Solidarity in the skies: In St. Paul, Delta workers rally together for a union

February 3, 2025 by

MSP-based Delta flight attendants Jarrod Anderson and Becca Mertes sing “Solidarity Forever” with AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson (R).

One of the largest organizing drives in the country got a boost in St. Paul last month, as Delta Air Lines flight attendants and ramp, cargo and tower workers pushed closer to a union election at the world’s most profitable carrier.

Supporters spilled out of a crowded union hall at the St. Paul Labor Center on Jan. 25 during a fiery rally organized by two unions, the Machinists (IAM) and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. Together, they are working to organize a combined 48,000 Delta workers.

Speakers included elected officials, union leaders, community allies and Delta workers, who said their campaign is gaining ground despite fierce pushback – and alleged union-busting – from management.

Rob Lavigne, a baggage handler with 14 years of experience at the airline, called Delta’s attempts to intimidate its own workers shameful, noting that 80% of workers in the airline industry – including Delta’s own pilots – enjoy the security of a union contract.

“Delta, you made $4.6 billion,” Lavigne said, a reference to the company’s 2023 earnings. “You can afford to make us the industry leaders the way that we made you the industry leaders.”

In addition to locking down pay raises and union benefits, many Delta workers at the rally said they hope to bargain for better work rules and procedures, especially around absences.

Right now, Delta’s sick-time policy is that it doesn’t have a sick-time policy, according to both flight attendants and ramp workers who attended the rally.

“It’s a gray area right now because it’s up to your manager’s discretion how many times you can call out before being penalized,” Minneapolis-based flight attendant Hunter Lipinski said. “I’ve known people who have provided a doctor’s note and have still been penalized.”

“I’ve watched a good amount of favoritism over the years,” baggage handler Pat Gores, a nine-year Delta veteran, said. “It’s like, if you’re an old drinking buddy of your manager’s, you’re OK? No way, I want fairness and equal treatment for all workers.”

Adding insult to injury, Delta is part of an industry group bankrolling a lawsuit to prevent Minnesota-based employees from accessing benefits under the state’s new earned sick and safe time law. The company joined nine other airlines in a lawsuit seeking an exemption from the law in December.

Another gray area that Delta flight attendants hope to clarify in a union contract is scheduling. Becca Mertes, who works out of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, said Delta flight attendants lag behind their peers at other carriers when it comes to compensation when cancelations and delays wreak havoc on their work schedules.

Delta management can extend a flight attendant’s one-day shift by multiple days, Mertes said, “and all you brought with was a pair of underwear.” It’s particularly difficult for flight attendants with children or pets.

Delta flight attendants and ramp, cargo and tower workers rallied with community supporters, including U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, at the St. Paul Labor Center on Jan. 25.

“That can happen at any other airline too, but in two and a half years at WestJet Airlines, I never got worked into my days off, not once,” she said. “It’s happened several times at Delta, too many to count.”

Community supporters at the rally, including U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, who represents Minnesota’s 4th Congressional District, praised workers in the room for joining together to improve conditions at Delta – and across the airline industry.

McCollum told union supporters that her mother once worked as a flight attendant, before the airline moved her to the ticket counter when she announced she was getting married. Even that job was no longer an option after she got pregnant, McCollum said.

“I fly two times a week, and I always feel safe in a Delta plane,” she said. “I see you. I see my mother in you when you walk down the aisle… You deserve respect and fair compensation for the work you do.”

McCollum said she brings that message into her frequent meetings with Delta lobbyists in Washington, D.C., too.

Mertes, Lavigne and other Delta workers active in the organizing drives said they hope to vote on union representation by the summer. For that to happen, the unions will need to demonstrate to the National Mediation Board that they have collected signed authorization cards from a majority of eligible workers.

In a quirk of federal labor law, the cards expire after one year, which creates an administrative headache for organizers.

“For two and a half years we’ve been at this, and I believe if union cards were good for two years, I wouldn’t be speaking here today,” Lavigne said. “We would have had a union on the property last May.”

Workers like Lipinski left the rally feeling more confident that day would come.

