Bakery Workers are taking their contract fight to UNFI Cub Foods’ customers

March 17, 2022 by

Flyering outside the Har Mar Cub Foods (L to R): BCTGM Local 22 Secretary-Treasurer James Rutten, St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson, Local 22 President Wally Borgan and retired Local 22 President Bruce Peglow.

If you’d love to shop a Cub that isn’t trying to strip its bakers of their union health and pension benefits, then Bakery Workers Local 22 has a list of stores for you.

The Twin Cities-based has distributed flyers outside dozens of Cub Foods stores owned by United Natural Foods Incorporated (UNFI) in the Twin Cities area over the last two weeks. Local 22 represents 240 bakery workers at 44 UNFI-owned Cub Foods stores.

“We’re not calling for a boycott, but some people we talk to don’t like the news we’re giving them,” Local 22 President Wally Borgan said outside the Har Mar Cub Foods in Roseville yesterday. “So we made a list to make it easy for them to find an alternative shopping site.”

The news bakery workers are giving Cub customers is that UNFI has been demanding, since contract negotiations began last fall, that Local 22 members give up their longstanding, hard-fought health care and pension benefits.

“We’re not asking for treasure chests of gold, we just want a fair contract and fair pay increases,” Borgan said.

The union-sponsored health care plan currently in Local 22’s contract covers 100% of expenses after the deductible, and Borgan said out-of-pocket costs are capped at $1,200 per year for workers who utilize a health savings account. UNFI wants bakers to switch to its corporate plan, which caps costs at $12,000 per year and requires workers to cover 20% of premiums, Borgan said.

The union’s pension fund, meanwhile, is fully funded, and Borgan said other Local 22 employers have offered to increase their contributions to the pension in recent negotiations, looking to retain and attract workers during a labor shortage.

Thirty-five members of Local 22 left UNFI Cub stores between October and December 2021, as UNFI’s attempt to strip members of their accrued vacation time set an ominous tone before bargaining even began.

Borgan said vacation hours have been restored for most workers in bargaining, but the early attack prompted Local 22 to ask its international union — the Bakery, Confectionary, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) — to take the lead in bargaining with UNFI.

“We don’t trust this employer,” Borgan said. “We used to be able to, but it was a different environment back then.”

This is the first round of contract negotiations since UNFI acquired Supervalu in 2018. Not all Cub Foods stores are owned by UNFI, which is why Local 22 is circulating a list of stores that are “not trying to negatively impact workers’ livelihoods,” according to the flyer.

The two sides are scheduled to return to the bargaining table in April.

Local 22 is asking supporters to sign a petition calling on UNFI to negotiate a fair contract with its Cub Foods workers.

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With Lowertown development, union pension fund invests in Building Trades workers

September 16, 2016 by
Workers at 333 on the Park, a new housing development in Lowertown St. Paul, enjoy a lunch catered by the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust.

Workers at 333 on the Park, a new housing development in Lowertown St. Paul, enjoy a lunch catered by the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust.

The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust treated the men and women working to redevelop a property in St. Paul’s Lowertown district to lunch Aug. 31, highlighting the trust’s unique approach to investing union pension funds in union-built construction projects.

The development, 333 on the Park, is transforming an eight-story office building, originally constructed in 1913, into an apartment building with 134 market-rate units. HIT, which pools together union pension funds, has invested $27.7 million in the $42 million project.

Upon completion, 333 on the Park will have generated an estimated 190 jobs for members of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades.

About 120 people attended the appreciation lunch last month, including construction workers, HIT staff and representatives of unions, general contractor Frana Companies and management company Timberland Partners.

“The Housing Investment Trust is pleased to partner with the men and women of the St. Paul building trades to rehabilitate 333 on the Park by investing their pension capital in their community,” HIT Chief Operating Officer Ted Chandler told attendees.

Situated adjacent to Mears Park and two blocks from the Mississippi River, 333 on the Park will offer residents easy access to recreation, transit, shopping and employment options. It’s connected to the Saint Paul skyway system, and the Metro Transit’s Green Line runs right past the property.

