Updated prevailing wage standards ‘a tremendous win’ for tradespeople

June 10, 2024 by

Sen. Tina Smith (R) and Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman announced new prevailing wage standards in Minnesota.

The Labor Department has updated federal prevailing wage standards in Minnesota, a move local Building Trades unions hailed as critical to ensuring that the tradespeople working on historic infrastructure investments passed during President Joe Biden’s first term are paid fairly and consistently.

Tom Dicklich, executive director of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council, called the Wage and Hour Division’s announcement “a tremendous win for the working women and men of Minnesota.”

“The implementation of new prevailing wage standards will provide our workers with the financial security they deserve and ensure that our construction projects are carried out by skilled, fairly compensated professionals,” Dicklich said. “We’re excited to see the tangible benefits this will bring to our communities.”

Under the new standards, the prevailing wage rates applied to federally funded building, highway and heavy construction projects will be the same as the state’s prevailing wage rates.

Minnesota’s prevailing wage rates better reflect the labor costs incurred by responsible contractors, like unions’ signatory contractors, Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman said at a press conference May 31 at the St. Paul Labor Center.

Looman, who served as executive director of the Minnesota Building Trades council before accepting a post in the Biden administration, said the change to federal rates here is part of the “most comprehensive review” of prevailing wage standards undertaken at the Labor Department in “more than 40 years.”

“The new prevailing wage standards will ensure that workers on federally funded projects are compensated fairly, reflecting the true value of their labor,” Looman said. “This initiative will help close wage gaps and set a higher standard for transparency and fairness in the construction industry.”

Under the Davis Bacon Act, contractors carrying out most federal building projects are required to pay the local “prevailing wage” – an hourly rate, plus benefits – determined by the Labor Department. Many states and municipalities also have their own prevailing wage standards.

Prevailing wage laws ensure that workers on publicly funded construction projects are paid wages that reflect area standards – and prevent low-road contractors from squeezing workers’ pay in order to win a public bid.

The Wage and Hour Division announcement comes at a time when billions of additional dollars are being invested in Minnesota under two of Biden’s signature legislative achievements, the bipartisan infrastructure law and the CHIPS and Science Act.

Sen. Tina Smith, who joined Looman at the event, said the new prevailing wage standards add to Biden’s record as “the most pro-worker administration” in her lifetime. Smith ran down a list of pro-worker advancements since Biden took office, from expanding eligibility for overtime pay to banning noncompete agreements.

But the change will also benefit construction employers, she said, by streamlining the bidding process and ensuring greater fairness and transparency.

“This is a significant step in ensuring fair wages and consistency for our workers on federally funded construction projects,” Smith said. “From boosting American manufacturing and construction through unprecedented infrastructure investments to improving wage transparency for workers and contractors in Minnesota, we are making historic progress in supporting our workers and strengthening our labor unions.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Senate Republicans block $1.9 billion infrastructure jobs proposal

March 16, 2023 by

IUPAT members (L to R) Tadd Tratar, David Kroger, Jordan Fry and Zach Thoemke rallied for the bonding will with Tim Stender (R) from the Carpenters union.

Before the Minnesota Senate voted today on infrastructure jobs bills worth $1.9 billion, union tradespeople pleaded with Republican members not to hold up the package of local public-works projects as leverage in a political fight with the DFL majority.

“Quit playing little games with my livelihood,” Carpenters Local 1382 member Mandy Reese, from Zumbrota, told lawmakers. “Do your jobs, get back to work and get this bonding bill passed today.”

Unfortunately for Reese and nearly 100 other union members who gathered outside the Senate chambers, most Republicans chose politics over jobs. The bonding proposal, which would see the state borrow $1.5 billion for infrastructure projects, fell shy of the three-fifths majority needed to pass the Senate, despite gaining bipartisan support in the House earlier this month.

The result prompted DFL leaders to scrap plans for a vote on a separate package of infrastructure projects that would be paid for with nearly $400 million from the state’s projected budget surplus.

Sen. Sandy Pappas (D-St. Paul), chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee, said during a press conference before the vote that if the borrowing bill failed, DFLers in both chambers would begin crafting a new all-cash package, which they could pass with simple majorities.