“Seeing all this support, it gives the feeling of, ‘we can do this,’” Lipinski said. “It’s our turn to have a seat at the table.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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

Unions call out Delta for ‘unethical and illegal anti-union activities’

June 12, 2024 by

Union supporters rallied near Delta’s employee parking lot, near Terminal 2 at MSP International Airport. The Machinists union, which is supporting the union effort among ramp workers at the airline, organized the event.

BLOOMINGTON – Delta Air Lines is the only major U.S. carrier with a mostly non-union workforce, but baggage handlers, flight attendants and mechanics at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are looking to change that.

Delta employees based at MSP are leading a nationwide campaign to bring together over 50,000 frontline workers into three unions: the Machinists (IAM), the Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA) and the Teamsters.

MSP is among Delta’s operational hubs, and it has been a hotbed of union support since the “Organize and Fly Together” campaign began in November 2022.

During a rally with the Machinists union near Terminal 2 last month, MSP-based baggage workers projected that 80% of eligible employees at their job site would sign union cards before year’s end.

Some local union activists, like cargo lead Miles Dousette, are even traveling on their own time to other airports, where they join organizing rallies and go door to door to ask fellow Delta workers to sign union cards.

“It’s a cause we all believe in, we all want to be a part of,” Dousette said. “And we know we can win.”

Management, Delta workers say, has responded to the organizing drive with a relentless union-busting campaign, cracking down on pro-union speech and flooding the workplace with disinformation. Nabil Kablaoui, a Delta ramp agent, said he feels like supervisors are trying to intimidate workers at MSP.

“They’ve stood behind workers who are talking about a union,” Kablaoui said. “I’ve seen a manager take pro-union fliers out of people’s hands or out of their bags on tables in our break room, where we should have free movement.

“They might not seem large, but especially to new workers, who are maybe a little nervous about these things, that’s going to scare them off from their legal right to a union.”

Leaders of the three international unions behind the organizing drive accuse Delta of crossing the line – both legally and ethically – in trying to remain mostly union free. “Delta has consistently and unabashedly violated our federally protected right to organize,” read a flier handed out during the rally May 29.

The allegations have drawn attention from several members of Congress, including Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District.

In a March 2024 letter, Craig urged Delta CEO Ed Bastian to enter into a neutrality agreement with unions that would prohibit managers from engaging in “pre-election activities that influence workers’ freedom to form a union” – activities that could run afoul of federal labor laws.

“Unfortunately, I have heard from my constituents regarding Delta’s history of deploying union-busting tactics, including distributing anti-union literature … and hosting an anti-union website citing ‘unions’ empty promises,’” Craig wrote. “These actions are hostile to workers’ rights, and I urge you to commit to implementing a neutrality agreement with regard to these union organizing efforts.”

Although workers at the Machinists rally were skeptical that Delta would commit to remaining neutral, the facts, they said, are on their side.

Delta is the most profitable airline in the U.S., but many working groups lag their peers at other domestic carriers in pay and benefits. The one group that doesn’t? Members of the Air Line Pilots Association International union.

“Delta makes 40% of the industry’s profits, but we are not the highest paid, we do not have the most vacation time and our health care plan has changed three times in three years,” baggage handler Pat Gores said. “That is unacceptable for industry leaders. Our pilots are the best paid in the industry, and do you know why? Because they have a union contract.”

“We’re not out here asking for the whole pie, just a whole piece,” Dousette added. “We’re tired of fighting for the crust. We just want our fair share.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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

Union solidarity key to Delta workers’ organizing campaign

April 19, 2023 by

Sara Nelson, president of the AFA-CWA, led a rally with leaders of the Teamsters and Machinists at the St. Paul Labor Center.

The largest private-sector union organizing campaign in the world came to St. Paul last weekend, as three unions seeking to bring together 45,000 Delta Air Lines ramp workers, mechanics and flight attendants rallied their supporters at the Labor Center.

The April 15 event drew international union leaders from the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA-CWA), the Machinists (IAM) and the Teamsters, as well as pro-union Delta workers from Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and Delta outposts in New York, Atlanta and Detroit.

Delta pilots are unionized, but the remaining 80% of its workforce is not. Delta is the only U.S.-based mainline carrier where flight attendants, fleet service workers and mechanics are not represented by a union – for now.

