Construction union celebrates new laws to keep ‘bad actors’ from cashing in on public subsidies

July 19, 2024 by

Eduardo Canales brought his daughter, Dariana, to the rally at Callisto Commons in Fridley. The development used Environmental StoneWorks, a contractor that Canales said misclassified him as an independent contractor when he installed stone veneers like the one visible at the Fridley site.

Members of the Laborers union (LIUNA) staged a demonstration June 24 outside a subsidized housing development in Fridley, publicly shaming a construction-supply company they allege has cheated both workers and taxpayers.

Environmental StoneWorks’ veneer product was on full display at the future site of Callisto Commons, a development along University Avenue Northeast where LIUNA members rallied with lawmakers and community supporters.

The action kept the heat on StoneWorks, which faces allegations of discrimination and worker misclassification. But the event also raised awareness of new laws passed this year by the labor-endorsed “trifecta” of state lawmakers, including new labor standards on subsidized housing projects and stiffer penalties for worker misclassification.

“This isn’t about a few bad actors,” Rep. Emma Greenman (D-Minneapolis) said. “This is about a business model that is about extracting from workers, extracting from taxpayers. The business model is what has to change.”

And it likely will, thanks to new laws requiring contractors on developments that access funds through the state’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit – like Callisto Commons in Fridley – to pay prevailing wages. Minnesota is the first state to tie prevailing wage to the tax credit.

Other measures now on the books will make it harder for contractors with a history of labor violations to bid on publicly subsidized projects, give state regulators new tools to shut down job sites where labor violations are occurring and create new penalties of up to $10,000 for employers that misclassify their workers as independent contractors.

LIUNA members from across the country, in the area for an organizing conference, joined the rally.

That’s what Eduardo Canales alleges happened on job sites where he installed Environmental StoneWorks’ product over a period of four years.

Although he worked exclusively as an installer for the firm, Canales said he was never classified as an employee by the firm. As an independent contractor, he was ineligible for workers’ compensation, collective bargaining rights and overtime pay – even in weeks when he worked 70 or more hours installing the stone veneer.

“It means if there is an accident and someone gets hurt on an Environmental StoneWorks project, it is my problem, not theirs,” Canales said through a Spanish language interpreter at the rally. “There was a guy who broke his foot working for Environmental StoneWorks, and instead of providing medical treatment, he said his boss terminated him.”

StoneWorks’ manufacturing facility, meanwhile, is the subject of a discrimination complaint filed with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. Angel Torres, who worked at the North Branch facility from 2009 until he was fired in December 2023, said the company offered two wage scales, one for immigrant workers and another, higher scale for those born in the U.S.

Torres, also using a language interpreter, told rally-goers that he complained to management that newly hired “American” workers were making $2 more per hour than immigrants who had been working at the plant for several years. “I believe that’s the reason I was fired from this company, for speaking up for the workers,” he said.

Angel Torres (L) said StoneWorks discriminated against immigrant workers at its North Branch manufacturing facility.

“The reason we came to this country is to better our lives for our families, but we should be treated with dignity like any other employees,” Torres added. “That’s why I came here to speak today, to ask the community to not be quiet. We need to speak up in order for things to change.”

On the construction worksite, at least, change appears to be coming.

Lucas Franco, a LIUNA researcher, said Minnesota’s new laws “will, we are confident, break the cycle of unscrupulous contractors and worker mistreatment on publicly funded projects.”

That’s no small slice of the construction industry, either.

An analysis published by NorthStar Policy Action in November 2023 found that $84 million of taxpayer subsidies went to affordable housing developments in Minnesota that used contractors tied to proven or alleged exploitation of workers. And that’s “just the tip of the iceberg,” author Jake Schwitzer said, noting that the Callisto Commons project was not named in the report.

“We’re here today because we know Minnesota can meet its affordable housing needs and development goals without sacrificing worker dignity and safety,” Franco said.

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Trades push Royal Credit Union to ditch contractor accused of underpaying immigrant workers

June 1, 2022 by

Building Trades representatives join a protest outside Royal Credit Union in Inver Grove Heights.

Efforts to stop worker exploitation in the Twin Cities construction industry continued to gain momentum today, as construction unions called out Royal Credit Union for using an out-of-state masonry contractor accused by watchdog groups of underpaying immigrant laborers.

As the credit union cut the ribbon inside a newly acquired and refurbished branch in Inver Grove Heights, worker advocates set up a protest outside with signs, banners and an inflatable fat cat clutching a construction worker with one claw.

Unions accuse Eau Claire, Wis., contractor Stone Pro Concrete and Masonry of putting the squeeze on immigrants hired through the H-2B visa program, which allows employers to seek seasonal help when they are unable to hire enough U.S. workers.

