Teamsters take fight to Marathon as refinery dispute enters fifth month

May 25, 2021 by

Mornings are a congested, busy time at the main gate outside Marathon’s St. Paul Park refinery. Semi trucks line up on both sides of the gate, waiting to cross a picket line held by Teamsters who, since January, have been holding out for a contract that protects local jobs and the safety of communities surrounding the refinery.

Local authorities have ruled no more than three members of Local 120 may picket an entrance to the refinery at one time, but dozens of Teamsters show up to the main gate anyway. They take turns on the line, keep each other company and otherwise pass the time.

It’s a slow-moving, but essential part of Local 120’s campaign against Marathon. But it’s not for everyone.

Almost every morning since the work stoppage began, a handful of Teamsters have volunteered for what’s known as “ambulatory picketing.” They pick out a truck exiting the refinery, tail it wherever it goes and picket outside the facility as the truck unloads. When the truck finishes unloading, the picket comes down.

More often than not, those trucks end up at a Speedway.

Picketing outside the refinery annoys Marathon and its vendors, but ambulatory picketing gives refinery workers like Ryan Bierman, whose pickup truck has been on “well over a hundred” picketing runs, an opportunity to educate the public.

“I enjoy just getting out and talking to different people about what’s going on with our strike and what the company wants to do, cutting potentially up to 50 local jobs and putting pretty much the whole plant at risk,” Bierman said. “And with that plant being so tightly-knit into different communities – St. Paul Park, Newport, Cottage Grove – if there is a major fire, an explosion or a chemical release, all these other communities are going to be put at risk too.”

Dick Briguet, Mason Bahl and Alex Kittleson advise Speedway customers in Brooklyn Center that the gas they’re about to purchase crossed a picket line.

Bierman typically livestreams the ambulatory picket on his social media account, where thousands of people have watched as he and other picketers use megaphones to warn approaching vehicles that the Speedway or other station is getting a delivery of “scab gas” from St. Paul Park.

“I’m letting people know that the highly trained employees who are normally in there making the fuel are not in there making the fuel,” refinery worker Dick Briguet said. “They brought in other workers to make it, other people in there testing it, so we can’t personally guarantee that it’s quality fuel.”

Local 120 members cannot legally call for a boycott of stations selling Marathon’s gas, but the union is finding creative and effective ways to pressure Marathon, the nation’s largest independent refining company, to get back to the table and bargain a fair, safe contract.

In advance of the company’s April 28 virtual shareholder meeting, the Teamsters led a successful campaign to convince 70% of voting shareholders to oppose the company’s executive compensation – a pay structure headlined by $6 million in restricted stock for the outgoing chairman and CEO, Gary Heminger. It was the largest margin of defeat in a “say-on-pay” vote at any S&P 500 energy company this year, according to the union.

“Marathon investors are not impressed with the golden parachutes the company provides its executives, the 379:1 CEO-to-median-employee pay ratio, and the risks the company has created by jeopardizing safety at its St. Paul Park refinery by locking out its workers,” Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said. “Placing workers, the community and the environment at undue risk is a clear … failure reflected in the vote.”

Last Friday workers from the St. Paul Park refinery traveled to Ohio, where they rallied for an end to the strike with local Teamsters and lawmakers. Earlier in the week, St. Paul Park workers staged an action in Findlay, Ohio, home of Marathon’s headquarters.

Closer to home, the Marathon dispute has prompted several Minnesota legislators to look into changing state law to ensure an adequately trained workforce in local refineries.

And Local 120 has rolled out a “Burn Zone” campaign to raise awareness of the devastating impact a safety incident at the St. Paul Park refinery could have on surrounding communities. Text “BURN” to 86466 or visit areyouintheburnzone.com to learn more.

Members of Education Minnesota, LIUNA and the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation join Teamsters in raising awareness of the ongoing dispute at Marathon’s St. Paul Park refinery, which supplies most Speedway gas stations in the area.

“Teamsters are punching above their weight in this fight, and it’s inspiring to see,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson said. “So is the solidarity other union members have offered these refinery workers, who are taking a stand for everyone’s safety.”