“It is high time that we put a contract in the back pocket of every single Delta Air Lines worker,” said AFA-CWA President Sara Nelson, whose speech drew a thunderous ovation from more than 150 people inside the union hall.

Nelson’s union has supported organizing campaigns at Delta before, as have the Machinists and Teamsters. Sometimes those campaigns overlapped.

But last November the three unions announced an agreement to coordinate their efforts under the “Organize and Fly Together” campaign, with the Machinists supporting Delta fleet workers, the Teamsters supporting mechanics and AFA-CWA supporting flight attendants.

Teamsters Local 120 President Tom Erickson (R) and the Machinists’ Richie Johnsen praised the coordinated union campaign to support Delta workers.

Teamsters Local 120 President Tom Erickson, who serves on International President Sean O’Brien’s Executive Board, said he believes a coordinated campaign – in any industry – offers workers a better chance of making collective gains.

“Coordinated bargaining is not a novel idea,” Erickson said. “Finally, we’re waking up as unions across the company. This coalition should have happened a long time ago. It’s what we used to do back in the 40s and 50s and 60s, and now we’re going to do it again.”

Nelson led the crowd in chanting “I’ve got your back!” as the rally drew to a close.

“We have a lot of differences, and that is what makes us strong,” Nelson said. “But what we have in common is what brings us together. We all need to take care of our families. We all need access to health care. We all need a dignified retirement. We all need to take care of ourselves and our families when we are sick, especially when we get sick on the job.”

Delta is turning massive profits, and its executives are pocketing more of those gains than at other, more unionized airlines. CEO Ed Bastian’s pay was 26% higher last year than his peers.

Delta’s wages are competitive with other large carriers, Machinists Air Transport Territory General Vice President Richie Johnsen said, but it’s only because the airline knows that falling behind would add fuel to workers’ organizing drive.

“We carry that; the union members at other airlines carry that in bargaining,” Johnsen said. “We create that standard, but at Delta it’s a shell that doesn’t offer all the other things that those of us who have a contract enjoy. And that time is done.”

What would a union contract mean for Delta workers?

Nelson said the AFA-CWA contract at United Airlines is worth $100 million more annually than Delta flight attendants’ total compensation, including wages and benefits. The union contract also protects workers from arbitrary firings, establishes safety protocols and gives workers a say in work rules and conditions.

An MSP-based Delta cargo employee, who attended the rally but asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, said safety standards plummeted after Delta absorbed Northwest Airlines, which was heavily unionized, in 2008.

“When we had a union, they would actually train people to do things safely rather than be forced to work unsafe at Delta,” said the employee, who has 32 years of experience in the cargo department. “We get a lot more pressure now to just get the work done rather than to do it right.”

The safety net for workers who are injured on the job, he said, also disappeared after Delta took over.

“I’ve seen guys get hurt, and they’re forced to leave because they can’t do the work anymore,” he said. “With the union, guys would get rehab for their injuries, or there was a part of the contract where they would … put you into a different job. Now, there’s no such thing.

“They don’t care about us. We’re a number.”

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

After leaving auto industry, retired Machinist preps others for entry-level work

March 4, 2021 by

Greg Kinne offers hands-on instruction in the basics of auto mechanics to students at the Twin Cities School. (submitted photo)

Greg Kinne isn’t letting the knowledge he gained over nearly five decades in the automotive industry go to waste in retirement. The former Machinist is sharing what he knows with a new generation of workers at the Twin Cities School.

Kinne, a longtime member of Local Lodge 737, has signed on as a volunteer at the school, housed in founder Jerry L. Griffis’ detailing shop in Columbia Heights. Together, Kinne and Griffis teach the basics of auto detailing and maintenance to young adults struggling to find their career paths.

The free, 12-week course includes opportunities for paid work in Griffis’ shop. The goal, Kinne said, is to give students enough training to land an entry-level job.

“They’re going to know enough about detailing that a shop could take them on and not have to explain everything to them,” he said. “They’re still going to have to learn some things. But I worked 50 years, and I was still learning things when I was done.”