But that bill is unlikely to be as robust as the two bills they had hoped to approve today, Pappas warned. And because it won’t need a three-fifths margin, the cash bill may also not be as inclusive of Republican spending proposals.

LIUNA Local 563 member Carolyn Wood of Rosemount spoke in support of the $1.9 billion local jobs and projects bills. “By creating good construction jobs, thousands of Minnesotans will gain access to the Trades and a better future like I did, including our young people, more women, people of color and veterans,” she said.

Pappas called the proposal rejected by Republicans today “the fairest and the largest” bonding bill in state history. She touted a 50-50 split between projects funded in metro and rural areas, and singled out proposed transportation, water-treatment and public-safety projects in GOP-represented districts.

“Frankly, it’s embarrassing for me to go back to these communities time after time, year after year, and they’re still waiting” for lawmakers to fund local capital projects, Pappas said.

As for an all-cash bill, she added, “I don’t know if it can be as balanced” as the borrowing proposal.

On the Senate floor, Minority Leader Mark Johnson (R-East Grand Forks) recognized the strong support from organized labor for the infrastructure jobs bill, calling out several unions by name. But he said support from Republican leaders hinged on inclusion of tax relief.

“We wanted to help you,” Johnson said. “We Republicans wanted to get these projects done in the state of Minnesota. We have one simple request. Let’s get this done, but let’s ensure Minnesotans are taken care of as well, make sure that they have tax relief, make sure that we know what’s happening in our fiscal policy.”

The construction season is approaching quickly, and Minnesota’s asset upkeep falls further behind schedule – and costs continue to increase – each time lawmakers fail to act on a bonding bill, as they have since October 2020.

“We shouldn’t be talking about these projects,” said Bradley Peterson, director of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities. “We should be talking about the next round of projects.”

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Unions’ pre-apprenticeship program puts more Minnesotans on path to construction careers

May 9, 2022 by

The Building Strong Communities program holds a graduation ceremony. (photo by Vince Muzik)

Thirty-five Minnesotans are a big step closer to family-sustaining careers in the unionized construction industry after graduating from the Building Strong Communities program last week.

Elected officials, union leaders, employers and family members gathered for a ceremony May 5 at North Hennepin Community College to recognize graduates of the pre-apprenticeship program for women, veterans and people from racial and ethnic minority groups.

“You have the opportunity to be able to provide for your families, to make a meaningful contribution to society, to our cities, to our state, and you have much to be proud of,” Labor Commissioner Roslyn Robertson told graduates. “It is my honor to be able to witness this day.”

Funded and administered by the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, Building Strong Communities is part of unions’ ongoing effort to increase community awareness of career opportunities in their industry.

“None of this is possible without the strong support of the Building and Construction Trades,” said Aaron Koski, workforce manager at the Met Council. “So thank you, unions.”

The 12-week course, offered each spring, provides an overview of the different crafts that make up the construction industry, using a Multi Core Craft Curriculum developed by unions, hands-on training at union apprenticeship centers and tours of union construction sites.

Graduates Isabelle Schultz and Dwayne Douglas take the stage during the ceremony.

Participants also take eight weeks of virtual classes in construction career readiness at North Hennepin, followed by four weeks of training to build up emotional intelligence, a skillset industry experts have identified as key to overcoming challenges new workers often encounter on the jobsite.

“You really learned how to control your emotions and not give people your remote,” 2022 graduate Isabelle Schultz said. “And if you are in control of your remote, then no one can control your emotions.”

Graduates completed the course just in time for the start of summer construction season, and Schultz, who will begin an apprenticeship with Operating Engineers Local 49 and Lunda Construction, was among several who had already signed on to begin working for local union contractors.

“This opportunity has opened my eyes to a whole new experience,” said Dwayne Douglas, set to begin an apprenticeship with Laborers Local 563 and Lunda after graduation. “To be a part of a training like this means everything in the world. This is something that is going to be beneficial for me and beneficial for my family for the rest of my life.”

Building Strong Communities Program Manager Thomas Scott said the work of “helping to make our construction industry in Minnesota more reflective of all our communities throughout the state” does not end with graduation. Each graduate has selected an advocate to provide mentorship and support over the next year.