Don Mullin, executive secretary of the St. Paul Building Trades, said the development would both create jobs and increase housing options in the area.

web-333park-eatinbg“This is a good example of investing union pension dollars to create construction jobs with health care and retirement benefits, and at the same time benefiting the community at large,” Mullin said. “It’s a win-win scenario for St. Paul residents, the HIT, and the St. Paul Building Trades.”

“It’s good to come to a job with quality people and work, giving the company a high-quality product,” Jerry Grobe, a member of Cement Masons Local 633 who’s working on the HIT project, said.

The development of 333 on the Park brings the HIT’s total investment in St. Paul to $139 million on 10 projects since 1991. The trust has invested a total of $564 million in 42 projects in the Twin Cities over that time, building or preserving 6,500 housing units and creating an estimated 5,075 union construction jobs, as well as approximately 6,775 jobs across other industries.

“We look forward to working with HIT on its next project,” IBEW Local 110 Business Manager Jamie McNamara said.

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Nurses approve contracts with five Twin Cities hospital systems

January 20, 2016 by

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Nurses from five Twin Cities hospital systems voted yesterday to ratify union contracts that will protect their pension and health benefits and provide 2 percent raises in each of the next three years.

The new contracts won’t go into effect for more than four months. Negotiations between the Minnesota Nurses Association and the hospitals – Children’s, Fairview, HealthEast, North Memorial and Methodist – proceeded quickly after the two sides agreed to wages-only bargaining.

The process appeared similarly routine for nurses filing in and out of the northeast Minneapolis hotel where the MNA staged balloting. But for one Fairview Southdale nurse, casting her ballot was a selfie-worthy experience.

“I took tons of pictures and sent them to my mom,” Emma Sonney said after participating in her first union-contract vote. “I’d never been a union member before I took this job two months ago. So it’s pretty exciting.”

Fairview Southdale nurse Emma Sonney, who moved to Minnesota from Wisconsin last year, casts a ballot in a contract vote for the first time in her life.

Fairview Southdale nurse Emma Sonney, who moved to Minnesota from Wisconsin last year, casts a ballot in a contract vote for the first time in her life.

A fifth-generation nurse born and raised in Wisconsin, Sonney relocated to Minnesota last year after reading an article that ranked the state’s working conditions for nurses second in the U.S.

The move paid off when Sonney landed a job in Southdale’s perianesthesia unit. She was surprised to find nursing scrubs and a locker provided, as well as supervisors who insisted she take breaks and eight-hour shifts that ended on schedule.

Already, her wages are higher than her father’s, even though he’s been working as a registered nurse since finishing his military service.

For Sonney, the choice between working in a strong union state like Minnesota or a Right to Work state like Wisconsin is an easy one.

“There’s no advocacy in Wisconsin anymore, whether you’re a nurse or someone else,” she said. “When I get to work, I want to know I’m going to be at least somewhat protected. That’s what a union contract provides.”

Strong union contracts protect patients too, MNA President Mary Turner said, by empowering nurses to speak up when they see conditions that undermine patient care, like unsafe staffing levels.

Safe staffing was the biggest sticking point in negotiations between nurses and Twin Cities hospitals in 2010, when MNA members briefly went on strike for safe patient care. Nurses eventually won contract language establishing site-based, labor-management committees focused on the issue.

“We really thought our hospitals were going to step up and work with us on staffing,” Turner said. “We’ve been trying to move things forward in our collaborative committees, but things seem to be only getting worse.”

Safe patient care remains the top priority, Turner said, but nurses are using their collective voice to advocate for safe staffing levels at the Capitol rather than at the negotiating table. Last year, nurses turned in more than 2,000 “Concern for Safe Staffing” forms to state regulators during the union’s annual lobbying day.

Meanwhile, the shift in focus has freed MNA negotiators to focus on protecting and building on the benefits and working conditions that make Minnesota a destination for job-seeking nurses like Sonney.

“Everything in our contract, nurses before us have worked extremely hard to get,” Turner said. “We don’t take that lightly.”

The newly approved contracts cover about 7,000 nurses in the Twin Cities. MNA also represents about 5,000 nurses who work in facilities owned by Allina Health, which opted out of metro-wide talks.

Negotiations between nurses and Allina management will begin at a later date, according to the union.