The federal program requires employers to pay minimum wage rates based on the location and type of work performed. But after interviewing over a dozen H-2B visa holders on multiple Stone Pro job sites, representatives of the Laborers union (LIUNA) determined the contractor was underpaying workers by as much as $8 per hour.

“They bring on these workers as carpenter’s helpers, but they actually do concrete and masonry work, which is a totally different pay scale,” said Octavio Chung Bustamante, a marketing representative with LIUNA who has been investigating Stone Pro since 2019.

When Bustamante and other union representatives learned Stone Pro would be working on Royal’s new retail office in Little Canada, they took their findings to the credit union.

“We did reach out to Royal Credit Union on May 5,” Bustamante said. “We went to the branch manager in the St. Paul location, but we didn’t hear back.”

As a result, LIUNA and other unions active in the #NotOnMyWatch campaign decided to drop in on the ribbon cutting in Inver Grove Heights – and bring along their inflatable fat cat.

Organizers also circulated copies of anti-immigrant and Islamophobic Facebook content attributed to Stone Pro’s owner. Bustamante called it “hypocritical” for a company turning profits off immigrant labor – and contrary to Royal Credit Union’s stated values.

“It’s not about union or non-union,” Bustamante said. “It’s about making sure the industry is fair for everyone.”

The #NotOnMyWatch campaign brings together unions and community groups like Twin Cities worker center CTUL to identify cases of abuse and assist exploited workers in Minnesota’s construction industry.

“We’ve seen horrific abuse in this industry, from wage theft to dangerous working conditions,” CTUL Co-Director Merle Payne said. “So we’re calling on large developers and users like Royal Credit Union to take steps to use responsible contractors, to step up and make a difference.”

CTUL members who work in the multifamily residential construction industry launched a campaign last month to pressure large developers in the Twin Cities to partner with them in keeping wage theft, labor trafficking and other abuses off their job sites. They call it the Building Dignity and Respect program.

Organizers will announce the next steps in that campaign – including which contractors they will push to sign onto the new program – at a march and rally June 16, beginning at noon at Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis.

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As special session nears, unions push lawmakers to prioritize working people

May 25, 2021 by

Kellen Sundet, 11, and Payton Del Rosario, 4, make signs at a rally May 15 calling on lawmakers to fund public education and other critical needs.

Minnesota legislators adjourned their regular session last week with the framework of a two-year budget in place, but the agreement merely sets the stage for another round of negotiations over spending and policy details.

That gives the state’s unions one last opportunity to push their legislative priorities – like crisis relief, paid leave and protections for working people – as lawmakers prepare for a special session beginning June 14.

Several labor groups joined the state’s largest labor federation, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, in a joint letter to Gov. Tim Walz and lawmakers yesterday as they began meeting in post-session working groups. The letter outlines measures – many of which have already passed in the DFL-controlled House – that unions want to see included in the final jobs bill.

“Working Minnesotans are hurting,” the letter says. “More than a year of pandemic-induced economic hardship, risks and sacrifice on the job, and civil unrest has exhausted workers and made existing racial and economic inequities even worse. Working people need their lawmakers’ help.”

[Individual supporters can sign onto the letter here.]

Unions want to see lawmakers create or extend benefits for workers who have struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic, like enhanced unemployment insurance, pandemic pay for frontline workers and a “right-to-return” guarantee for former employees as the hard-hit hospitality industry continues to recover.

Hourly school employees have been fighting for years to change a state law barring them from access to unemployment insurance. But the fight took on new urgency when schools shut down in-person learning last year, leaving thousands out of work.

“The path is not closed yet, but the road is narrowing,” SEIU Local 284 Executive Director Kelly Gibbons said, noting that the statewide association of school boards is fighting the measure.

“These are usually jobs where it’s women and people of color working with the children, working day in and day out, and they have no work in the summer and can’t get unemployment,” said Gibbons, whose union represents 7,000 school support staff statewide. “This is just so discriminatory.”

Making essential workers whole

Workers who could not stay home during the pandemic, meanwhile, aren’t giving up their fight to secure emergency paid leave, including retroactive benefits, for hours lost due to the pandemic.

Many health care workers, janitors, educators, warehouse and other workers burned through their paid time off – and often took unpaid leave – after being exposed to the coronavirus, or to provide care for family members.

In a roundtable discussion with Walz, Minnesota Nurses Association President Mary Turner, a nurse in North Memorial Hospital’s COVID ward, said members of her union have lost 23 hours, on average, during the pandemic.

“Nurses didn’t bat an eye. We walked into the unknown – a horrible unknown,” she said. “We’ve had to face going to our job unprotected because we did not have the PPE we needed. We’ve had to put ourselves and our families at risk for over a year, and many have died.

“We’ve been there from the beginning, and we’re not leaving the front line. But we need justice.”