“The goal is to stay in the industry and for the individual to experience everything that motivated him or her to choose the construction industry in the first place,” Scott said. “Our community advocates will continue to work with graduates … so that they have a strong support when things get rough.”

Joe Fowler, president of the state Building Trades council, welcomed graduates into the union family.

“As you look to begin your new careers, know that you’re entering a family of brothers and sisters who stand up for each other,” Fowler said. “And just remember that solidarity is key to making sure that you’re successful, and it’s key to making sure that our unions continue to thrive and are successful as well.”

Learn more about Building Strong Communities at buildingstrong.org.

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Minnesota Building Trades on path to becoming Yellow Ribbon organization

February 25, 2022 by

Tom Simonet (L), chair of the Minnesota ESGR, joins Building Trades Council President Joe Fowler at the table during a signing ceremony.

The Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council redoubled its commitment to recruiting military members and veterans into careers in the union trades this week, taking the first step toward becoming a Yellow Ribbon Company.

The council of 15 craft unions, representing over 70,000 Minnesota tradespeople, held a signing ceremony Wednesday with Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a federal program that promotes cooperation between National Guard members and their civilian employers.

President Joe Fowler, a member of LIUNA Local 563, signed an agreement on behalf of the council pledging to stand beside those who serve their country in the National Guard and follow all laws related to their employment.

Signing the agreement is the first official step in becoming a Yellow Ribbon Company. Minnesota’s 84 Yellow Ribbon employers have been formally recognized for their support of military employees and local communities to benefit service members, veterans and military families.

“We know we can make a meaningful difference as a Yellow Ribbon organization,” Fowler said in remarks to government officials, Building Trades leaders and representatives of the Guard who attended the ceremony. “This is another landmark in our efforts to do intentional outreach to women, BIPOC communities and our military members, veterans and their families.”

Prior to the signing ceremony, which was held at the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 82 hall in Little Canada, Fowler and other members of the Building Trades’ steering committee spent the day meeting with officials from ESGR, the state Department of Veterans Affairs, county veterans-services officers and other agencies, assembling an action plan to meet the criteria of a Yellow Ribbon Company.

Annette Kuyper, director of military outreach for Beyond the Yellow Ribbon in Minnesota, said participating employers commit to three principles:

  • Hiring members of the Guard, military veterans and their spouses.
  • Supporting those workers in their civilian and military careers.
  • Joining military-support efforts in the community.

Local Building Trades unions already have proven themselves eager to serve military families, Kuyper said, remembering an interaction with Fowler last November.

“We were getting holiday bags all throughout Minnesota to military families who needed budget-stretcher meal boxes and turkeys,” Kuyper said. “At the last minute we had a couple volunteers who were COVID positive. I made one call to Joe, and he had volunteers bringing supplies to Mankato and Duluth within hours.

“This is what it truly means to be a Yellow Ribbon organization.”

Construction unions, their contractors and their joint apprenticeship training programs have a track record of outreach to military families, too. The Helmets to Hardhats program has connected over 40,000 U.S. military veterans nationwide with union apprenticeship programs, which are the first step toward family-sustaining jobs in the construction industry.

Minnesota National Guard Major General Shawn Manke joins the signing ceremony.

“That’s 40,000 men and women whose lives changed, or family’s trajectories changed for the better,” said Bill Mulcrone, Midwest regional director of Helmets to Hardhats. “The contractors are getting quality workers, and our unions are getting better members.”

Several speakers at the ceremony emphasized the natural partnership between Building Trades unions and the U.S. military. Both Fowler and Major Gen. Shawn Manke, senior leader of the Minnesota National Guard, noted that many union tradespeople serve as citizen soldiers.

By becoming a Yellow Ribbon Company, Manke said, the Building Trades Council will create more opportunities for Guard members to “take their military-acquired skills into the civilian sector” – and vice versa.

“We have a number of soldiers and airmen who serve in our organization and in the Trades, and have completed military and occupational skill training specifically focused on horizontal and vertical construction, plumbing, electrical and HVAC,” Manke said.

“Support of organizations like the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council is crucial to employees as we make sure that our service members are well trained for whatever mission they may be asked to perform, from our federal mission overseas to our state mission here,” he added. “Your commitment to the men and women of our organization is admirable and certainly appreciated.”

