U of M workers: ‘Less than 1 percent won’t pay the rent’

September 29, 2015 by
Mary Austin, president of AFSCME Local 3937, reports on negotiations with the U of M during a rally outside Morrill Hall.

Mary Austin, president of AFSCME Local 3937, reports on negotiations with the U of M.

 

Unions representing about 4,000 workers in contract negotiations with the University of Minnesota took new momentum into a bargaining session today, after workers, students, faculty and other supporters rallied behind their fight for raises and respect.

“We’re only going to get what we’re organized to take,” Mick Kelly, a cook at Centennial Hall, said from the steps of Morrill Hall on the Twin Cities campus.

Workers are more organized than ever during this round of contract negotiations. Kelly’s union, Teamsters Local 320, planned the lunch-hour rally with four local AFSCME unions. Together, they represent clerical, technical, health care, facilities management, food service and other workers at U of M campuses across the state.

web.UofM-rally.crowdBut so far, talks with the university have made little progress. Unions report that management’s wage proposals amount to raises of less than 1 percent per year – “less than bus change,” Kelly said.

Workers’ top priorities also have met resistance, including equity in paid parental leave – administrators and faculty get six weeks, clerical workers two – and restoration of full funding for the Regents Scholarship, which supports tuition for workers’ dependents.

But what do workers mean by “respect”? Claire Thiele, a Teamster who works in the U’s veterinary lab, said it includes fair, honest sick-leave practices.

“My co-worker has two kids, she’s a single mother. Last winter they both got sick. They got her sick,” Thiele said. “She stayed home with them, and when she got back to work, she got written up by our bosses for using too much sick time.”

Frontline workers deserve better, students and faculty at the rally said, pledging their support for the contract campaign.

Grad studentCharmaine Chua: "Damn, my clerical workers are great! I am always learning from my clerical staff."

Grad studentCharmaine Chua: “Damn, my clerical workers are great! I am always learning from my clerical staff.”

Charmaine Chua, a graduate student at the Twin Cities campus, rolled off a long list of tasks – some in the job description, others not – that clerical workers in the political science department handle on daily basis. “You’re the invisible infrastructure that this university refuses to recognize,” Chua said.

“We know that the university wouldn’t run (without AFSCME and Teamsters workers), that it would shut down,” adjunct professor Michelle Lekas said. “(Administrators) need to know that too.”

AFSCME Council 5 Executive Director Eliot Seide warned U of M President Eric Kaler against pleading poverty in negotiations.

“It’s not right to give a $300,000 raise to the coach of the football team,” Seide said. “It’s not right to give a big raise to the coach of the basketball team, which when I last looked hadn’t even made it into the tournament. We should take that, Mr. President, and apply it to these contracts.”

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Teamsters at Supervalu’s Hopkins facility ratify new contract

June 8, 2015 by

9bc7c-120One week after voting 468-0 to authorize their leadership to call a strike if necessary, warehouse workers at Supervalu’s Hopkins distribution center ratified a new three-year contract June 4 that will raise wages and improve working conditions.

The contract covers 723 members of Teamsters Local 120, who voted by an 8-1 margin in favor of ratifying the new deal.

In addition to wage increases in each year of the contract, workers secured benefits and improved scheduling procedures during hard-fought negotiations that led the union to call a strike vote May 29. A work stoppage could have impacted dozens of Supervalu retail locations – a prospect the union alerted the company’s shareholders to with a website, corporatetransparency.org.

“This is a good contract,” chief shop steward Mike Irrgang said. “We did what we needed to do as a committee, developed a strategy with the international union and our Local 120, and it worked out great.”

Teamsters Local 120 President Tom Erickson credited the warehouse workers for standing strong for the contract they deserve. “It was all about them showing unity, sticking together and staying focused on getting a good contract,” he said.

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Riled by Allina’s contract demands, workers picket outside Maplewood clinic

August 15, 2013 by
Workers picket outside the Aspen Clinic in Maplewood, protesting the company's most recent contract demands.

Workers picket outside the Aspen Clinic in Maplewood, protesting the company’s most recent contract demands.

Disappointed with the demands Allina Health is making in negotiations on a new contract, workers at Aspen Medical Group picketed outside the Allina-operated provider’s Maplewood clinic over the lunch hour today.

Uniform allowances are among the givebacks Allina management is seeking in negotiations with Aspen workers.

Uniform allowances are among the givebacks Allina management is seeking in negotiations with Aspen workers.