Building back safely

Other priorities unions will push in advance of the special session include jobs-creating investments in infrastructure and recovery from civil unrest in St. Paul and Minneapolis last summer.

Although the Legislature typically takes up so-called bonding bills in even-numbered years, House DFLers have advanced a $1 billion proposal to take advantage of historically low interest rates and ease uncertainty in the construction industry.

Minnesota’s Building Trades unions have backed the measure, and they are also pushing a new law that would require contractors at oil refineries – like the Marathon facility in St. Paul Park, where workers are sounding the alarm about safety concerns – to hire workers who have completed registered apprenticeships.

“More than 1,000 Minnesotans have called legislators to pass the refinery bill,” said Joel Smith, president of the Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota. “It is critical that lawmakers use this time to take action to keep refinery workers and nearby communities safe by requiring the use of a skilled workforce.” 

Unions and partners in the We Make Minnesota coalition staged a rally last month near the Capitol calling on lawmakers to “fund our futures.”

School funding set

Although much of the Legislature’s work remains unfinished, the budget deal reached last month does offer certainty to public school districts and their employees, who had been bracing for layoffs this spring.

The $52 billion biennial budget would increase K-12 education funding by 2% in each year. While that’s enough to prevent the layoffs many educators feared, Education Minnesota President Denise Specht said, it falls short of the sustainable investment public schools need and deserve.

“Minnesota schools should be a place where every student can succeed, no exceptions,” she said. “This budget should stem the tide of harmful local budget cuts, but educators throughout the state want to be able to promise their students and parents that their local school will have the resources to meet the needs of all students for years to come. We can’t do that today.”

The statewide educators’ union delivered a petition with over 20,000 signatures to lawmakers, calling on them to increase taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Minnesotans to make up for investment gaps over the last decade-plus that have left schools underfunded.

Walz initially included the tax hike in his budget, but it was left out of the final agreement, which, instead, would tap into flexible funding from federal pandemic aid to cover proposed spending increases.

“While we’re disappointed the education spending in the final budget deal wasn’t closer to earlier budget proposals from the governor and the House, we are hopeful the final budget will limit layoffs and allow some schools to rehire educators who have already been pink slipped,” Specht said.

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

Outside Amazon fulfillment center, workers demand tax fairness

May 6, 2021 by

Tyler Hamilton is in his fourth year working at Amazon’s fulfillment center in Shakopee.

SHAKOPEE – Minnesota workers unfurled a “Tax the Rich” banner outside Amazon’s MSP1 fulfillment center here today. It was a not-so-subtle suggestion to state lawmakers about how they might pay for investments in child care, paid family leave, education, infrastructure and other supports for working families.

Tyler Hamilton, in his fourth year working at MSP1, said he and others inside the facility could use a little support right now.

“Honestly, I’m tired,” the Maplewood resident said during a press conference organized by local unions. “And I’m not just tired from working night shift, even though I’m a night-shift guy.

“I’m tired from working in this building behind me for over a year during the coronavirus pandemic and having to deal with all the stupid stuff Amazon does all the time – and they get away with.”

But the pandemic has been anything but exhausting for corporations like Amazon and the wealthiest Americans. With stock markets posting record gains over the last year, the super-rich have consolidated even more wealth. U.S. billionaires increased their combined wealth by $1.62 trillion, or 55 percent, between March 2020 and April 2021, according to an analysis published last month.

Inequality in the U.S., already sped up by corporate tax cuts in 2017, has shifted into overdrive. “Evidently, those tax cuts don’t go toward their workforce,” Hamilton said. “It’s really frustrating.”

Minnesota lawmakers have an opportunity to restore some fairness to the system before the Legislature’s scheduled adjournment May 17, other speakers at the event outside Amazon said.

Mary Solheim, a child care provider from Maplewood, described a state of “chronic underinvestment in care for the children” of Minnesota’s workforce – a crisis made worse by the pandemic, as frontline workers not eligible for essential care struggled to find care for their children after school buildings shut down.

Solheim was precise about where to pin the blame. “We know there is enough for everyone to thrive in Minnesota,” she said. “But for too long, corporations haven’t paid their fair share.”

Public school educators have seen chronic underinvestment firsthand too, said Kate Schmidt, president of Dakota County United Educators.

Meeting students’ needs, she said, requires smaller class sizes, more access to counselors and other specialists, healthy meals and safe buildings. But instead of fully funding those priorities, school districts across Minnesota are preparing to lay off teachers, a response to uncertain state funding.

“This year let’s demand that our Legislature ensure the wealthiest among us pay their fair share,” Schmidt said. “That’s how we fund the future of our students, by ensuring every child has what they need to focus on all they can become, whether they are black, brown or white.”

Chelsie Glaubitz Gabiou, president of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, emcees a press conference calling on corporations like Amazon and the super-rich to pay more taxes.