Tom Simonet, chair of the Minnesota ESGR, said the Building Trades’ support would make a difference for Minnesota’s National Guard soldiers – and for Minnesota’s construction industry as a whole.

“When I go out to the (Guard) units, one of the things I do is encourage them to look at who has signed a statement of support,” Simonet said. “And what they bring to you is a level of loyalty, dedication and knowledge that outweighs anything else.”

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As session begins, Minnesota unions see opportunity for investments in infrastructure, frontline workers

January 31, 2022 by

Essential workers marched outside the Capitol during a union rally last summer.

With a projected $7.7 billion budget surplus, state lawmakers have an historic opportunity, union leaders said, to fully invest in public services, infrastructure and frontline workers during the 2022 legislative session, which began today.

Lawmakers traditionally take up capital investments – the so-called “bonding bill” – in even-numbered years, but the record surplus, coupled with unspent federal pandemic relief funds, could allow for more broad spending measures this year, including long-delayed compensation for frontline workers.

Unions also plan to lobby for pro-worker policy changes like paid family leave, and to remain vigilant in preventing attacks on existing worker rights and protections from gaining traction.

While Gov. Tim Walz and a labor friendly DFL majority in the House have expressed an appetite for robust investments and pro-worker policies, the outlook is less rosy in the Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow majority.

“The Senate has proven to be an obstacle – if not a roadblock – for years to paid family and medical leave, as well as more recently frontline worker pay,” said Melissa Hysing, the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s legislative and strategic research director. “The challenge is always going to be the Senate.”

Minnesota unions are sure to advance their own priorities to the Capitol with solidarity from the labor community. But here’s a look at the agenda unions crafted together as part of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, which unites over 1,000 affiliate unions and 300,000 working people.

Union tradespeople called on lawmakers to pass a bonding bill outside the Capitol in 2020.

• Infrastructure jobs

Not only is it a bonding year, but the $1 trillion federal infrastructure bill, signed into law by President Joe Biden last November, gives Minnesota an opportunity to leverage additional funds for capital investment and create tens of thousands of family-sustaining jobs.

The Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, the voice of the state’s construction unions, praised Walz’s Local Jobs and Projects Plan, unveiled earlier this month. In a statement, Executive Director Tom Dicklich said the $2.7 billion infrastructure bill would leverage funding to support “statewide projects for years to come.”

“The passage of the Local Jobs and Projects act will provide an opportunity to create a solid pipeline of projects that can sustain the construction industry and the jobs it provides,” Dicklich said. “We thank Governor Walz and his team for putting forward this plan and urge all lawmakers to work together to make these needed investments in the jobs and infrastructure that Minnesota deserves.”

At a rally in downtown Minneapolis in December 2021, advocates called on legislators to stop playing politics with a fund created to compensate essential workers.

• Frontline worker pay

Last July, Minnesota lawmakers set aside $250 million in funds to compensate essential workers for keeping the state running during the COVID-19 pandemic. But workers never received a penny, as lawmakers on a bipartisan working failed to agree on who should be eligible.

Republicans on the working group blocked any plan that did not direct the payments to a narrow pool of health care workers, first responders and long-term-care workers. But unions, including the Minnesota Nurses Association, argued against excluding any frontline worker.

Hysing said the Minnesota AFL-CIOwill support Walz’s proposal to give each of the state’s estimated 667,000 frontline workers a $1,500 bonus, calling it “unfinished business.”

Julie Bleyhl, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 5, called Senate Republicans “disrespectful” for seeking to exclude retail workers, bus drivers, janitors and others from the payments. Many Minnesotans have churned through their paid time off – or gone without pay – to quarantine or provide care for themselves and their families.

“While the need for public services has increased dramatically for many years, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a particularly devastating impact on our workforce, through forced overtime and COVID-19 exposure,” Bleyhl said. “That is why our union remains steadfast in our commitment to fighting for frontline worker bonus pay for all frontline worker heroes.”

• Paid family leave

In more unfinished business, the Minnesota AFL-CIO will continue to co-chair a statewide coalition of labor, faith and community organizations lobbying to extend paid family and medical leave benefits to all workers in the state.