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Hastings nurses plan vigil as talks with Allina stall

December 23, 2013 by

mna-logo3-300x300Nurses at Regina Medical Center in Hastings will hold a candlelight vigil tonight, keeping hope alive for a new contract with the hospital that retains the level of nursing care the Hastings community expects.

The vigil will take place at 4:30 p.m. in the parking lot at the intersection of Highways 55 and 61. Nurses also will collect contributions of money, non-perishable food or clothing for Hastings Family Service at the event.

The current contract between Regina nurses, who are members of the Minnesota Nurses Association, and the hospital will expire Dec. 31.

This is the first contract Regina nurses have attempted to bargain since Allina Health purchased Regina earlier this year, and nurses have bristled at disparities between the contract Allina is offering them and contracts at other Allina facilities in the Twin Cities Metro Area.

“I think they want to get us on the cheap,” said Jane Traynor, a Regina nurse and chair of the MNA bargaining team. “It’s an inferior offer, and we’re not second-rate nurses at Regina.”

MNA and hospital systems, including Allina, operate a joint pension plan for nurses in the seven-county Metro Area, which includes Hastings. MNA members at Allina facilities in the Metro Area also have the option of enrolling in the union’s health-insurance plan, rather than accepting Allina’s corporate plan.

Those are benefits Allina extended to nurses after taking over hospitals in Buffalo, Cambridge and River Falls, Wis., Traynor said. But Allina has so far refused to extend the same benefits to Regina nurses during ongoing contract negotiations.

Traynor, who has worked at Regina for 21 years, said she worries that if Regina nurses accept a second-rate contract, it will create a second-rate level of care for residents of the Hastings area.

“The pension and health insurance nurses have in the Metro is an excellent recruitment and retention tool to keep qualified nurses,” she said. “Because we’re so close to the Metro in Hastings, the qualified people we have, they won’t stay, and Allina won’t be able to recruit qualified people to take care of our patients here in the community.”

For that reason, Traynor said she expects to see plenty of community members at tonight’s vigil.

“Allina has made commitments to the community of Hastings,” she said. “They’ve talked about expanding services, providing more specialists, a new clinic and rebuilding our emergency department.

“If they consider the Regina nurses second rate and inferior, I question their commitment to following through on those commitments to the community.”

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Rebuffed by Medtronic, striking Cretex workers take message to marathon course

October 3, 2013 by

1382194_584318081615458_361069045_nOne of Cretex’s key business partners won’t meet with workers on strike at the company’s Shakopee plant. So on Sunday those workers will take their message to Medtronic’s highest-profile event of the year: the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon.

Thousands of marathon runners and spectators will find a billboard placed prominently along the route at Hennepin and 7th Street downtown Minneapolis, calling out the title sponsor for failing to listen to Minnesota workers.

More than 40 members of Laborers Local 563 have been in a marathon struggle of their own for the last 15 weeks. They went on strike June 19 after Cretex refused to budge from its demand they give up retirement benefits many workers had been self-funding for years.

[Click here to show your support for Local 563 workers on strike at Cretex.]

How does Medtronic fit into the dispute? The Minneapolis-based company buys a wide range of medical products manufactured by Cretex. If Medtronic talks, Local 563 Business Manager Tim Mackey said, Cretex will listen.

That’s why workers, rebuffed in previous attempts to meet with Medtronic executives about how they could help resolve the dispute, will use Sunday’s marathon to try again.

“An event like this gives us the chance to make another appeal to Medtronic and get them at the very least sit down with us and hear our side of the story,” Mackey said in a press release earlier this week.

Leaders across the state are echoing Mackey’s request. In a letter to Medtronic, Shar Knutson, president of the 300,000-member Minnesota AFL-CIO, said the company’s response shows “profound disrespect for those employees, for organized labor and for working people.”

Striking workers met with Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton about the dispute – and its possible effect on the state’s construction projects – last week.

The billboard features a parody of Cavity Sam, the character from the classic board game “Operation,” telling Medtronic it’s time to step in and help bring the strike to a conclusion.

“We support all the runners who are participating in the 32nd Annual Twin Cities Marathon, and we hope they will support our members whose endurance has been tested as they fight for their retirement security,” Mackey said.

