‘On the ropes,’ 3M’s Cottage Grove workers say they’re ready to strike

September 21, 2016 by
Steelworkers who staff 3M's Cottage Grove plant picket outside corporate headquarters in Maplewood.

Steelworkers who staff 3M’s Cottage Grove plant picket outside corporate headquarters in Maplewood.

 

UPDATE 9/29/16 – United Steelworkers Local 11-00418 announced on its Facebook page that its members will vote on a contract proposal from the company, reached during bargaining Monday.

The local is withholding details of the proposal until the ratification vote Oct. 3, but acknowledged that it made some concessions to the company:

“You all know the company we work for. You know that they didn’t spend all day with us apologizing for the last 3 months. You know that they didn’t see the error in their ways, and offer us a contract with no takeaways.”

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Frustrated by management’s cuts-only approach to contract talks, Steelworkers employed at 3M’s chemicals plant in Cottage Grove voted overwhelmingly Sept. 1 to authorize their bargaining team to call a strike if necessary.

But members of United Steelworkers Local 11-00418 aren’t waiting for a strike to call out 3M publicly.

For the second time this month, workers staged informational picketing outside 3M’s corporate campus in Maplewood today. They have picketed the Cottage Grove plant several times in recent weeks, and union leaders say picketing will continue until workers get the contract they deserve.

“We’re serious,” Local 11-00418 President Mike Schanks said. “We’re not going to give up without a fight.”

The union represents about 380 workers at 3M’s facility, the largest private employer in Cottage Grove. Their previous contract with the company has expired, but in bargaining Friday the two sides agreed to extend the agreement, in seven-day increments, as long as negotiations continue.

Common ground has been hard to come by in talks so far, and workers say it’s because 3M insists on rolling back several key provisions of their previous contract, including premium pay for weekend work and seniority-based layoffs during slowdowns at the plant.

Additionally, the company wants to reduce its contribution to workers’ 401(k) retirement plans – and the power to force workers to take extra shifts without paying overtime wages, even on scheduled days off.

“Right now if you come in on a day off, it’s automatically time and a half,” Steelworkers staff representative Brian Ecker said. “We have concerns about the safety aspect of working 12-hour shifts and then being forced to work on your day off.”

web-3m-usw2Schanks added: “Half of the facility is a chemical factory. We’re concerned about long hours, injuries and spills.”

So far, the company has shown little interest in meeting the union halfway, refusing to take up several proposals workers thought would be easy asks of the company.

“We actually have a proposal on the table about honorably discharged veterans being granted a day off per year – not even with pay, using their vacation – and they won’t even give us that,” Ecker said. “That’s kind of how this has gone. We’ve been on the ropes pretty hard.”

Schanks laughed at the notion 3M needs concessions out of its Cottage Grove workers to stay profitable.

“They’ve got record profits,” he said. But after so many other manufacturers have picked up and left the area for cheaper labor markets abroad, 3M is “kind of using fear as a tactic.”

“They’re being very greedy this time around,” Schanks said. “They want to take the whole pie and leave us a few crumbs.”

Negotiations are scheduled to resume Saturday and, if necessary, next Monday. Schanks said he doesn’t foresee a strike “as long as progress is being made” at the bargaining table.

To find out when and where union members are picketing the company – and join them on the line – monitor Local 11-00418’s Facebook page.

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Janitors set new strike deadline, accuse cleaning contractor of wage theft

May 20, 2015 by
CTUL member Maricela Flores speaks at a press conference announcing a class-action lawsuit seeking unpaid wages for workers who cleaned Macy's and Herberger's stores in the Twin Cities.

CTUL member Maricela Flores speaks at a press conference to announce a class-action lawsuit seeking unpaid wages for workers who cleaned Macy’s and Herberger’s stores in the Twin Cities.

Janitors who clean big-box and department stores in the Twin Cities announced two key developments in their campaign for better wages and working conditions today, setting a new strike deadline and filing a class-action lawsuit to recoup wages allegedly lost to wage theft.

Members of with the Twin Cities worker center CTUL took legal action in Hennepin County against cleaning contractor Capital Building Services Group, alleging janitors who clean Macy’s and Herberger’s stores were paid less than minimum wage and did not receive overtime pay, among other offenses.

Eight current or former Capital employees joined the class action, which could grow to include other workers as the lawsuit advances. Several plaintiffs gathered for a press conference to announce the suit outside Macy’s store on Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis.

Leyla Yusuf, a former Capital employee, said the company did not provide paycheck stubs with information on wages, hours and overtime to its employees. When she suspected she was not being paid in full, she demanded to see a pay stub.

“The reason I got fired is because I asked for my check stub,” Yusuf said through a translator. “I spoke up, and I’ll never be silenced. We are here to get it right.”

Strike deadline set

The lawsuit comes roughly seven months after CTUL reached a historic agreement with Target Corporation on a policy to ensure safe conditions, fair wages and basic protections for all workers inside Target’s Twin Cities stores – even those who work for other companies, like subcontractors.

Target’s influence in the local retail market sparked hope that the policy would have a ripple effect throughout the industry. Instead, workers say the two contractors that service area Target stores, Carlson Building Maintenance and Prestige Maintenance USA, are not abiding by the policy – and it’s holding back progress for all cleaning workers as a result.

Maricela Flores and Jose Cabrera, CTUL members who work for Carlson, reported being required to work seven days per week – a violation of Target’s Responsible Contractor Policy.

“I don’t have enough time to rest,” Cabrera said. “I don’t have time to spend with my family. Although Target created the new policy, we still have not seen necessary changes.”

The subcontractors also have failed to respect workers’ union rights, CTUL organizer Merle Payne said. “We’ve had a number of meetings where we’ve tried” to establish a pathway to organizing, Payne said. “But the companies aren’t really meeting in good faith.”

Now, CTUL members are giving Carlson, Prestige and six other contractors, including Capital, until June 9 to get serious about those meetings, or else they will call a strike. Fifteen retail chains, including Macy’s, Herberger’s, Target, Kohl’s and Sears, could be affected by the work stoppage.

Short-term, high-visibility strikes are gaining popularity among low-wage workers in the Twin Cities as a strategy for putting pressure on employers and attracting more support. If janitors walk off the job June 9, it would mark their fifth strike in the Twin Cities over the last two years.

“It’s too long that we’ve been waiting, too long that our petitions have gone without an answer,” Luciano Balbuena, a Kimco Services employee who cleans Home Depot stores, said through a translator. “If we don’t get a response, we’re going on strike June 9.”

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