The coalition supports creating a statewide insurance pool that would cover the cost of replacement wages for workers who take time off for the birth or adoption of a child, or to be with an ailing family member. Workers would be eligible for up to 12 weeks of leave, with benefits ranging from 55 to 80 percent of their typical wages.

The program is included in Walz’s proposed spending package, and House DFL leaders have proposed using part of the budget surplus to pre-fund benefits for two years.

“Working people should never be forced to choose between a paycheck and taking care of themselves and the people they love, and lawmakers can take action so we never have to make that choice again,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy said.

• Workers’ Compensation eligibility

Unions will encourage lawmakers to extend the law, passed in 2020, creating a presumption that first responders and health care workers who contract COVID-19 did so on the job, making them eligible for Workers Compensation benefits.

• Wage theft

Despite passing with bipartisan support in 2019, Minnesota’s new wage theft law – the strongest in the nation – has been a target of attempts to weaken its protections and soften penalties on offending employers. Hysing pointed to Republican proposals last year that would have stripped language requiring employers to notify new workers of their wages before their first shift.

“So workers wouldn’t know until after they’ve received their first paycheck what they’re supposed to receive,” she said. “One of the first defenses against wage theft is workers knowing what they’re supposed to be paid – that shared understanding between the worker and employer about what the wage is for work performed.

“We will continue to work to maintain these hard-won protections and make sure workers get paid for the work they’ve done.”

For updates on the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s work at the Capitol and alerts about how to take action, follow the federation on Facebook and Twitter, sign up for text and e-mail alerts.

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Concrete Christmas display showcases union apprentices’ skills

December 6, 2021 by

Local 633 apprentices work on the annual holiday display in their training center.

It already looks a lot like Christmas at the Cement Masons and Plasterers Training Center in New Brighton, where apprentices from three local unions have decked out the shop floor with a seasonal display of their skilled crafts.

The annual “Concrete Christmas” display will stay up through tomorrow, Dec. 7, when Cement Masons Local 633 and Twin Cities Plasterers Local 265 host their December union meetings and a holiday celebration.

Journey-level members look forward to viewing the apprentices’ work each year, Apprenticeship Coordinator Brian Farmer said. The project showcases “all the skill sets they see in the field,” he said, “with a little different spin on it.”

The labor community is welcome to visit the display today or tomorrow during business hours. The training center is located at 2180 Old Highway 8 NW.

The centerpiece of the holiday display is a large fireplace and chimney. Its structural and lathing work was done by apprentices from Minnesota State Interior Systems Local 68, an affiliate of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters. Plasterers Local 265 apprentices crafted the fireplace’s exterior, including a Venetian finish.

The rest of the display is decorative cement and concrete, fashioned by the 100-plus active apprentices of Local 633.

“It’s fun,” third-year apprentice Eduardo Ortiz said during a break from working on the display last week. “I get to do new stuff I never did before. And it’s fun getting to meet new people and learn new techniques from them.”

Farmer said the project engages apprentices in an opportunity to apply the skills they’ve learned in new, creative ways. It’s also a chance to take ownership of a project members of their union will appreciate.

“These apprentices will be our future leadership,” Farmer said. “Our contractors want leaders. A lot of boomers are retiring, and it opens up a lot of opportunities for the new generation to take charge.”

James Fisher is a third-year apprentice with Local 633.

The Cement Masons’ registered apprenticeship program, sponsored jointly by the union and its signatory contractors, runs three years, and it combines coursework with paid employment in the field.

For James Fisher, a third-year apprentice from Cloquet, enrollment in Local 633’s apprenticeship has been a life-changing experience. Previously, he worked as a parking valet at a casino.

Before entering a pre-apprenticeship program for members of tribal nations, “I didn’t know anything about concrete,” Fisher said. “All I knew is you drive down the freeway, and there’s a curb.”

To see how much more goes into the craft, he added, look no further than the concrete Christmas display.

“I’ve learned there are so many techniques you can do to change color and texture and mold it into what you want – as long as it’s wet,” Fisher said. “You can learn something new every day, and that’s what I try to do.”

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Leadership changes, but Trades’ focus remains on building careers, communities

July 22, 2021 by

The Crow Wing County VFW color guard installs the colors at the start of the Building Trades convention.