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In address to union retirees, Dayton weighs in on Cretex strike, more

September 25, 2013 by
Gov. Mark Dayton (right) greets Minnesota AFL-CIO President Emeritus Bernard Brommer at the Minnesota State Retiree Council convention.

Gov. Mark Dayton (right) greets Minnesota AFL-CIO President Emeritus Bernard Brommer at the Minnesota State Retiree Council convention.

Addressing a roomful of union retirees in Maplewood today, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton recounted his morning meeting with members of Laborers Local 563 who are on strike, fighting to ensure a secure retirement of their own.

Dayton’s remarks to the Minnesota State Retiree Council’s 17th convention came on the heels of a dialogue with workers who have been walking the picket line outside the Cretex concrete plant in Shakopee since June 19. About 40 workers went on strike after the company refused to budge from its demand they give up the defined-benefit pensions many had been self-funding for decades.

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson introduces Gov. Dayton at the retirees' convention.

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson introduces Gov. Dayton at the retirees’ convention.

One Cretex worker, the governor recalled, had “tears streaming down her face” as she explained what losing her pension after 20 years of service to the company would mean for her family’s quality of life. Dayton did not identify Cretex by name, but said it was disheartening to see any company “take advantage of the fact there really isn’t a recourse for working men and women” when management decides to cut workers’ benefits.

The governor also said he planned to reach out to company executives for their side of the story, and that he hopes to see workers return to their jobs soon.

Tim Mackey, Local 563’s business manager, confirmed the meeting with Dayton, saying he was hopeful it would be a step toward resolution of the 3-month labor dispute.

“Thanks to this meeting with the governor, we can hopefully make further progress and get back to work,” he said.

Leaders from Operating Engineers Local 49 also attended the meeting with Dayton. Cretex employs 49ers at several of its facilities, and their current contract with the company is set to expire Dec. 31. That means 49ers are “on deck,” Business Manager Glen Johnson said.

“We don’t intend on allowing Cretex to take our members’ pensions away,” Johnson added. “We’re ready to fight for our members’ retirement too.”

The rest of Dayton’s remarks to retirees focused on politics. Highlights included:

• Jobs numbers. Dayton pointed to a report showing Minnesota had seen the fifth-most economic growth of any state last year. He also trumpeted the most recent state jobs report, which shows the state has regained all the jobs it lost during the Great Recession. About 122,000 Minnesotans who were unemployed when he took office, Dayton said, have jobs today.

“We’ve got 152,000 Minnesotans unemployed,” Dayton acknowledged. “We’ve got a lot more to do, but we’re making progress.”

• Minimum wage. A labor-backed coalition of groups announced plans during the State Fair to push a bill that would raise the state’s minimum hourly wage to $9.50 by 2015. Dayton said he supports such a bill, pointing out that the state’s current minimum wage of $6.15 per hour is the lowest among Upper Midwest states.

“What does that say about Minnesota and our commitment to working men and women?” Dayton said. “I believe we want work to pay.”

• Union organizing. Dayton said he was disappointed with a federal appeals court’s ruling that temporarily blocks a law passed last spring allowing child-care providers who receive state subsidies to vote on forming a union.

The legal challenge was bankrolled by the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which represents providers who oppose the union. Dayton decried the corporate-backed legal fund as an “extreme right-wing element in this state and this country” that was fighting to keep workers from deciding for themselves whether to form a union.

Rather than fighting to strip them of their rights, Dayton added, “we should be embracing” the people who want to improve wages, benefits, working conditions and training opportunities for workers in critical fields like home health care and child care.

• Health insurance exchange. A new federal report shows MNsure, the new health insurance exchange created as part of the federal health care overhaul, will offer the lowest rates of any state in the nation. “That’s something to be incredibly proud of,” Dayton said.

Dayton also thanked AFL-CIO retirees – he called them “the voice of middle-class Americans who have worked hard all their lives and played by the rules” – for their work last fall to win pro-worker majorities in the Legislature. “We really moved Minnesota ahead,” he said.

Union retirees open their 17th convention with a singing of "America the Beautiful" at the Sheet Metal Workers Hall in Maplewood.