When people understand what’s going on in St. Paul Park, they typically support the Teamsters’ cause, refinery worker Mason Bahl said. That’s why he likes ambulatory picketing.

“It actually gives you a sense a satisfaction to go to a Minnoco or another independently owned station and talk to the manager, and they agree without you,” Bahl said. “They say, ‘Hey, we get it. We won’t get fuel from your refinery anymore.’”

“We just try to tell people what’s going on, why we’re here and how to help us out,” refinery worker Alex Kittleson added. “And a lot of people seem to understand that it’s about safety for ourselves, our families and our communities.”

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St. Paul educators set March 10 strike deadline

February 26, 2020 by

SPFE members hold informational picketing outside Adams Spanish Immersion.

What would 3,600 St. Paul teachers, educational assistants and licensed professionals on strike look like?

Minnesota’s second-largest school district got a preview this morning, when members of the St. Paul Federation of Educators held informational picketing outside many school facilities.

Later in the day, educators delivered notice to the district that unless they make progress in upcoming negotiations, the picket lines will be back March 10 – this time for the first teachers strike here since 1946.

SPFE leaders say they hope the strike deadline will force school administrators to match the urgency educators have been bringing to contract negotiations since talks began last May, when union members began bringing forth 31 proposals to address the needs they see in their classrooms each day.

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Educators are demanding a contract that guarantees their students more mental-health supports, that ensures non-English speaking families can access school services and that reduces special-ed caseloads.

And SPFE members are willing to strike, if necessary, to force the district to address those concerns at the bargaining table.

SPFE members and community supporters line the sidewalk outside Highland Middle School.

In a strike-authorization vote Feb. 20, rank-and-file members signaled strong support for their bargaining team. About two-thirds of all members participate, according to SPFE, and 82% voted “yes.”

“Nobody wants to go on strike,” the union’s executive board wrote in an e-mail to members announcing the vote results. “That is why we’ve spent nearly a year engaging with the district on our student-centered proposals and on wages and benefits for our members.

“However, we refuse to accept the district’s position that our students and educators already have access to all of the supports they need to thrive.”

Teachers strikes have swept across the country over the last two years, as the #RedForEd movement pushes officials to address decades of disinvestment in public schools and the working people who staff them.

Last year alone, 237,400 teachers in North Carolina, West Virginia, Los Angeles, Chicago, Kentucky and Oregon went on strike, fueling a historic surge in major work stoppages. Federal labor statistics released last week show the average annual number of workers participating in major strikes over the last two years – 455,500 – reached a 35-year high.

Long before the #RedForEd wave swept the country, though, St. Paul was the site of the first organized teachers strike in U.S. history, a 30-day work stoppage between Thanksgiving and Christmas of 1946.

The city’s female teachers, members American Federation of Teachers Local 28 (still on SPFE’s union charter today), led the charge not just for pay increases, but a more equitable allocation of school resources and new investments in school facilities. They called it the “Strike for Better Schools.”

Today, it’s a fight for the “Schools St. Paul Students Deserve.”

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Poised to strike this weekend, AT&T wireless workers seek support on picket line

May 18, 2017 by

Melinda Casey of Minneapolis is among 2,000 AT&T wireless workers in Minnesota poised to strike this weekend. “I have a family to support. I have two children. I need a job that’s secure,” she said.

Some 21,000 AT&T wireless workers in 36 states – including about 2,000 in Minnesota – plan to strike this weekend, a show of frustration over the company’s failure to negotiate a new contract that protects good, family-supporting jobs.

The strike is set to begin at 2 p.m. tomorrow unless AT&T and the Communications Workers of America, which represents wireless workers, reach a tentative agreement before then. AT&T wireless workers have never been on strike before, and it could drastically limit AT&T’s ability to handle traffic at 27 company-owned retail stores in Minnesota and hundreds more across the U.S.

Members of Twin Cities-based CWA Locals 7200 and 7250 are seeking support on picket lines across the state, including the following metro locations:

  • Apple Valley: 7634 – 150th St. W
  • Coon Rapids: 12481 Poppy St. NW
  • Maple Grove: 8105 Wedgewood Ln.
  • Roseville: 2724 Lincoln Dr.
  • Woodbury: 10100 City Walk Dr.
  • Eden Prairie retail store, 590 Prairie Center Dr.
  • Minnetonka: 1800 Plymouth Rd.