A new president gaveled the 75th convention of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council to order at Madden’s on Gull Lake today, as delegates unanimously affirmed their Executive Board in electing Laborers Local 563 Business Manager Joe Fowler to lead the statewide organization.  

President Emeritus Harry Melander, who retired in June after 12 years leading the council, administered the oath of office to Fowler and other executive officers as one of the convention’s first orders of business. 

“I will give it my all to advocate the just cause of organized construction labor in the state of Minnesota,” Fowler said, thanking delegates for their support.  

While the leadership of the organization has changed – it’s the first convention for newly hired Executive Director Tom Dicklich, too – the Building Trades Council’s work remains focused on fostering family-sustaining, high-quality job opportunities for tradespeople across the state. 

In practice, Fowler said, that means recruiting new workers – particularly veterans and workers from underrepresented communities – into unions’ registered apprenticeship programs to keep up with the industry’s demand for skilled labor. It means organizing to end mistreatment of workers on non-union construction sites, where wage theft, employee misclassification and labor trafficking are too common. And it means opposing right-to-work laws and attacks on prevailing wage at the Capitol. 

Gov. Tim Walz greets delegates to the convention.

By most of those measures, Minnesota’s Building Trades unions have fared better than their counterparts in other Midwest states, and Fowler said the reason for that is unity. 

“Sticking together and showing solidarity is what sets us apart from other organizations that would like to see us and organized labor as a whole fail, and that will never happen,” he said. “If we do not have solidarity, we do not have a strong Building Trades, and in Minnesota that is just not an option.” 

The Trades have worked in recent years to attract bipartisan support for their agenda at the State Capitol, and that support was on display in the string of guest speakers who lined up to take the podium today. Mayors, state legislators, agency commissioners, members of Congress and Gov. Tim Walz all touted their work in support of union tradespeople. 

Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, a Republican whose district includes the Gull Lake area, told delegates his caucus, unlike Republicans in states like Wisconsin, won’t advance measures to undermine collective bargaining or attack prevailing wage. 

“Times are changing,” Gazelka said. “We’re the ones that are fighting for the mining jobs, whether it’s copper-nickel or taconite mining. We’re the ones standing up for the pipelines.” 

But Walz warned against politicians who frame a “false choice” when it comes to energy policy and mining. He said his administration is determined not to “cut corners,” but has moved projects like the Polymet mine through the permitting and review processes quickly. It is Senate Republicans’ move to force out his head of the state’s Pollution Control Agency, Walz said, that has slowed that process down. 

Joe Fowler, business manager of Laborers Local 563, is the new president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council.

“They’re playing games with your jobs,” Walz said. “They’re playing games with a process that now works. This isn’t about me picking winners or losers, it’s about following the science, following the law and following the process.  

“We did all those things. And we’re a long ways down that process on the Polymet mine, but it’s pretty damn hard to go back to an agency when that commissioner is no longer there.” 

DFL lawmakers also called out Republicans for bailing on the Building Trades-backed refinery safety measure during the special session last month.  

The measure, which would have required skilled laborers at sensitive petroleum facilities complete a registered apprenticeship program, gained steam after Marathon replaced local, union contractors at its St. Paul Park refinery with workers from out-of-state, non-union contractors. It passed the DFL-controlled House but was stripped from the Senate jobs bill after more than a dozen Republicans who originally voted to advance the measure withdrew their support. 

Rep. Rob Ecklund, a DFLer from International Falls, said the vote revealed who is “standing with labor not just when it’s politically convenient, but all of the time.” 

A diplomatic Fowler sought to cool the political rhetoric, insisting the council, under his leadership, “will always be nonpartisan in the sense that we support those who support us and who understand labor is always on the side of the worker.” 

There were some issues on which everyone in the room could agree, including a renewed state investment in Helmets to Hardhats, which has successfully introduced thousands of military veterans to career opportunities in the union trades. Justin Ross, a former Marine who heads the statewide initiative, said 840 Minnesota veterans have enrolled in unions’ apprenticeship programs over the last three years after accessing the program.

President Emeritus Harry Melander (L) congratulates Secretary Treasurer Craig Olson after swearing in the officers.

