota County Attorney race

October 21, 2022 by

Matt Little

Matt Little supported the state’s groundbreaking wage theft legislation while serving in the Minnesota Senate in 2019. Now, he’s running for Dakota County Attorney to put the new law to work stopping exploitation in the workplace and on the job site.

Prosecuting wage theft cases is “totally within your purview” as county attorney, Little said. “There’s functionally no difference if you walk into someone’s house and steal money off their countertop or if you steal it off their paycheck. It’s the same thing.”

But Little said wage theft hasn’t been a top concern in the County Attorney’s Office. Pointing to allegations of worker exploitation on the Viking Lakes development in Eagan, Little said “the threat of prosecution alone would be helpful.”

Little’s interest in cracking down on labor abuses is among the reasons unions are backing the former state senator and mayor of Lakeville in the first contested election for the Dakota County post in over a decade.

“I’m the only one talking about wage theft as an issue that the Dakota County Attorney’s Office should and could enforce,” Little said. “My opponent has never even mentioned it as a priority.”

Little, whose mother was a steward in the Service Employees (SEIU) union, said he has always sought – and earned – support from organized labor in his campaigns.

“I believe it’s incredibly important to have the support of working people,” Little said. “When I was running for city office, it was true then, and it’s true for this race too. Those are the people doing the work.”

Another reason unions are backing Little is his pledge to fight for more resources and support for the people doing the work in the County Attorney’s Office.

Members of the County Attorney’s staff were among workers who joined an informational picket in September to protest the slow pace of contract negotiations between Dakota County and their unions, AFSCME locals 306, 450 and 693.

“You don’t have to look too deeply to see that there isn’t anybody fighting for staff,” he said. “We’re seeing retention problems as people leave the office for higher paying work. It doesn’t seem like anybody’s sticking up for them at all, and I want to be that voice.

“We need someone who will fight for staff and fight for union members to make sure they’re being paid competitive wages, to make sure they feel like they’re valued and they want to stay and continue putting in high quality work for the people of Dakota County.”

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Kera Peterson: Labor-endorsed candidates have earned our support

October 20, 2022 by

St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson is shown speaking at the 2022 Minnesota AFL-CIO convention.

It’s autumn in Minnesota, and trade unionists across our great state are taking action together every day though the Labor 2022 program. We started earlier this spring with a rigorous screening process that helped determine which candidates had done the work to earn the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s endorsement. In August, we kicked-off our grassroots member education efforts across the state. Since then, volunteers have been talking with union voters on the phones and at the doors about the ways our endorsed candidates, including Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Rep. Angie Craig, have fought for our jobs and our freedoms – and about what it will take for them to continue that work on behalf of Minnesotans for years to come.

Union members in other states have seen their freedoms come under attack in recent years. Politicians backed by corporate special interests and billionaire CEOs have assailed workers’ fundamental freedom to earn a livable wage and have a voice on the job. Here in Minnesota, Gov. Walz’s veto pen and the pro-working family majority in the state House have kept anti-union legislation, like right to work and repeal of prevailing wage, from becoming law.

Instead, legislators in Minnesota have taken a high-road approach to economic growth and invested in middle class workers. Gov. Walz signed the largest infrastructure bill in state history and the nation’s toughest wage theft law. He acted quickly after the pandemic hit to prioritize frontline workers’ health, safety and voice on the job. And frontline workers have started to receive long-overdue payments in recognition of their service to the state. We can see Gov. Walz’s leadership working in other ways, too. Minnesota’s unemployment rate is at a historic low, wages are rising and the state has a $9 billion budget surplus.

Other incumbents, including members of the state Legislature who never gave up the fight for frontline worker payments, have earned union members’ support. And so have members of the House majority in Congress, including two of our local representatives, Betty McCollum and Angie Craig.

Rep. Craig’s race in the 2nd Congressional District is among the most tightly contested in the country this year. That means every vote counts, and with a 100% pro-union voting record, according to the AFL-CIO, union members can’t afford to lose Rep. Craig’s voice in Washington, D.C. Since winning re-election two years ago, she’s helped break the gridlock and deliver on issues that matter to working people, fighting to deliver pension relief and pass the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. She also partnered with our unions in the effort to include buy-American and prevailing-wage standards in the Inflation Reduction Act, ensuring investments to combat climate change won’t come at the expense of union jobs. And if we send Rep. Craig back to Congress, she’ll continue working to lower prescription drug prices and pass the PRO Act, which would strengthen the nation’s labor laws and stiffen penalties against union-busting employers.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has earned union members’ support for re-election, too. Few elected officials bring more energy to the fight for justice than Keith does, and since starting his service in the state Attorney General’s Office in 2019, he has been a fierce advocate for workers and consumers.  He has capitalized on the state’s new wage theft law, which gives the office more power to go after employers who misclassify workers or short them on wages they’re owed, returning hundreds of thousands of dollars to working Minnesotans. He sued two dozen drug companies over a price-fixing scheme that drove up prescription drug costs. And he took fast-food restaurants to court for colluding to hold wages down for some of the lowest-paid workers in our community.

