Minnesota union members led the fight to secure bonus pay for 1 million frontline workers

October 4, 2022 by

“It was hard times, but we made it through,” said Keith Farr, a meat cutter at Lunds and Byerlys.

Over 1 million Minnesotans will begin receiving payments of $487.45 from the State of Minnesota this week as a token of public appreciation for their work on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As emails carrying the news began appearing in workers’ inboxes yesterday, union members who led the push for bonus pay gathered at the Capitol in St. Paul to celebrate the victory with the lawmakers who carried the measure in the House and Senate.

“This is a thank you to those who made safe happen,” said Rachel Hanneman, an intensive care nurse who worked at Bethesda and St. Joseph’s hospitals during the pandemic.

A member of the Minnesota Nurses Association, Hanneman worked in coalition with members of other unions to demand lawmakers compensate all workers who, by showing up to their jobs, helped keep the state’s economy running during the COVID-19 emergency.

Union nurses and other coalition members notably rejected efforts last year, after the Legislature approved a $250 million bonus pool, to pit frontline workers against each other. They refused to accept a proposal that would have excluded thousands of retail, public service, hospitality and other workers from recognition payments, and they succeeded in lobbying for a larger allocation, which Gov. Tim Walz signed into law April 29.

“Every effort was made to include anyone who had no choice but to go to work in order to continue to receive a paycheck,” Hanneman said. “We stood firm that health care workers never carried the weight alone.”

Applications for frontline worker payments exceeded the number anticipated by state officials, which meant payments fell short of the estimate of $750 from last spring.

But for Gene Sparks, an EMT and member of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, the bonus delivers on the outpouring of gratitude he and other frontline workers received at the height of the pandemic, which, he said, “often felt like empty words.”

“So many of us, especially health care workers, faced unimaginable challenges during the first year of COVID,” said Sparks, who worked in the emergency department of St. Francis hospital in Shakopee. “Long shifts, uncertain procedures and the constant threat of infection to ourselves, our patients and our loved ones had many of us worried throughout the day and sleepless at night.”

“It’s better than nothing,” said Keith Farr, a meat cutter at Lunds and Byerlys. The father of three said he and his wife plan to put the money toward their rent payment.

“I’m just happy that we’re finally getting this payment,” he added. “It was hard times, but we made it through.”

Nearly 1.2 million Minnesotans submitted applications for frontline worker payments over the summer. Those who were initially denied payments had 15 days to appeal in August, and the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry processed those appeals last month, with a final eligibility count of 1,025,655 workers.

Eligible applicants will receive an email from the state this week, and payments will go out by direct bank deposit or debit card, depending on which preference the applicant chose upon filing. Nicole Blissenbach, acting commissioner of the Department of Labor and Industry, said the agency will continue processing payments through the fall.

Lawmakers and workers applauded state employees for quickly developing an application and appeals process from scratch.

“It’s hard for me to believe it has only been a little over five months since this bill was signed into law by Gov. Walz,” Blissenbach said.

Two DFLers who authored the legislation, Rep. Cedrick Frazier of New Hope and Sen. Erin Murphy of St. Paul, agreed that it was a good day for workers in Minnesota – one that would not have come without the persistence of union members working in the frontline worker coalition.

“It did not cease to amaze me over the seven months that we listened to your stories the sacrifices that we did not know about that you all made,” Frazier said.

Added Murphy: “It is proof that when we lead with purpose and we persist despite entrenched politics, we can make progress for the people of Minnesota.”

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Frontline workers’ focus turns to Senate after House passes bonus pay

February 25, 2022 by

As lawmakers debate bonus pay on the House floor, frontline workers rally outside the chamber.

The Minnesota House passed union-backed legislation yesterday that would deliver bonuses of up to $1,500 to the frontline, essential workers who have kept the state and its economy running during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unions representing nurses, food-production workers, janitors, public employees and other workers called on Republicans who control the Senate to follow House members’ lead and take up the $1 billion measure, which would tap into the state’s projected $7.7 billion budget surplus.

“When everyone else was locked down safely in their homes, we were out there doing our job, and we continue to do our job,” Minnesota Nurses Association President Mary Turner, a nurse in the North Memorial intensive care unit, said during a press conference in advance of the House vote. “We deserve a little bit of recognition.”

Turner’s message to members of the Senate: “Do what is right to honor us and the work we did and that we continue to do.”

If the House bill becomes law, an estimated 667,000 Minnesotans would be eligible for payments.

The measure limits eligibility to workers who logged at least 120 hours in frontline positions between March 15, 2020, and June 30, 2021. It also would restrict workers who collected more than 20 weeks’ worth of unemployment benefits from accessing the funds.

But the bill faces an uphill climb in the Senate, as Republicans have sought to carve out a much narrower slice of frontline workers eligible for pandemic bonuses since debate over the issue began last summer.

In July, Minnesota lawmakers agreed to create a $250 million fund to compensate essential workers, but a bipartisan working group failed to reach an agreement on which workers should be included.