In the classroom, students follow a curriculum developed by Griffis, a former service manager at the White Bear Lake Superstore dealership. He takes the lead teaching auto detailing, and Kinne takes the lead teaching basic mechanics, like changing the oil, rotating the tires and how parts of the car work together.

While detailing is the program’s focus, an introduction to “the other stuff,” Kinne said, makes students more attractive to potential employers, and may spark an interest in pursuing more training to climb the career ladder.

“You wouldn’t be hired out of our program as a technician, but it might give you the idea that you want to go to school and learn more about it,” Kinne said.

But Kinne and Griffis try to offer students more than just garage knowledge.

The Twin Cities School emphasizes so-called “soft skills” necessary for success on the job, and Griffis and Kinne have tapped into their connections in the local auto industry to help find interested students work. Those connections include Local Lodge 737 and union dealerships.

“Union shops, that’s what I push,” Kinne said. “Jerry was a manager – one of the few African American managers in our area, but he worked in a union shop. And I know he’s sat down with Local 737 and talked about the school with them, and they’ve been supportive.

“The union leads the way in this industry. The union contract prices go out, and if the other dealerships don’t pay similar to them, they don’t get people.”

That’s not to mention the union benefits, which include the defined-benefit pension that allowed Kinne to retire five years ago.

Kinne’s career in the automotive industry began in 1972, when he went to work behind the parts counter at Royal Datsun, a union shop on Grand Avenue in St. Paul. His father was the parts manager, and Kinne thought of the opportunity as a stopgap.

But when the business moved to Maplewood in 1981, Kinne moved with it. By 1989, he’d been promoted to parts manager. He left that job in 1997 and worked briefly for a Luther dealership in Minneapolis before taking a position at the White Bear Lake Superstore as a technician.

“I’d kind of burned out on the parts stuff by then,” Kinne said.

He began working as a Hyundai mechanic in 2000, and by the time he retired in 2016, Kinne was one of just a few certified platinum Hyundai technicians in the Buerkle organization, having completed weeks of trainings and passed several evaluations.

Willingness to put in the time and effort it takes to learn new skills is a big part of what made Kinne successful in his career, and he makes a point of emphasizing as much to students at the Twin Cities School, he said.

“I’m not a teacher but I can certainly share experiences – good and bad – with the young men,” Kinne said.

But Kinne added: “I try not to place my history upon their stuff because it’s different.”

Kinne had a father who steered him into a career field, while most students at the Twin Cities School struggled to complete high school or have had run-ins with law enforcement.

“It’s a short program designed to build an interest in working on cars, maybe a career working on cars and a path to livability,” Kinne said. “But it’s just one step. It’s a small niche in a bigger education outreach effort by the community.”

Others are taking notice of the school’s approach. Ramsey and Hennepin counties have referred students to Griffis’ program, which also includes an aviation module. And the school has developed a partnership with St. Paul’s Ujamaa Place, which offers programming to men 17 to 28 years old. (Twin Cities School is open to both men and women.)

Automotive work might not be for everyone who completes the program, but reaching the finish line comes with a sense of accomplishment, Kinne said, both for students and for their instructors.

“It’s a good challenge, and I do enjoy it,” he said. “There are a lot of hurdles to getting guys interested, but the best is having someone who’s been in the class and running into them.

“One guy came up and thanked me for teaching him how to solder. It’s a simple thing, but he came up and wanted to make a point of thanking me for teaching him that. I had to laugh.”

*****

Yes, auto technicians are union members! Machinists Local Lodge 737 represents over 900 mechanics, parts personnel, body workers and service technicians at dealerships in the east metro. Click here to find a list of union shops.

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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: , , , , , ,

Machinists volunteers put skills to work for Twin Cities nonprofit

October 15, 2018 by

Machinists union members and retirees volunteer at FamilyWise in Minneapolis as part of the union’s IAM H.E.L.P.S. initiative.

A Twin Cities nonprofit that works to strengthen local families got a little help from the Machinists’ union family over the weekend.

Members of the International Association of Machinists spent Saturday making needed improvements and repairs at FamilyWise’s headquarters in Minneapolis.