Octavio Chung, a union Laborer from Hugo, said improvements to the state’s transportation system and other infrastructure are urgently needed. Corporate profits rely on getting products to customers, after all.

“Corporations like Amazon need to pay their fair share so we can address decades of delayed essential maintenance and upgrades to provide all Minnesotans with safe roads and bridges, more affordable housing and functional school buildings,” Chung said. “It is long past time.”

Debate over whether to fund these and other priorities is likely to heat up at the Capitol next week, as the deadline to adjourn draws closer.

Gov. Tim Walz has proposed – and Republicans in control of the Senate have opposed – small tax hikes on some corporations and on individual income over $500,000, or over $1 million for married couples filing jointly.

Among the proposed investments Walz and DFLers who control the Minnesota House would make with the extra revenue is paid family leave for all Minnesota workers. That’s a measure Hamilton, who believes he contracted COVID-19 while working at MSP1 last year, said is long overdue.

“I was out of work for a month, the majority of that being unpaid,” Hamilton said. “It’s tiring having to work hard to pay your bills – 10-hour shifts, 12-hour shifts – only to be hit with something like getting sick and falling behind because we don’t have paid family medical leave or paid sick leave like we should.”

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Making the adjustment: Union apprenticeship programs get creative to navigate COVID-19 safely

December 21, 2020 by

Ironworkers Local 512 apprentice Travis Strugis gave Gov. Tim Walz a demonstration on the union’s training floor after Walz signed an infrastructure jobs bill in October.

Early December is usually a festive time at Cement Masons Local 633’s facility in New Brighton. The union’s cement mason and plasterer apprentices deck the training hall with a holiday display that spotlights their budding mastery of the craft, just in time for the union’s holiday party.

Not this year, of course.

But while “Concrete Christmas” is on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cement Masons Local 633’s apprenticeship program is up and running. Local 633 and other Minnesota Building Trades unions have made adjustments big and small to keep their apprentices’ careers on track.

Safety has been the top priority for apprenticeship programs as they navigate the pandemic, just as it is on a union construction site.

“My No. 1 objective is keeping my staff and apprentices coming in here safe,” said Dean Mills, director of the Minnesota Laborers Training Center in Lino Lakes. “That’s first and foremost. We’re being innovative and creative about how we do things, doing the best we can to teach our members and help our contractors out.”

To that end, Building Trades unions have worked with state health regulators and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry to ensure their curriculums are both safe and on par with the standards of registered apprenticeship.

The result isn’t always ideal, but what has been in 2020?

“It may not be wide open like we’d like it to be, but we’re at least covering the bare minimum,” Operating Engineers Local 49 Director of Training Eric Gulland said. “So when we do get the pandemic under control and open things up, we’re ready to go again.”

Unique programs, unique solutions 

Minnesota has over 180 registered apprenticeship programs, but most of the state’s 12,000 apprentices are enrolled in programs sponsored by Building Trades unions and their employers. Unions and contractors tailor their apprenticeship programs to meet the unique demands of their particular crafts.

No two union apprenticeship programs are the same, and no two programs have responded to COVID-19 the same way either. Union apprenticeship directors have had to consider enrollment numbers, available training space, curriculum needs and resources in decisions about how to proceed during the pandemic.

Cement Masons Local 633’s total enrollment in the apprenticeship program is around 90. With a 14,000-square-foot training center, the union decided it was safe to resume in-person programming this fall, but with several major changes.

Class sizes do not exceed 10 people. Masks are required, and apprentices and training staff maintain six feet of physical distance at all times. That means apprentices train less in crews, where they would work shoulder to shoulder, and more on individual projects.

“We’re also cleaning like we’ve never cleaned before,” Apprenticeship Coordinator Brian Farmer said.

At Local 49’s training facility in Hinckley, it’s the polar-opposite approach. The union has shifted the entirety of its apprenticeship curriculum online, except in cases where members need a certification to continue working. Even then, the union allows only five people to gather at one time in remote union halls across the region.

Local 49’s 400 apprentices, who train to operate heavy equipment, are sitting through a lot of Zoom meetings, Gulland said. But instructors have found creative ways to avoid “death by power point.”

During a recent class, Gulland said, one instructor hosted the meeting from a classroom while another filmed a live walk-around inspection of machinery. Apprentices dropped questions into the chat and got answers on the spot.

“The students definitely want to come up and hands-on run the equipment,” Gulland said. “But it seems like it’s worked out to keep them engaged and on track with their apprenticeship requirements during this time.”

The hybrid approach 

Other apprenticeship programs have taken a hybrid approach during the pandemic, combining online courses with limited in-person training.

Sheet Metal Workers Local 10’s 450 apprentices resumed in-person classes after Labor Day with daily temperature checks, masks, smaller class sizes and vigorous sanitizing. The union also has introduced night classes, helping stagger the time apprentices are in the facility.