The workers, members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, accused Allina management of seeking to strip their contract of every meaningful benefit they have fought for over the last decade – from uniform allowances to guaranteed health insurance.

“I want Allina to know we’re not going to be kicked to the side,” Aspen nurse Bridget Lundquist said. “If they want to be adults and sit down with us to negotiate, we’re ready.”

SEIU members working at nine Aspen Clinics have been in contract negotiations with Allina Health since May. Their previous contract with the employer expired June 30.

Negotiations on that contract were not nearly as contentious as they have been this year. Aspen phlebotomist Amy Root, a member of the union’s bargaining team, believes that’s because the last round of contract talks took place shortly after Aspen folded into Allina’s network.

“Aspen worked with us then, and they still had mostly Aspen management in negotiations,” Root said. “Now the big Allina management is just coming in and cutting everything, forcing (Aspen) to shove this down our throats.”

Among management’s demands, according to SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, is a plan to base health insurance benefits on biometric screening results, which could force participants to pay higher insurance premiums based on genetic factors outside a person’s control. Workers voted on whether they wanted to participate in the program last year – and rejected it by 99 percent.

The picket line outside Aspen Clinic draws more than 50 supporters.

The picket line outside Aspen Clinic draws more than 50 supporters.

The union says Allina also is demanding the right to eliminate life insurance and long-term disability insurance, eliminate overtime pay and eliminate all shift differentials.

The drawn-out negotiations are taking a toll on employee morale, according to Root.

“They want us to give up everything we’ve worked for in the contract,” she said. “There are a lot of long-term employees here. They like it here. Now because of all the things Allina wants to take back, people are getting upset.”

About 350 SEIU members are covered by the contract. They work in nine Aspen clinics as LPNs, radiology technologists, medical assistants, lab technicians, phlebotomists and patient registration receptions.

The two sides will return to the bargaining table Monday.

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Locked-out musicians reject SPCO’s contract proposal

October 31, 2012 by

Musicians locked out of their jobs by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra voted unanimously today to reject a contract offer from management, prolonging a work stoppage that began Oct. 21.

Management’s proposed reductions to current musicians’ salaries and benefits are unacceptable, union members said. They warned even bigger proposed cuts to future musicians’ compensation would undermine the orchestra’s quality and artistry.

Lynn Erickson, SPCO member and spokesperson for the musicians’ Negotiating Committee, said the SPCO would be “unable to identify any qualified artistic consultant who would support the proposed reductions.”

Kyu-Young Kim, an SPCO violinist and member of the musicians’ Negotiating Committee, called the contract proposal an attempt by management to divide current and future orchestra members.

“Management again fails to realize that an orchestra functions as a team, and that none of us in the SPCO have any interest in selling our present or future colleagues down the river,” Kim said.

Kim pointed to a letter made public Oct. 25 in which SPCO management said it planned to reduce the pay of highly paid “principal players” significantly less than those who receive the base pay.

SPCO management has said it is looking to cut $1.5 million from its annual budget in contract negotiations. Musicians have presented management with a counter-proposal that, they say, would save the SPCO more than $700,000 over the course of three years – while continuing to live up to the orchestra’s high artistic standards.

“Our goal is to preserve the artistic excellence of the SPCO in a fiscally responsible way, for our supporters and for this community,” Erickson said. “We want to resume negotiations as soon as possible and hope that a mutually agreeable solution can be quickly achieved.”

The proposal rejected today also would give management the ability to terminate musicians at any time with no recourse, the musicians said.

Click here for more information on the Musicians of the SPCO and their lockout.

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With contract set to expire Sunday, SPCO musicians ask supporters to take action

September 28, 2012 by

Musicians of the SPCO give a free concert as part of their commitment to the long-term financial stability of the orchestra.

With their contract set to expire Sunday, the Musicians of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra are encouraging supporters to show their appreciation for the quality and artistry union members bring to the SPCO by attending one of two concerts this weekend – and by calling SPCO management.

The SPCO will give performances of “American Romantics and Maria Schneider” at 8 p.m. tonight at Wayzata Community Church, 125 E. Wayzata Blvd., and at 8 p.m. tomorrow at St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, 900 Summit Ave., St. Paul.

The musicians, members of Twin Cities Musicians Union Local 30-73, are also encouraging fans to contact SPCO management with an appeal to reconsider a counterproposal the union offered during contract talks Sept. 25.