The volunteer event was part of the union’s IAM H.E.L.P.S initiative, launched last year, District 77 Secretary Treasurer Ross Olson said, to increase awareness of the work Machinists do for their neighbors, and “to show the public and the community that we’re there for them.”

Last year, Machinists cleaned up FamilyWise’s St. Paul offices. This year, they tackled the nonprofit’s Minneapolis facility, replacing a dilapidated storage shed, power washing and repairing playground equipment and patching up a fence enclosing the playground.

Bernell Buchanan, associate director of FamilyWise, said the organization’s typical volunteers are “generally a bit more office dwellers” than the Machinists, making the union members’ help all the more appreciated.

“FamilyWise is a fairly scrappy organization. We invest a lot of our money back in our programming and our talented staff,” Buchanan said. “So getting stuff done around our facilities – it’s the last thing that the money goes to, so it’s the last thing that gets done.”

Olson said Machinists appreciate the opportunity to put their skills to work for an agency that does critical work. FamilyWise operates a childhood education center, provides supervised visitation services, offers parenting classes and more.

“We’re just trying to make it more functional for staff and folks who access the agency,” Olson said. “One of the things that the team here said is that it’s always nice to get volunteers, but it’s especially nice to get skilled labor volunteers. We’re hoping to take care of projects that most volunteer groups can’t handle.

“Hopefully, people see we’re not just in the workplace. We’re out in the community as well.”

Filed Under: Community Tagged With: , , , ,

Retiree Council president: ‘You can’t just ride off into the sunset’

October 4, 2018 by

Ken McInnis

Ken McInnis has been going to union meetings since he was 5 years old. He helped organize a union when he was 15.

It’s no surprise, then, that his union activism has extended into retirement.

A former diesel mechanic and longtime member of Machinists Local Lodge 737, McInnis became president of the Minnesota State Retiree Council last month, when Bill Moore resigned after seven years in the position.

“My dad was a pulp and paper worker, and my mother used to send me with him to his union meetings when I was 5, 6 and 7 years old,” McInnis said. “When I was 15, I was working at a SuperValu store in Eau Claire, and we were lucky enough to organize a union.”

For McInnis, who now lives in Ham Lake, it was the start of a lifetime of support for the labor movement and progressive causes. In between jobs as a mechanic, he worked over 12 years as a business representative for Machinists District Lodge 77. He’s run for state and federal office, held several positions in the DFL Party and served alongside Paul Wellstone in Minnesota’s delegation to the Democratic National Committee.

His latest challenge? Providing direction for the Retiree Council, which provides Minnesota’s union retirees and their organizations with a voice in the state’s labor movement – and an opportunity to remain active in advocating for public policy and political representation that advances their interests.

UA: You took office at the start of a pivotal campaign season. Has it been a baptism by fire?

KM: It’s more work, obviously, in an election year, but it’s work I’m familiar with. I previously ran for state House and state Senate as a labor-endorsed DFLer here in Ham Lake. It’s a district that had about a 37 percent DFL index. I got 39 percent of the vote, so I figure I did alright.

So the election work is not a trial by fire. We’ve also got a lot of programs that we’re working with here, and we’re working to see that retirees have their say.

But for me, I’ve done this stuff for 40 years. It’s nothing new, just a different venue.

UA: What’s driven that interest in organizing and campaign work over four decades and counting?

KM: The old adage is, ‘The world is run by those that come to the meeting.’ I’ve always gone to the meetings.

Looking at the importance of the issues that are before us right now, those issues haven’t really changed a whole lot since I got involved back in 1973. We’re still fighting ‘right to work for less.’ We’re still fighting to make sure Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid are going to be there for future retirees, like my three granddaughters. Those are the issues that drive me.

UA: You’re a self-starter when it comes to politics. How do you hope to inspire a similar interest among other retirees?

KM: I’ve always said if I’m lucky enough to engender an interest by one person per year, I’ll feel lucky. But it’s also about walking the walk. If I’m not going to do the work, other retirees are going to look at me and say, ‘He wants us to do it, but he won’t do it himself.’

UA: Where do you hope to see the Retiree Council go as an organization during your time in the president’s office?