The Laborers, too, have begun offering night classes and reducing class sizes, Mills said. To prevent clustering inside the union’s training center, each apprentice and instructor is required to enter through the door closest to their classroom or training bay.

While some apprentices have contracted COVID-19, Local 10 Training Coordinator Carl Zitzer said, they are doing the right thing to prevent it from spreading to fellow union members.

“We haven’t had anybody in the building who’s sick, fortunately,” Zitzer said. “We tell them to stay home, do what you’re supposed to do, and when you get back we’ll do what we have to do to get your time in.”

For union apprentices, training time is critical. State regulations require registered apprentices to complete a set number of training hours and work hours each year.

Because Gov. Tim Walz’s emergency order declared the construction industry essential, contractors have continued hiring apprentices throughout the pandemic. But like other schools, training centers halted in-person learning in March, forcing many union apprenticeship programs to make adjustments on the fly to get apprentices the training hours they needed.

“A lot of our apprentices’ pay raises are hinging on their related training hours,” Local 633’s Farmer said.

Shifting to remote 

At Local 10, where apprentices lost about eight weeks of scheduled classes in the spring, Zitzer credited the more “computer-savvy” members of his training staff for working with the Sheet Metal Workers international union to move classes online, focusing on parts of the curriculum that don’t require being together on the shop floor.

“These guys jumped right in and developed a bunch of really good stuff,” Zitzer said. “Our apprentices really enjoyed it because we really challenged them. They really had to be like a college student – reading stuff, taking tests, just like at the university.”

Training staff at the Laborers and Ironworkers Local 512, which likewise have shifted some curriculum online, said they were pleasantly surprised with how well online training worked for some aspects of their curriculums.

Pete Teigland, Local 512’s training director, said the online curriculum made the program more accessible for apprentices who don’t live near the Ironworkers’ training center in St. Paul. It also frees apprentices to accept work on projects farther away from the metro.

“Some of these guys drive 100 miles to get here for class after work,” he said.

“We actually took a negative and turned it into a positive,” Mills added. “We’ll definitely continue with some online options for apprentices moving forward, but what we do best is still contact training. Our craft is big on hands on.”

An investment in quality 

Most of the adjustments union apprenticeship programs have made during the pandemic have come at a cost. Cleaning supplies, software, training materials and thermometers aren’t free. Adding more classes to prevent crowding requires more instructional time.

That unions and their employers are absorbing those costs, apprenticeship coordinators said, is more proof of their commitment to training a world-class construction workforce in Minnesota.

“When we talked about what we were going to do after COVID hit, it was just like on the jobsite,” Teigland remembered. “When things are rough, put one foot in front of the other, and we’ll get through it.”

“I’ve been around a long time,” added Zitzer, a 43-year veteran of the Sheet Metal Workers. “The thing I’ve come to realize is guys like us aren’t going to walk away without completing their task, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re finding a different way to do it when the traditional way doesn’t work.”

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Kasper to retire, Peterson elected to lead St. Paul labor federation

December 12, 2019 by

Kera Peterson (L), pictured at a rally to raise the minimum wage, will be sworn in as president of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation in January 2020.

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation will have new leadership in the coming new year.

After a decade in office, RLF President Bobby Kasper will retire at the end of December, a decision he made official at the federation’s delegate meeting Dec. 11. Kasper, a “proud” member of LIUNA Laborers Local 563, has served as RLF president since October 2009.

Delegates unanimously elected RLF Political Director Kera Peterson to succeed Kasper as president. She will be sworn into a four-year term in January.

“I want to thank our federation’s delegates for their trust and confidence in electing me to represent them and their powerful unions,” Peterson said. “We’ve accomplished a lot together over the years, but there’s still much to do. I look forward to rolling up my sleeves with all of you.”

Kasper began his union career in New York, where he was a member of Laborers Local 66, Service Employees International Union Local 1199 and UNITE HERE’s New York affiliate. After moving to Minnesota, he joined St. Paul-based Laborers Local 132.

Kasper worked as the local’s business agent before running for president of the St. Paul RLF. Previously, he served as secretary-treasurer of the RLF’s forerunner, the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly, and he has been secretary-treasurer of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council for 15 years.

“In the last 11 years, we’ve grown the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation by building new relationships with unions in our area, and our local labor movement is stronger and more unified as a result,” Kasper said. “We’ve set a high bar for ourselves when it comes building power for working people, whether it’s at the Capitol or at the bargaining table.

“Kera’s leadership has been a big part of that success, and I know she will only set the bar higher in the future.”

Peterson is a member of Machinists Local Lodge 459, and she has been on the RLF political staff since 2008. Previously, she served as an AFL-CIO Community Services liaison with the St. Paul RLF’s nonprofit organization, the St. Paul Labor Studies and Resource Center, and with the St. Croix Valley Central Labor Council.