Rejected by management a day later, the counteroffer would have cut musicians’ salaries by 10.5 percent across the board over the next two years and by 4 percent in the third year – in exchange for “shared sacrifice” from SPCO management.

According to the union, it would save the SPCO more than $700,000 over the course of the three-year pact.

Management has said it is seeking $1.5 million in cost savings from the musicians’ contract – a figure musicians say is impossible to reach without compromising the SPCO’s artistic quality.

“It is disheartening that management isn’t interested in preserving this historic ensemble,” said Carole Smith, a bassoonist and chair of the union’s Negotiations Committee. “We need the public now more than ever to contact management and ask them to reconsider – time is running out.”

The counterproposal includes other concessions designed to help the SPCO raise revenue, including free musician performances eight times each year and performances at small gatherings of SPCO donors.

Musicians say the SPCO has the money in hand to maintain operations without drastic cuts. The union’s counteroffer, Smith said, would provide management with the savings it needs in the short run in order “to finally put together an effective endowment drive.”

For more on the negotiations, go to the Musicians of the SPCO website.

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Sun Country pilots protest low wages, pace of negotiations

September 19, 2012 by

Sun Country pilots march in line during informational picketing outside Terminal 2 at MSP Airport.

Sun Country pilots recognize the importance of staying on schedule. They want management to bring that same sense of urgency to negotiations on a new contract with their union, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).

Pilots picketed today outside Terminal 2 at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport, raising awareness about the slow pace of negotiations with Sun Country – and signaling their frustration to the company about being among the nation’s lowest-paid pilots of Boeing 737 aircraft.

“Compensation is a major issue for us,” said Jake Yockers, a spokesperson for Sun Country’s ALPA bargaining unit.

The pilots have not seen their wage rates increase since 2005, when they agreed to a five-year contract that provided Sun Country, which entered bankruptcy in 2008, with the stability the company said it needed.

The 2005 contract remains in place today, as negotiations on a new contract, which began before the last one became amendable in March 2010, have been slow going.

Pilots say the airline is making money now, and they are looking to bring their compensation back in line with industry standards. Their wages, Yockers said, are roughly half of those earned by pilots at Southwest Airlines, the highest-paid 737 pilots in the country.

“We’ve always helped the company out,” said Yockers, a 22-year veteran pilot at Sun Country. “We love what we do. We love our company. We’re members of the community.

“We’ve had our tough times here, and pilots have always been there for the company. We’re not looking for top-tier pay. We just want a fair wage for what we do.”

ALPA represents more than 160 Sun Country pilots.

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Metro Transit workers say contract talks are running behind schedule

September 13, 2012 by

Members of ATU Local 1005 pack the gallery at last night’s Met Council meeting.

Fed up with Metro Transit’s casual approach to negotiating a new contract, members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005 shared their frustration yesterday with Metro Transit’s governing body, the Met Council.

Carrying homemade signs and wearing their Metro Transit uniforms, about 30 members of ATU Local 1005 packed the gallery during the Met Council’s meeting downtown St. Paul. Their message to council members was clear: Get Metro Transit to bargain in good faith.

The Twin Cities’ regional public transportation service, Metro Transit is a division of the Met Council, a 17-member board appointed by the governor. Metro Transit employs about 2,200 members of ATU Local 1005.

The previous contract between Local 1005 and Metro Transit expired July 31. Negotiations on a new agreement began in May, but the two sides have made little progress, particularly when it comes to major issues like wages, health care benefits and work rules.

Local 1005 President Michelle Sommers accused Metro Transit management of dragging its feet.

“We haven’t made any progress to speak of on a new contract,” she said. “They have not even given us health care numbers, let alone a wage package yet.”

ATU Local 1005 members agreed to a two-year wage freeze during negotiations on their last contract – a bone of contention after management jobs swelled.

Unfortunately, that’s business as usual for Metro Transit. Two years ago the agency dragged out its last round of negotiations with Local 1005, finally settling nine months after the previous contract had expired.

The two sides have a history of contentious labor relations. Local 1005 members staged a six-week strike in 2004, nine years after an 18-day strike at Metro Transit.

Union members agreed to a two-year wage freeze in their last contract, but have been angered by Metro Transit’s decision to hire more people for management positions since then.

Sommers said Metro Transit administrators foster a culture of disrespect among management for front-line workers – something union members hope to address in negotiations on a new contract.

“It’s about day-to-day equality and respect,” she said. “They are very, very disrespectful to employees here. Their approach is to manage by fear, and that’s a major focus of ours in getting a contract done.”

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