Republicans blocked any plan that did not narrowly target health care workers, first responders, long-term-care workers and correctional officers. But Sen. Erin Murphy, a DFLer from St. Paul, called it “unconscionable” to exclude food-processing workers, custodians, child care providers and others on the front lines.

“There are so many people who did their part, and today the Republicans are serving as a roadblock to recognizing their unique contributions at a time when they continue to put themselves in harm’s way,” Murphy said. “It’s time for the Senate Republican majority to get off the dime and to do their work.”

As lawmakers debated the bill on the House floor last night, frontline workers rallied outside the chamber. Members of a coalition of unions and other worker advocacy groups pledged not to be divided as they push for legislation that recognizes the sacrifices of all Minnesotans who showed up to work.

“Other frontline workers supported us inside and outside the hospital,” Turner said, looking back on the early days of the pandemic. “At least I had one N95. They had nothing.”

“I thank you as a Minnesotan for what you’ve done to allow myself and my family to stay safe, but also have the services we need to continue moving forward – and I know that all Minnesotans appreciate you as well,” said Rep. Cedrick Frazier (D-New Hope). “I am imploring our senators on the GOP side to move this bill forward…

“Let’s get together, let’s get it passed and let’s honor all of our essential workers.”

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Frustration builds as lawmakers blow deadline for plan to pay frontline workers

September 22, 2021 by

Elia Starkweather, a janitor and member of SEIU Local 26, was among frontline workers who spoke at an event commemorating the anniversary of a COVID-19 state of emergency in March 2020.

Essential workers are taking aim at Republican members of a legislative work group tasked with delivering $250 million to Minnesota’s essential workers, accusing politicians of holding up the process in an attempt to pit frontline workers against each other.

“We went to work for the last 18 months,” said Rachel Hanneman, a member of the Minnesota Nurses Association who has worked in COVID-19 intensive care units at multiple hospitals. “And now we are asking you to go to work for us.”

Hanneman and other union members spoke during a press conference Sept. 15, nine days after the work group’s deadline for delivering a plan to the Legislature for distributing the $250 million to essential workers, allocated as part of the state budget passed in July.

[Click here to send a message to members of the Frontline Worker Pay Working Group.]

Lawmakers on the working group missed the deadline because they could not agree on an inclusive path forward, with Republican members demanding that the fund be administered in a way that would favor health care workers – and exclude many workers who kept the state running after the outbreak.

That’s not sitting well with some union members, including health care workers like Carmen Brown.

“I am a health care worker, and as a health care worker I am offended that Minnesota Senate Republicans are holding up paying all frontline workers bonuses,” said Brown, who works at Hennepin Healthcare and serves as president of AFSCME Local 977, representing clerical and general workers at the hospital. “To exclude anyone, that’s to say that you’re not part of the team.”

Workers potentially excluded if Republicans get their way include janitors and security officers, child care workers, school staff, meatpackers and retail workers – the same frontline workers celebrated as heroes for facing new, unknown risks after the pandemic hit in March 2020.

Many have been able to work from home during the pandemic. For essential workers, staying home to quarantine, care for family members, wait for test results or recover from illness has meant losing wages or burning through their paid time off.

Lawmakers, in fact, created the $250 million compensation fund as a compromise after failing to reach agreement on legislation that would have provided back pay to essential workers for hours lost during the pandemic.

Elia Starkweather, a janitor in Minneapolis and member of Service Employees (SEIU) Local 26, exhausted her sick days after contracting COVID-19 in January. She said 1,000 members of her union have gotten sick or been forced to stay home with a sick family member. Some, she said, have had to quarantine multiple times. Four Local 26 members have died from COVID-19,

Lawmakers, Starkweather said, “see us as just numbers” and not “as human beings, as people who have family.”

Lawmakers also set up the compensation fund as acknowledgement of the psychological and emotional toll the pandemic continues to take on many workers on the front lines.

Laura Heezen, a behavior analyst with Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, said she and her co-workers, members of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE), were tasked with serving the population most vulnerable to COVID-19, the elderly.

“During the pandemic MAPE members came into (Veterans Homes) to care for veterans who were scared, sick and missing their loved ones,” Heezen said. “Residents had to be quarantined, alone in their rooms, sometimes for months at a time. After a while, we were at a loss for words trying to encourage them in their darkest days and hours.

“This task force is taking too long, and they’ve done nothing to provide actual relief for the workers so desperate for reprieve.”

Several unions and community organizations have signed onto a joint statement to Republican members of the work group, calling both for an equitable distribution plan and for lawmakers to allocate more dollars to expand the fund beyond $250 million.

“We worked to not leave anyone behind during COVID, and now some legislators are holding up Essential Worker pay in order to exclude us?” the statement said.

“Many of us lost pay when we had to quarantine or be vaccinated. Yet when our bills come due, we have to pay them. The bill for this working group is overdue, and it’s time they deliver.”

The statement was signed by AFSCME Council 5, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, the worker center CTUL, Education Minnesota, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, MAPE, MNA, SEIU locals 26 and 284, UNITE HERE Local 17 and United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189, among others.

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