Workers say AT&T has offered only meager pay raises in negotiations – not nearly enough to cover the increased share of health insurance premiums the company is demanding workers pay. Commission rates, job security and sick pay are also sticking points in talks, which “are stalled right now,” CWA Minnesota State Council President Mona Meyer said.

Local 7200 member Melinda Casey, who works in AT&T Mobility’s Bloomington call center, said she’s fighting to support her two children, one of whom is epileptic. Casey earns the contract’s top wage scale of $18.57 per hour, and out-of-pocket medical costs, including a $2,500-per-patient deductible, already absorb a big portion of her earnings, she said.

Brian Gnerer

“If they raise premiums then that essentially washes out any type of pay raise we would get,” she said. “It makes it easy to walk out on Friday, knowing it’s the only way to bring a better contract.”

Brian Gnerer, who works in the Bloomington call center too, echoed Casey’s sentiment.

“I’m for the strike,” Gnerer said. “Thinking short term, I need to make sure I get my bills paid, but I also want to have a decent life after I’m done working. That means getting paid more, getting better health care so I can maybe put more money away for my future. And I’m willing to do what I need to do to get there.”

“Overall, I feel like there is a lot of unity” in our bargaining unit, Casey added.

Learn more about the contract negotiations at www.unityatmobility.com.

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Striking nurses weigh contract proposal in advance of voting Monday

September 30, 2016 by
MNA spokesperson Angela Becchetti, a nurse at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, talks with media about Allina's most recent proposal to striking nurses.

MNA spokesperson Angela Becchetti, a nurse at Abbott Northwestern Hospital, talks with media about Allina’s most recent proposal to striking nurses.

Striking nurses will vote Monday on a three-year contract proposal from Allina that makes some gains on staffing and safety – two of their top issues – but wasn’t good enough to win a recommendation from the union’s bargaining team.

Nurses fought tooth and nail with Allina over the course of mediated talks this week that spanned three days but “felt much longer than that,” United Hospital nurse and bargaining team member Bunny Engeldorf said at a press conference in Minneapolis today.

“It was not easy to leave that table,” she added, without a tentative agreement they could recommend, but all 15 members of the bargaining team agreed Allina nurses deserve an opportunity to vote.

Angela Becchetti, a nurse at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and union spokesperson, said negotiators are “confident nurses will make the best informed decision come Monday.”

More than 4,000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association have been on strike at five Allina facilities in the Twin Cities area since Labor Day.

Voting Monday will take place at four locations close to the picket lines outside United Hospital in St. Paul, Abbott Northwestern and Phillips Eye Institute in Minneapolis, Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids and Unity Hospital in Fridley. Nurses already are able to review the 41-page contract proposal, and the union will hold several meetings to answer questions and discuss the terms.

In talks that began Tuesday, nurses were finally able to get Allina to address their staffing concerns. The provider agreed to establish a labor-management team to evaluate whether charge nurses should be assigned patients. Combined with provisions to improve nurses’ safety on the job, the staffing language represents some progress on “what we wanted this contract to address,” Engeldorf said.

Allina’s top priority in contract negotiations, which began in February, was eliminating nurses’ preferred, quality health insurance plans and moving them into the provider’s corporate plans.

Nurses eventually relented, but they continued to fight for language assuring their benefits would not diminish over the course of the contract. They came away with a partial victory, negotiators said, noting that it was an improvement on what Allina offered in talks before the strike began.

MNA Executive Director Rose Roach said bargaining issues with Allina felt “like dealing with molasses,” and she credited the 15 members of the union’s bargaining team for having “pushed as far as they could.”

If a majority votes to reject the proposal Monday, the strike will continue. If members vote to accept, union leaders and Allina will begin discussing how the 4,000-plus strikers return to work.

Until the two sides reach a settlement, picket lines will stay up, and union negotiators were quick to dispel any notion that nurses would begin crossing the line before then. Striking nurses are set to lose their employer-provided health insurance tomorrow.