Union retirees open their 17th convention with a singing of “America the Beautiful” at the Sheet Metal Workers Hall in Maplewood.

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UPDATED: Drivers end strike at Minneapolis metal manufacturer

September 19, 2013 by
Teamsters walk the picket line outside Metal-Matic in Minneapolis.

Teamsters walk the picket line outside Metal-Matic in Minneapolis. (submitted photo)

After voting unanimously to reject management’s final contract offer, seven members of Teamsters Local 120 who work at Minneapolis-based Metal-Matic, Inc. went on strike Tuesday morning. They remained on the picket line this afternoon.

The workers, drivers for the steel-tubing manufacturer, rejected what Local 120 representative Bill Wedebrand called “extreme concessions” regarding their pension benefits. Not only does Metal-Matic want to get out of the workers’ pension plan, it wants workers to foot the bill – at a cost of $10,000 to $12,000 per employee, Wedebrand said.

“They have to cover the unfunded liability to get out of the pension, and they want to do it on the backs of the employees,” Wedebrand said. “There was a 100 percent vote to reject that proposal. People wanted something in return.”

What Metal-Matic offered, according to the union, was a small 401(k) match and annual raises of less than 2 percent.

The two sides have not met since the strike began. Negotiations opened last spring, and members of Local 120 had been working under the terms of a temporary extension to their previous contract.

Metal-Matic has two facilities in Minneapolis, but Local 120 has focused on establishing a 24-hour picket line at the company’s headquarters, 629 2nd St. SE.

Maintaining a round-the-clock presence is a challenge for a bargaining unit of seven employees. To volunteer your support for striking Metal-Matic workers, drop by the picket line or call Wedebrand at 651-343-1719.

“Fortunately, a lot of our members from other bargaining units have stepped up to the plate, and they’re helping picket,” Wedebrand said. “We’ll take any help we can get.”

UPDATE 9/20/13 – Teamsters Local 120 announced on its Facebook page this afternoon that the Metal-Matic strike ended earlier in the day.

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Rally gives striking Cretex workers a boost

August 7, 2013 by
Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk stands with striking members of Laborers Local 563 and their families at the rally outside Cretex's concrete plant in Shakopee.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk stands with striking members of Laborers Local 563 and their families at the rally outside Cretex’s concrete plant in Shakopee.

The picket line outside Cretex’s concrete plant in Shakopee swelled with supporters yesterday, as more than 200 people rallied behind 38 striking members of Laborers Local 536 who are fighting for their retirement security.

The crowd included Laborers International Union President Terry O’Sullivan, state and local labor leaders and the highest-ranking members of the Minnesota Legislature, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk and Speaker of the House Paul Thissen.

Cretex workers have been on strike since June 19, fighting the company’s attempt to replace their defined-benefit pensions with a 401(k) plan. Workers say the change would amount to a $4-per-hour cut in their wages – and squander pension contributions many have been making for decades.

“We work hard for our pensions. We fund them. We do the right thing,” Laborers Local 563 Business Manager Tim Mackey said. “We’re not going to let someone take them away. That’s what this fight is about.”

Laborers International Union President Terry O'Sullivan fires up the crowd outside Cretex.

Laborers International Union President Terry O’Sullivan fires up the crowd outside Cretex.

Mackey asked supporters to call Cretex CEO Lynn Schuler at 763-441-2121 and “let him know that Minnesota workers deserve better from a Minnesota-based company.”

O’Sullivan, a fiery speaker, noted Cretex had funded workers’ pensions over the years because Local 563 negotiated it into workers’ collective-bargaining agreement with the company, trading wage increases and other benefits in order to remain in the Laborers’ pension plan.

“Where did that money come from?” O’Sullivan asked of the pension contributions. “It came out of your pocket.”

O’Sullivan praised the strikers for taking on a fight playing out across the country.

“This is ground zero,” he said. “Every time you pick up the paper … somebody is trying to destroy defined-benefit pension plans. Today it’s Minnesota; tomorrow it will be somewhere else.

“I get that. You get that. And that’s why losing is not an option. That’s why the next time we’re on that side of the fence, we’ll have a defined-benefit pension plan, brothers and sisters.”