KM: Right now we’re keyed in on making sure we win on Nov. 6. That’s the most important thing because if we don’t win, workers in general are going to lose their ability to better their lot.

Beyond that, my plan is to work on organizing the retiree networks out there. Not every union has a retiree chapter. Many have chapters that are more of a social club than an advocacy group. Hopefully we can engage some of them – and we have been – to participate in the council and in the Minnesota AFL-CIO.

It’s important for retirees to understand that you can’t just walk off into the sunset and think that everything’s going to be covered. Greedy people out there – including the party that controls Congress and the President himself – are trying to take everything away from us that they can, like pensions, Medicare, Social Security, our rights.

I’m issuing a call for retirees or organizations that have retirees to get active and put together a retiree organization if they don’t already have one. Join us; join our work. If everybody does a little bit, then a whole lot will get done.

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

At organizing boot camp, workers look to build power from the inside out

July 16, 2018 by

Todd Dahlstrom (blue shirt), the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s organizing director, leads a session during the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute last week in St. Paul. The Minnesota Nurses Association hosted the three-day training.

It takes a strong union to bargain a strong contract. Or, as CWA Local 7304 member Jim Wiebe put it: “A hammer doesn’t swing by itself.”

A union steward and welder at the New Flyer bus facility in St. Cloud, Wiebe was one of 55 activists from across the Midwest who traveled to St. Paul last week for the AFL-CIO Organizing Institute, a three-day boot camp in building stronger unions.

It convened less than two weeks after the Supreme Court sided with corporate interests in Janus v. AFSCME, a decision making it harder for public-sector workers to join together and bargain strong contracts.

Janus may be a setback for labor, but activists at the training sounded ready to push back, building power from the inside out.

“Too many of our members, they think that the stewards or the reps are the union,” said Andrea Branson, a HealthPartners billing representative and steward for Office and Professional Employees Local 12. “No, they are the union, but a lot of people don’t recognize that.”

Janus makes “right-to-work” (RTW) the law of the land in public-sector workplaces, allowing workers to reap the benefits of a union contract without sharing in the costs. Under RTW, unions must convince as many workers as possible to resist the temptation of “free-riding” and, instead, sign up for membership.

At the Organizing Institute, activists picked up tips for engaging fellow workers in conversations about supporting their union. Chris Tucker, president of Machinists Local 1010 in right-to-work Iowa, called it one of the most important conversations some people will ever have.

“When you talk to someone who doesn’t have a union, it can be a life changing experience for them,” Tucker said. “They can figure out there’s a better life by bonding together with their fellow workers.”

Even in states like Minnesota without a RTW law on the books (yet), private-sector unions have seen one-on-one conversations build the foundation of successful contract campaigns.

Wiebe’s St. Cloud-based local includes some 600 members of the Communications Workers of America. (“It’s a big unit to mobilize,” he deadpanned.) But as talks with New Flyer reached a tipping point last year, the local staged a rally that drew a third of its members. It was the largest event in Local 7304’s history, Wiebe said – and the result of scores of conversations on the shop floor, in the break room and outside the plant gate.

“New Flyer came to the table after that action, and it looked like they’d lost their best friend,” Wiebe said. What’s more, the company improved its offer on the table to include double-time pay for workers logging overtime on weekends.

Chris Tucker (L), president of Machinists Local 1010 in right-to-work Iowa, said unions can remain strong in RTW states.

Bonnie Jolly, a union steward at the Pearson’s Candy plant in St. Paul, hopes for a similar outcome this fall when Bakers Local 22 enters contract negotiations with the company. She’s already making sure as many members as possible on her shift are tuned into the process.

“We’re going for wages and better benefits,” Jolly said. “Whenever I go on break, I try to talk one-on-one with somebody I work with. I tell them if you don’t get involved now, you have no right to complain after the contract is done.”

In RTW states, though, the work of engaging co-workers doesn’t start when negotiations show up on the calendar. It’s part of a constant campaign to keep the union afloat.

Duluth resident Keith Musolf, a member and organizer for Ironworkers Local 512, represents people in Wisconsin and North Dakota, both RTW states where Ironworkers can opt out of paying dues while working on union job sites.