“Allina thinks Oct. 1 is a deadline for their nurses,” Becchetti said. “It’s not. We’re calling it Red October. We’ll be out here in full force.”

Regardless of how the vote goes, one thing is already clear: The relationship between Allina Health and its nurses is at an all-time low.

“The level of disrespect they have shown for their greatest ally, the nurses, has cost them something that can’t be put on a balance sheet,” Roach said.

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Four ways to show support for Allina nurses in their open-ended strike

September 3, 2016 by
Allina nurses rallied with RNs from other Twin Cities hospitals and supporters across the labor community Thursday in Minneapolis.

Allina nurses rallied with RNs from other Twin Cities hospitals and supporters across the labor community Thursday in Minneapolis.

 

Last-ditch talks between Allina nurses and management broke off early this morning after a marathon, 22-hour negotiating session failed to yield agreement on a new contract. As a result, nearly 5,000 members of the Minnesota Nurses Association plan to begin an open-ended strike Monday morning.

If picket lines go up on Labor Day, nurses will count on broad support from the community. Supporters can take action in several ways:

  • Join nurses on the picket lines. Sign up for a shift at allinastrike.com.
  • Donate to the nurses’ strike fund. Allina has already spent more fighting nurses than the $10 million it’s seeking to save annually by eliminating their insurance. To stand up to Allina and stay on the picket lines, nurses and their families will need financial support. Donate at mnnurses.org/donatestrikefund.
  • Send food, drink and other necessities to the picket lines. MNA’s point person coordinating food donations during the strike is Geri Katz. Contact her at 651-252-5510 to direct your contribution where it’s needed most.
  • Call out Allina and its corporate leadership. Take action online by tagging Allina at @allinahealth and using the hashtags #MN4RNs, #nursesneedcare2, #allinacuts and #1u. Also, use the list below to contact members of Allina’s not-for-profit board of directors, by phone or e-mail.

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Nurses and supporters signed onto an appeal for Allina to reach an agreement that works for both sides, but security at Allina's corporate headquarters refused to allow delivery.

Nurses and supporters signed onto an appeal for Allina to reach an agreement that works for both sides, but security at Allina’s corporate headquarters refused to allow delivery.

At a rally earlier this week, nurses from other Twin Cities hospitals pledged solidarity with their Allina colleagues for as long as it takes to get the contract they deserve.

“We get that this is for all of us,” HealthEast nurse Lisa Buesgens said. “This is union busting … and we’ll be next.”

“We’ll be on the line with you through thick and thin,” Methodist nurse Mary McGibbon said.

In addition to support from other nurses, several large Minnesota unions, including SEIU Healthcare, AFSCME Council 5 and Education Minnesota, have delivered notice to Allina Health that their members intend to picket alongside MNA members.

“Educators care for nurses just like you care for us,” Education Minnesota President Denise Specht said. ” We are with you as long as it takes.”

 

MNA is encouraging supporters to take selfies with nurses and post them on social media using the hashtag #MN4RNs. Pictured are nurses Nancy Jahnke of Mercy Hospital and Kimberly Blomberg (R) of Abbott Northwestern.
Peter Kaiser, a member of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota who works as a janitor at Unity Hospital, said Allina employees are behind MNA nurses. “We’re all here together to shout with one voice,” he said.

Allina management and nurses made some progress during the 22 hours they spent in negotiations, according to a press release issued by MNA today. Allina gave some ground on nurses’ demand for security officers in emergency rooms, but the provider refused to budge from its demand nurses give up their union-sponsored, low-cost health insurance plans before 2020.

“We gave it our all,” Abbott Northwestern nurse and union spokesperson Angela Becchetti said. “Nurses have offered to eventually end their two remaining healthcare plans and move into the higher cost Allina health plans with bigger out-of-pocket costs. It wasn’t enough.”

The sticking point, according to nurses, remains Allina’s refusal to give them a safety net against high-cost medical bills, as well as management’s demand for language allowing Allina to change health care plans without bargaining with nurses again.