So much of the progress we’ve made in recent years hangs in the balance this election cycle, and so much work remains to be done to make Minnesota a state where all of us, no matter what we look like or where we come from, have an opportunity to thrive. Safe and family-sustaining jobs, high-quality schools, and health care that is affordable and accessible are things that we care about. But too often over the last four years, legislation that would make our workplaces safer, or would invest in our public schools and infrastructure, has died in the Minnesota Senate. Just this summer, members of the Republican majority walked away from a bipartisan agreement to deliver funding for schools, public safety and roads and bridges – sacrificing good public policy to score political points.

Between now and Election Day, we need to do everything we can to help elect candidates who share our values, including talking with family members, friends and co-workers about what’s at stake in this election and why their vote matters. By supporting our labor-endorsed candidates, including those for the state House and Senate, we can help ensure that Gov. Walz will be able to work with a Legislature that will put working families first.

– Kera Peterson is president of the Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. Learn more about the federation and its work at stpaulunions.org.

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

Labor 2022 volunteers say their freedoms, fundamental rights are on the ballot

October 18, 2022 by

Judy Seeberger, the endorsed candidate in Senate District 41, thanks volunteers at the United Steelworkers hall in Cottage Grove.

Energized to help re-elect Gov. Tim Walz and deliver majorities that will move labor’s agenda in the Minnesota Legislature, union volunteers are hitting the streets across the state and talking with fellow members about the stark choice voters face Nov. 8.

On one side are corporate-backed extremists who have aligned to strip working people of their basic freedoms and fundamental rights. On the other side, labor-endorsed candidates are fighting for dignity and respect for all workers, no matter their race, gender or zip code.

“It’s all about balance of power in the workplace and at the Capitol, and labor-endorsed candidates understand that,” said Eileen Weber, a registered nurse and member of the Minnesota Nurses Association from Denmark Township. “They’re the ones who support the kind of justice we need more of in this country.”

“I care about pensions, collective bargaining rights, health care, women’s rights, human dignity,” said Willie Snyder, an AFSCME Council 5 member who works in a residential facility for people with disabilities. “For me, it’s Walz-Flanagan. They get it. The other side only seems to be interested in looking out for millionaires.”

Snyder and Weber joined a Labor 2022 door knock in Cottage Grove last month, urging support for Walz and other endorsed candidates in hotly contested races in the southeast suburbs, including Rep. Angie Craig’s re-election bid in the 2nd Congressional District.

Craig has unabashedly supported pro-union measures like the PRO Act, the $1 trillion infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act, which ties tax credits to “buy-American” requirements, prevailing wage and apprenticeship training programs.

“Labor-endorsed candidates make sure people like me are going to stay in work,” said Craig Bell, a member of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82.

Volunteers also sought to give candidates for the state Legislature a boost, looking to preserve a pro-union majority in the House and deliver one in the Senate. The list of pro-union investments and policy measures blocked by Republicans who control the Senate is long: statewide paid family leave, unemployment benefits for hourly school employees and safety standards for refinery workers to name a few.

But what stung many union members most was Senate leaders’ decision – at the urging of GOP gubernatorial nominee Scott Jensen – to walk away from an agreement to invest much of the state’s $9 billion surplus in schools, public safety, tax relief and infrastructure jobs.

That’s not the kind of leadership working Minnesotans want, said Wally Borgen, a Labor 2022 volunteer and president of Bakery Workers (BCTGM) Local 22.

“We need elected officials who support working people,” Borgen said. “The future is at stake, and if we have the wrong candidates in here, it changes everything in this state. We need unions to get stronger, and we don’t need them attacking our solidarity or everything unions stand for.”

Labor 2022 organizers said volunteers will be needed through Election Day. To get involved, call your local union or email Colleen Nocerini, St. Paul Regional Labor Federation political organizer, at cnocerini [at] stpaulunions [dot] org.

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