Peterson signed her first union card in 1997, when she took a job as a living-skills instructor at a mental-health facility at a Minneapolis, joining SEIU Local 113 (now SEIU Healthcare Minnesota).

She currently serves as vice president of her local lodge, vice president of Machinists District Council 77 and second vice president of the State Council of Machinists.

During her time on staff with the St. Paul RLF, Peterson has worked closely with labor assemblies in Chisago, Ramsey and Washington counties, helping establish local support for labor campaigns in those areas. She has directed efforts to elect more labor-endorsed candidates in the east metro’s swing legislative districts. And she has represented the federation in coalitions working to raise the statewide minimum wage and establish new local labor standards in St. Paul.

The St. Paul RLF unites over 100 affiliate unions. Together, they represent more than 50,000 people who live or work in Chisago, Dakota, Ramsey and Washington counties. The federation is part of the nation’s largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO.

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

MN’s public-sector workers aren’t mourning Janus, they’re organizing

June 27, 2018 by

Early on a Wednesday morning last month, about two dozen St. Paul water department employees trudged into a small conference room for a meeting with their union representatives. After listening to a quick pitch, the workers signed new membership cards, shook hands with their reps and punched in for the day.

Even by union standards, it was an entirely unglamorous scene. There were no bullhorns, no banners, no picket signs – not even coffee or donuts.

But the meeting – and hundreds like it that have played out at schools, courthouses and other public-sector worksites across the state in recent months – was one small part of a historic organizing campaign to make sure people keep a strong voice on the job in the wake of today’s Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME.

As expected, the court’s conservative majority sided with corporations and wealthy donors, overturning 40-plus years of precedent to bar public-sector unions from collecting fees from non-members they are legally required to represent.

Already, the decision has prompted a lot of hand-wringing over the continued “downfall” of America’s labor movement.

Don’t buy it.

No judge or politician can take away working people’s freedom to join together and fight for themselves and their communities, and Minnesota’s public-sector unions have set out to prove it. In anticipation of the Janus decision, unions have taken on the work of strengthening and re-energizing their organizations from the inside out.

Workers in St. Paul’s water department sign cards recommitting to their union, Laborers Local 363, during an early-morning meeting last month.

The response has been overwhelming. Laborers Local 363, which represents St. Paul water department workers and roughly 1,100 municipal and county workers statewide, has collected more than 600 signed cards already this year. Roughly a quarter of those, organizers say, are from workers who previously were not paying full dues.

“If you were on the fence about your union dues before, now’s the time to decide,” said Local 363 member Caitlin Brunette, a maintenance and grounds worker at Phalen Park.

Brunette, 26, has been an active volunteer in Local 363’s internal organizing drive, traveling to worksites to talk face to face with fellow members about the threat Janus v. AFSCME poses to their collective bargaining power. Her pitch?

“I’m pretty sure you like being able to go on vacation, get overtime and all these other things we take for granted,” she said. “We have a lot to lose, and I don’t want to see what would happen if we weren’t represented by Local 363.”

Brunette has been “pleasantly surprised” by the response of her fellow members.

“People listen, and it seems like no matter what their feelings on unions are – and we do have people with mixed feelings – the majority are on board,” she said. “I think whether or not they really are pro-union or not, they realize how good they have it and they get on board. They join.”

But Janus won’t be the last corporate attack public-sector union members face.

Laborers locals in parts of the country that have gone right to work in recent years – Wisconsin, most notably – have seen anti-union groups file legal challenges forcing unions to prove they have signed up a majority of workers in a bargaining unit. Or they will send out door-to-door canvassers to meet with union members and urge them to drop out.

That’s why so many are putting an emphasis on collecting newly signed membership cards from all workers they represent, Local 363 reps Tom Fox and Gary Reed said.

“If you don’t think I’m serious, go ask the public-sector Laborers local in Milwaukee how it’s doing,” Reed told water department workers. “You can’t. It’s not there anymore.”

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

‘Minnesotans are the losers’ when divided Legislature plays politics with transportation

November 2, 2016 by

MoveMN-signcapitolRepublicans and Democrats rarely agree, but when the Minnesota Legislature convened in January 2015, leaders of the GOP House and the DFL Senate were sounding an awful lot alike.

It was time to address the state’s transportation needs, they agreed. And the state could not afford to wait.

Nearly two years later, Minnesotans are still waiting for a long-term, comprehensive solution to the transportation problem. What happened?

“It’s just partisan politics,” said Russell Hess, political coordinator for the Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota.

A last-minute compromise bill floundered last session, after Republican leaders balked at funding for light-rail transit. A special session to reconsider the issue – as well as a jobs-creating capital investment bill – never materialized over the summer.