House Speaker Paul Thissen says Cretex's actions show the company has forgotten the important role its workers played in making the company successful.

House Speaker Paul Thissen says Cretex has forgotten the important role its workers played in making the company successful.

Legislative leaders, meanwhile, called on Cretex to do right by the employees who have helped make the Elk River-based company profitable.

“Let’s hash this out,” Bakk said. “Let’s get back to the bargaining table so we can end this.”

U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken sent members of their staff to the rally with letters of support, as did Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District.

“You need to know that after years of hard work you can count on a secure retirement,” Ellison’s letter said. “I will continue to stand with Local 536 as you push for a secure retirement.”

Although retirement benefits are the sticking point in negotiations between the union and Cretex, Mackey said Local 563 has reached out to management about civil rights charges filed with Equal Employment Opportunities Commission last week by 15 Cretex workers, alleging the company mistreated Latino employees.

“That call has yet to be acknowledged by (Cretex),” Mackey said. “That is a big part of this strike. We will not tolerate that treatment of workers – not in this day and age.”

Follow the striking workers on Facebook for updates on negotiations and ways you can show your support.

The rally drew more than 200 people to the picket line outside Cretex's Shakopee plant.

The rally drew more than 200 people to the picket line outside Cretex’s Shakopee plant.

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Striking Cretex workers appeal to Shakopee City Council for support

July 17, 2013 by
Backed by more than 50 supporters, Laborers Local 563 representative Tim Mackey asks Shakopee council members to help resolve the strike at Cretex's concrete manufacturing plant.

Backed by more than 50 supporters, Laborers Local 563 representative Tim Mackey asks Shakopee council members for their help resolving the strike at Cretex’s concrete manufacturing plant.

Striking union members and their supporters filled the Shakopee City Council chambers last night in an appeal to local leaders for their help resolving the 29-day work stoppage at Cretex Companies’ concrete plant inside the city limits.

“What’s going on right now is not good for Shakopee,” Tim Mackey, business manager of Laborers Local 563, told the council. “We’re looking for you, as leaders of the community, to reach out, to break the ice and try to help.”

Local 563 represents 38 Cretex workers who went on strike June 19 after working more than five months without a new contract. Negotiations broke down after management insisted on a contract that would allow Cretex to stop contributing to workers’ pension plans.

Workers say the company’s proposal would reduce their compensation by 12 to 17 percent at a time when demand for Cretex’s products – manhole covers, sewer pipes and other construction materials – is on the rise. More, the proposal would cut workers’ retirement packages, which workers have been funding in tandem with the company for years, by as much as 80 percent.

Shakopee resident Steve Bistrum, a Cretex employee for the last 21 years, told City Council members the strike is taking a toll on the local economy.

“We feel we contribute quite a bit to the City of Shakopee, a lot of money to the local area and local businesses,” Bistrum said. “We’d still like to keep that going. We’d like to stay in this area. It’s as simple as that.”

Cretex workers man the picket line outside the company's Shakopee facility.

Cretex workers man the picket line outside the company’s Shakopee facility.

Acknowledging that council members “don’t have a magic wand,” Mackey distributed draft statements of support he hoped they would consider signing. The statements encourage Cretex “to work toward a solution that ensures the company’s viability” while preserving workers’ “hard-earned retirement benefits.”

Shakopee Mayor Brad Tabke said the Council would not take immediate action on the union members’ request, but he thanked Bistrum and other workers for bringing the strike to council members’ attention.

“I’m very glad you came to show us what’s going on, what’s happening,” Tabke said. “We’ll look at it, and I’m sure we’ll be in touch.”

Members of Local 563 will remain on the picket line, located at 7070 Cretex Avenue South in Shakopee, until the company is willing to negotiate respectfully, Mackey said in a statement after the meeting.

“We aren’t going anywhere. Our workers have put in a lot of hours and have made sacrifices to ensure they can retire and live with a secure future,” said Mackey. “The more we can educate city leaders and the general public, the more pressure we can put on Cretex and hopefully make them see that taking away worker-funded pensions is unethical and unfair.”

Find ways you can show your support for striking Cretex workers by following the Facebook page “Local 563 Workers on Strike.”

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July 2013 Poll

June 27, 2013 by
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