“I know firsthand what it can be like returning from military service,” Ross said. “I spent over five years bouncing from job to job, trying college a couple times. It wasn’t until I found my way into an apprenticeship program with Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 that I really found a home.” 

Another point of universal agreement: appreciation for Melander’s leadership during the 12 years he served as president of the council. Walz presented the president emeritus with a plaque declaring today Harry Melander Day in Minnesota. 

In characteristically brief remarks, Melander assured delegates their organization is in good hands, and left them with a few words of wisdom. 

“Teach the trade; honor the craft,” he said. “Just remember that. Teach the trade to the young people, and honor the craft amongst ourselves. And thank you for the privilege of serving the last 12 years.” 

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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.

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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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Walz signs historic infrastructure bill from Ironworkers’ training floor

October 21, 2020 by

Gov. Walz signs a $1.88 package of infrastructure investments into law.

In a ceremony held on the floor of Ironworkers Local 512’s apprenticeship training center today, Gov. Tim Walz signed into law a $1.88 billion package of infrastructure investments that will create thousands of jobs for union tradespeople across Minnesota.

The bill also keeps open the Willow River and Togo correctional facilities, a top priority of the state’s largest public service union, AFSCME Council 5. And it provides a long-sought emergency rate increase for the state’s home care workers, members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota.

The measure passed both chambers of the Legislature during a special session last week, drawing bipartisan support.

The largest bonding bill in state history will fund local projects in both the metro and greater Minnesota, including transportation infrastructure, affordable housing and water-treatment and higher-education facilities.

Walz likened the projects to the property improvements homeowners might make, but on a much larger scale. “It’s the most important investment you make,” he said. “You don’t let it run down.”

The governor also thanked the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council and its member unions for convincing enough legislators to support such a robust bonding package.

“They did the hard work of getting this thing across the finish line,” Walz said. “And now they’ll do the actual work” of building and repairing the state’s buildings, roads, bridges, water systems and more.

Local 512 apprentice Travis Strugis gives Gov. Tim Walz a demonstration on the union’s training floor.
Walz and Local 512 Apprenticeship Coordinator Josh Kalina celebrate the largest bonding bill in state history.
“Today, when Gov. Walz signs this bill, we really, truly are one Minnesota,” Ironworkers Local 512 Business Manager Barry Davies says.

Bonding is traditionally a legislative priority in even-numbered years, and lawmakers were progressing steadily toward a bill during the regular session – until the COVID-19 pandemic derailed their progress.

Since the regular session adjourned in May, Walz has called lawmakers into special session each month. But until last week members of the House Republican caucus withheld their support for the jobs-creating infrastructure bill, hoping to pressure Walz into giving up his emergency powers during the pandemic.

Barry Davies, Local 512’s business manager, noted that tradespeople would still be waiting for an infrastructure investment had 25 House Republicans not broke with their caucus’ leadership to support the bill last week.

“Today, when Gov. Walz signs this bill, we really, truly are one Minnesota,” Davies said.

Bonding bills sustain jobs in the construction industry, added Operating Engineers Local 49 Business Manager Jason George.

“We needed this bill,” George said. “The global pandemic has created economic uncertainty for next year, and this bill eliminates a lot of that uncertainty for our work in Minnesota.”

“This bonding investment is necessary for our communities, workers and our economy,” said Jessica Looman, executive director of the Minnesota Building Trades Council. “Construction workers across the state are breathing a little easier today, knowing that there will be jobs coming so they can keep working to provide for themselves and their families.”

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The emergency rate increase for home care, meanwhile, came after home care clients and workers, members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, staged rallies in the streets outside the Capitol in the days leading up to the special session.

The rate increase rewards workers on the front lines of the pandemic response, providing care that helps tens of thousands of Minnesota seniors and people with disabilities live safely in their homes.

The home health industry suffers from a critical shortage of workers, and SEIU members and their clients have been campaigning for years to improve pay and benefits to make the job more attractive.

Robin Pikala, a home care worker and SEIU member from Fridley, called the bipartisan vote “an important step,” toward the respect workers and clients deserve.

“But this temporary support during the peacetime emergency is just a stopgap,” Pikala added. “We have so much work left to do.”

The special session wrapped up Oct. 15, less than a month before Election Day. Every seat in the Legislature is up for election in 2020.

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