Hess said Republicans believed blocking light rail “would help them get votes in an election year.” Jennifer Munt, public affairs director for AFSCME Council 5, agreed.

“We can blame House Republicans for traffic jams and political gridlock,” Munt said. “It’s impossible to compromise on transportation when Republicans pit roads against transit, and pit Greater Minnesota’s needs against the metro.”

Indeed, traffic congestion now costs the average Minnesota commuter over $800 per year, according to the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, and that doesn’t account for the wear and tear inflicted on vehicles by potholes and aging infrastructure.

More than half of the state’s roads are 50-plus years old, and 40 percent of the state’s bridges are 40-plus years old. The number of roads in poor condition will grow by 74 percent over the next 10 years.

Anyone who takes a serious look at the issue, labor-endorsed Sen. Jim Carlson of Eagan said, realizes the state needs a long-term plan that pairs road-and-bridge funding with transit investments – and has a dedicated source of revenue.

“We have to be honest about it,” Carlson said. “We have a $600 million per year need that is going unmet. We need a dedicated funding system to create that revenue stream to fix our roads. That will not happen if we take money out of the general fund every two years.”

That’s the approach favored by Republicans, who would cut other areas of the state budget to pay for roads and bridges. Republicans don’t favor investments in transit either, and that’s not sitting well with voters in House District 43A, which includes Maplewood, White Bear Lake and other northeast suburbs.

“Mass transit is extremely frustrating not only for people living in my district, but people trying to travel to my district for education – including some really great programs at Century College – or for jobs,” labor-endorsed Rep. Peter Fischer said. “We’ve got to figure out how we connect people with the services they need.”

Labor-endorsed Rep. Barb Yarusso hears the same concerns in her north-metro House District 42A.

“In Arden Hills, there are more jobs than people, Shoreview has had a number of key business expansions and looks to add more, and Mounds View is seeing new development along County Highway 10,” Yarusso said. “Employers have access to a larger pool of employees if public transit is available.”

The cost of gridlock, meanwhile, is steep. The Transportation Alliance estimates project costs will increase by 10 percent each year lawmakers fail to act.

“Minnesotans are the losers, because the costs will only go up while our safety and economic competitiveness decline,” AFSCME’s Munt said.

So how can voters make sure the issue doesn’t remain a political football in St. Paul? It’s simple, according to Munt: “Let’s elect a Legislature that Gov. Dayton can work with to get transportation done right.”

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

Unions, employers reach out to St. Paul’s East Side at job fair

April 15, 2016 by

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Regional Labor Federation Bobby Kasper welcome job seekers and employers to the Union Job & Resource Fair at the East Side Freedom Library.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Regional Labor Federation Bobby Kasper welcome job seekers and employers to the Union Job & Resource Fair at the East Side Freedom Library.

Union employers, apprenticeship programs and community service agencies set up shop on St. Paul’s East Side last night, recruiting talent from the distinctly working-class neighborhood and beyond at the Union Jobs and Resource Fair.

Many Latino, Hmong, Karen and East African families call the East Side home, and the job fair, organized by the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, shows local unions are serious about reaching out to communities – particularly minorities and immigrants – underrepresented in their ranks.

“This is only the beginning,” St. Paul RLF President Bobby Kasper said. “Too many members of our community don’t know what unions do, or aren’t aware of opportunities for employment in a good, union job.

“Unions built the middle class in St. Paul, but we won’t survive as a labor movement unless we reflect our communities as a whole. That’s what this job fair is about.”

Jody Paulson offers information on an apprenticeship with Bricklayers and Allied Crafts Local 1.
Mayor Chris Coleman’s remarks open the Union Job and Resource Fair.
Gerone Hamilton, chief of community relations, represents the St. Paul Fire Department.
Gary Larsen, a native East-Sider and representative of the Laborers Training Center in Lino Lakes, talks with jobseekers.
Matt Ryder of BCTGM Local 22 talks about employment opportunities in St. Paul’s industrial bakeries.
IBEW Local 110’s Jim Grim (R) offers information about a career as an electrical worker.
Dua Thao (L) talks about resources available to jobseekers at St. Paul’s public libraries.
Jose Marrero of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters talks with jobseekers.
St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper welcomes people to the job fair.
Interpreters fluent in several languages, including Karen, help jobseekers confer with representatives like Rick Dushaw of the Carpenters union.

During the fair, held at the independent East Side Freedom Library, jobseekers ducked in and out of booths staffed by representatives of about 20 union employers and eight local agencies, which provided resources on everything from resume writing to record expungement.

Ebba Benti, a resident of Frogtown, took home a business card from one of the St. Paul Public Schools’ maintenance managers, who said Benti’s skills sounded like a match for several openings in the district. “I told him what skills I have, what I know, and he liked me, I guess,” Benti said.

Ebba Benti (R) talks with a representative of the St. Paul Public Schools, who told Benti his skills made him a good fit for several openings in the district's maintenance department.