“Nurses have been negotiating for seven months,” Becchetti said. “Nurses have gone on strike. Nurses have been willing to compromise to create an agreement that would benefit the hospitals as well as the nurses. Allina didn’t make efforts to work with us.”

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As strike ends, Allina nurses say they’re stronger, more unified than ever

June 25, 2016 by
United nurses kept the energy level high during the final hours of picketing in downtown St. Paul.

United nurses kept the energy level high during the final hours of picketing in downtown St. Paul.

Union nurses at five Allina care centers in the Twin Cities lowered their picket signs at 7 p.m. tonight, marking the end of an historic, seven-day strike that energized and unified members of the Minnesota Nurses Association.

At United Hospital in St. Paul, organizers expanded the picket line to accommodate an influx of supporters eager to see strikers to the finish. In the strike’s closing minutes, picketers huddled together and listened as nurses reflected on the strike and what lies ahead.

“You know this is going to come up again,” United nurse Darla Lowell said into a bullhorn. “Encourage each other, because this is going to be one thing after another.”

MNA members are scheduled to resume staffing Allina’s four metro hospitals – Unity, United, Mercy and Abbot Northwestern – and Phillips Eye Institute at 7 a.m. tomorrow. United nurse Barb Forshier, a member of the union’s bargaining team, said she anticipates some “hard feelings” on the hospital floor in the coming days.

“Now the nurses are angry, and they’re ready to force action,” Forshier said. “We hope that this strike sent a strong message that it’s time to go back and bargain in good faith.”

Nurses are standing together to defend their affordable, quality health insurance plans. Since contract talks began in February, Allina has refused to budge from its demand that nurses give up four union-sponsored insurance options and transition into “core” plans that cover most of Allina’s other employees.

Nurses’ picket lines saw an average attendance of about 2,000 people per day, according to the union. But Allina executives, including CEO Penny Wheeler, have remained unmoved, continuing to insist that nurses give up their high-quality, affordable health insurance as a starting point for negotiations.

“They don’t know who we are,” United nurse Sarah Lake said. “They don’t know how strong we are. They don’t know how much solidarity we have.

“I’ve never been prouder to be a nurse in my life.”

Nurses rallied outside United Hospital in St. Paul during a seven-day strike at Twin Cities Allina Health facilities in June.
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Allina nurses’ strike lines swelling with solidarity

June 22, 2016 by
Striking nurses on the picket line outside United Hospital paused for a photo with members of the St. Paul City Council.

Striking nurses on the picket line outside United Hospital paused for a photo with members of the St. Paul City Council.

 

Allina nurses are walking the picket lines outside five Twin Cities health care facilities this week, but they aren’t walking alone.

Patients, doctors and other health care workers have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with members of the Minnesota Nurses Association over the last four days. So have members of other unions – teachers, musicians, construction workers and others – and elected officials, including members of the St. Paul City Council who walked the picket line with United Hospital nurses today.

“We know that you don’t do this lightly,” Ward 3’s Chris Tolbert told nurses. “There’s something seriously wrong with the negotiations if you guys are willing to go on strike and walk out of that hospital.”

Tolbert marched to the picket line from City Hall after today’s council meeting with Council President Russ Stark (W-4) and council members Dai Thao (W-1), Amy Brendmoen (W-5), Dan Bostrom (W-6) and Jane Prince (W-7). Thao, whose daughter has been convalescing for over a month at nearby Children’s Hospital, said nurses deserve better treatment than they are getting from Allina, which wants to take away their quality, affordable health insurance options.

St. Paul City Council member Dai Thao talked to nurses on the United picket line.

St. Paul City Council member Dai Thao talked to nurses on the United picket line.

“As a person of color and as a parent, it’s already difficult to navigate the system,” Thao said. “But when we got (to Children’s), the nurses – your colleagues – treated our daughter like their own. That means a lot, and I just want folks to know that nurses need to be taken care of too.”

Nurses’ co-workers at Allina facilities feel the same way. Outside Unity Hospital in Fridley, members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota – in their own fight for a first contract with Allina – rallied with MNA nurses. And at United Hospital in St. Paul, licensed practical nurse Vivian Straumann walked off the job after an eight-hour shift and onto the picket line.