“You don’t have to drive very far to see a large change,” he said. “We’re so secure in our island of Minnesota, and they’re on their own race to the bottom. Traveling there is just an attitude check for me.”

Indeed, many labor experts now believe RTW will be the law of the land in the near future, whether by legislative action or court decision. (Janus-style cases targeting private-sector workplaces are already in the works.)

But the outcome isn’t necessarily gloomy, Branson said. She befriended several workers from RTW states at the Organizing Institute.

“I’m listening and hearing that a lot of unions in these states got stronger,” Branson said. “They say members have a better sense of what’s at stake. They are the union, they know what it’s about and they haven’t let (RTW) discourage them. I think that is so cool.”

In the end, Wiebe said, every conversation in an organizing drive comes down to the same question, and it’s one public-sector workers in Minnesota and across the country are presently answering for themselves.

“Would you rather try going in and bargaining by yourself, or go in and bargain as a bunch?” Wiebe said. “We’ve got to get people to understand that there’s power in numbers.”

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Delta touts ‘direct relationship,’ but workers eye strength in numbers

April 17, 2018 by

Delta workers cheer during a union rally at the St. Paul Labor Center earlier this month.

One of the largest union organizing drives in the world touched down in St. Paul earlier this month, as baggage handlers and flight attendants rallied for a voice on the job at Delta Air Lines.

Although the two groups, which include a combined 40,000 workers, are organizing separately, both have enlisted the support of the International Association of Machinists. The union represents more than 100,000 airline workers.

Union supporters at airports across the country are collecting signed authorization cards from their Delta co-workers, hoping to trigger elections with the National Mediation Board soon.

“This will happen by the end of the year,” Machinists District Lodge 142 President Dave Supplee told Delta workers at the April 4 rally. “If each one of you who have signed a card can get one more person to sign a card, we’re there. That’s all we need.”

Organizers estimate some 3,000 Minnesotans would be eligible to vote if both flight attendants and baggage handlers file for elections. Since acquiring Northwest Airlines a decade ago, Atlanta-based Delta has maintained a strong presence at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

But the company also has maintained its record of union avoidance.

Many workers at the rally began their careers with a union contract at Northwest. Bob Cannatelli, a Boston-based flight attendant, drew loud cheers when he talked about “getting back what we lost” when Delta took over.

It won’t happen overnight, Cannatelli acknowledged. “But what will happen the moment we certify is a seat at the table, a voice, mutual respect, just cause – no more at will – and defined discipline that will prevent the favoritism that we all see so much,” he said.

Rep. Betty McCollum shows the pro-union luggage tag she uses whenever she flies Delta.

The rally drew a standing-room-only crowd to the St. Paul Labor Center, but Delta workers weren’t the only ones in attendance. Elected officials, members of other unions and retirees rallied in solidarity.

Rose Roach, executive director of the Minnesota Nurses Association, noted the similarity between concerns Delta workers are raising in their organizing drive – like sufficient and safe staffing – and the challenges MNA nurses face in hospitals and clinics across the state.

“Well what do you know?” Roach laughed. “And that’s thanks to an enemy that we share: corporate greed.”

Delta “would cease to exist if not for you,” Roach added. “I am confident that Delta would run just fine without that CEO – not so much without the flight attendants and baggage handlers.”

Rep. Betty McCollum, a DFLer from Minnesota’s 4th Congressional District, held up a luggage tag with the Machinists logo on it and said she attaches it to her bag each time she flies back and forth from Washington.

Delta’s lobbyists approach her regularly, McCollum added, and she reminds them each time that she supports its workers’ freedom to a fair process in deciding whether or not to unionize.

Delta failed to live up to those standards, unions allege, in a series of narrow workplace elections after the 2008 merger.

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.

Workers at the rally warned that the company will use the same playbook this time around.

Dan McCurdy, a 21-year employee at MSP Airport, said Delta workers already face a barrage of messages celebrating the company’s “direct relationship” with its employees. “Delta’s trying to label us as outsiders, as a third party,” the ramp worker said. “That’s far from what we are. The people who I see in here tonight are the people I see every single day at work.”

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

March 19, 2018 by

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.

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