Ebba Benti (R) talks with a representative of the St. Paul Public Schools, who told Benti his skills made him a good fit for several openings in the district’s maintenance department.

An immigrant from East Africa, Benti said a job at a school sounded appealing. “I like seeing kids doing stuff, having fun,” he added. “Where I’m from, you don’t see that enough.”

The St. Paul school district was among several public-sector employers represented at the job fair. Others included the city’s fire department and water services, as well as the City of Minneapolis. Private-sector employers at the fair included several nursing homes, industrial bakers and Eureka Recycling.

“Jobs are good, good jobs are better and union jobs are the best of all,” St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman told jobseekers and employers during a brief program to kick off the event.

Gary Larsen, an East-Sider since birth, was one of several Building Trades representatives at the job fair promoting their apprenticeship programs. Larsen, a member of the Laborers union, said he was proud to be promoting good, union jobs in his own neighborhood.

“This is awesome for me,” said Larsen, a member of the Laborers union. “As a kid I used to ride my bike to this library.”

Apprenticeships in the trades offer workers the potential to earn as they learn, with middle-class wages and good health and pension benefits. Jobs like that were a lot more common on the East-Side when Larsen was growing up, before Whirlpool, 3M and Hamm’s shut down their production plants.

“Hopefully, we’re making some good connections here today that lead to not just jobs for East-Siders, but careers,” Larsen said. “We want to keep the East Side prospering the way it should be.”

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

Over Laborers’ concerns, Mendota Heights district awards work to ‘problem contractors’

August 4, 2015 by

LaborersUnion-logo150x150School board members in Mendota Heights yesterday awarded construction contracts to two firms despite concerns about unsafe working conditions and poor oversight on other projects handled by the contractors.

Independent School District 197 accepted bids to oversee renovation work on two elementary schools from Derau Construction and Ebert Construction – both “problem contractors,” Mendota Heights parent Brian Brunette told board members during a listening session prior to last night’s board meeting.

“They both have a history of poor performance,” said Brunette, a member of Laborers Local 563. “I value my tax dollars, and I think every citizen in Mendota Heights School District deserves more.”

The Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota distributed a packet of information prior to the meeting that included eyewitness accounts and photo evidence calling into question worker and public safety on Derau and Ebert job sites. Brunette and Kevin Pranis, the council’s organizing director, warned that both contractors carry significant baggage, including, in Derau’s case, an acknowledged incident in which a child repeatedly performed dangerous work on a school construction site.

Derau and Ebert have established a “pattern of going from one school district to another after doing substandard work” and “creating problems that far exceed the savings” provided by their low bids, Pranis told board members.

Derau and Ebert are non-union contractors, but that’s not why the Laborers chose to sound the alarm, Pranis said. Doing business the right way has its costs, and by accepting bids from “problem contractors,” districts like Mendota Heights lower standards in the industry, making it harder for responsible contractors – union or non-union – to get work.

Everyone makes mistakes?

Board members at the listening session acknowledged they were mostly unaware of the allegations against Derau and Ebert – including the well publicized incident with the minor – until being approached by the Laborers union. That prompted St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper to question the district’s process for reviewing bids.

“If there is a better procedure to screen these contractors, I ask you to do that,” Kasper said.

At the meeting, board members were unanimous in voting to award the contracts to Derau and Ebert. Board Chair Mark Spurr thanked the Laborers’ for voicing their concerns, but said allegations are just that.

“Is there, in fact, documented proof of a pattern?” he wondered. “I don’t know any contractor who has never made a mistake.”

Spurr added: “Without a citation from state regulators, it’s a little bit hard for me to use that as a basis for saying, ‘You’re not a responsible bidder.’”

But Mike Wilde, director the Fair Contracting Foundation of Minnesota, said school districts and municipalities do, in fact, have discretion when it comes to setting standards and rejecting bids from non-responsible contractors.

“School boards have the legal authority to reject a bid from a problem contractor,” Wilde said. “The question is whether the board is willing to use it. When entering into a large public construction project, the quality of service should be a top consideration. The school district’s discretion should be used when it can avoid problems that have occurred on similar projects.”

‘Makes me sick’

The board’s decision not to exercise that discretion disappointed several residents who attended the meeting, including members of Service Employees International Union Local 284. Many expressed disappointment the board would dismiss a union’s concerns after union members volunteered their time to help pass funding referendums in recent years.

“It just makes me sick,” Brunette said. “I voted for the last school referendum. I put a sign in my yard. I can’t believe the district would give our money to these characters. Our kids deserve better.”

Board members thanked the Laborers for voicing their concerns and pledged to keep an even closer watch on Derau and Ebert as the renovations move forward.

“We’re going to be making damn sure this job is done to spec,” Spurr said.

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