Members of MNA supported Straumann’s union during its contract talks last year, she said, and members of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota are more than happy to return the favor now.

“I want to see them keep their health care insurance and get back to work,” Straumann said, adding that it’s been difficult working alongside replacement nurses “who you don’t know and who are taking your friends’ jobs.”

Hundreds of unions members like Straumann have volunteered to walk a shift in solidarity with Allina nurses over the last four days. Local unions also have shown solidarity by donating food, cold drinks and other supplies to MNA strikers.

“It might be cliche, but for me it goes back to the old adage, ‘An injury to one is an injury to all,'” said Minneapolis teacher Brionna Harder, a member Education Minnesota who lives in St. Paul. “Nobody wants to go on strike, but when it’s necessary to draw a line,  we have to stand arm in arm with our brothers and sisters.”

Earlier in the day, Allina’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to Education Minnesota demanding members like Harder stop picketing outside its facilities. In a written response, Education Minnesota President Denise Specht dismissed the attorney’s threats, adding that they will likely make educators even more eager to support striking nurses.

“Education Minnesota cares deeply about this issue,” Specht wrote in a response to Allina’s letter. “This is more than just solidarity with our colleagues in organized labor. Our 86,000 members work with students during the flu season. They get sick. When they do, we want them treated by healthy nurses with easy access to quality health care themselves. The outcome of this dispute affects us all.

“You can follow the participation of educators of Minnesota on our social media sites. We are sure you know where to find us.”

Council Member Chris Tolbert of Ward 3
Council Member Jane Prince of Ward 7
Council Member Amy Brendmoen of Ward 5.

MNA is updating its Facebook page regularly with videos of elected officials and other supporters visiting the Allina picket lines. Sign up for a shift on the strike line at allinastrike.com.

Nurses are also asking supporters to sign onto a petition asking to Allina to drop its efforts to shift $10 million in health care costs onto nurses and their families. The petition is online at nursesneedcare2.com.

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5,000 Twin Cities nurses are poised to strike. Here’s how to show your support

June 16, 2016 by
Allina nurses staged informational picketing outside Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis last month as part of their campaign for a fair contract.

Allina nurses staged informational picketing outside Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis last month as part of their campaign for a fair contract.

In bargaining initiated by a federal mediator last Friday, Allina refused to budge from its demand that nurses give up their quality health insurance, setting the stage for 5,000 nurses at five Twin Cities health facilities to begin a weeklong strike Sunday morning.

Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association plan to erect picket lines outside Abbott Northwestern, Mercy, United and Unity hospitals, as well as Phillips Eye Institute, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day until the strike’s scheduled end June 25.

Supporters are welcome ­– and appreciated – on the picket line, according to the union. MNA has posted a sign-up form for picketers at allinastrike.com.

Nurses are also asking supporters to sign onto a petition asking to Allina to drop its efforts to shift $10 million in health care costs onto nurses and their families. The petition is online at nursesneedcare2.com.

Allina nurses’ previous collective bargaining agreement expired May 31, and an “overwhelming” majority – more than two-thirds of voting members – voted June 6 to reject the health care provider’s “complete offer” and authorize the bargaining team to call a strike.

“Nurses are prepared to send a week-long message to Allina,” Abbott Northwestern nurse Angela Becchetti said. “This contract is about more than just health insurance. It’s about the staffing our patients receive. It’s about the safety of our fellow nurses from assault. It’s about the care our families depend on.”

Under the National Labor Relations Act, union members can engage in an unfair labor practice strike without fear of retaliation. The nurses’ employment is protected under federal law.

In addition to the standoff over nurses’ health insurance options, nurses have protested Allina’s unwillingness to respond to their proposals on workplace violence and staffing issues, as well as provide needed information to counter the employer’s proposal to eliminate the health plans.

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Pilots picket at MSP, protest Sun Country’s ‘unacceptable’ offer

April 24, 2015 by

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In shifts of about 50, Sun Country pilots and their colleagues from other airlines marched silently in single file outside Terminal 2 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport this afternoon.

The informational picket, attended by virtually all of Sun Country’s 247 active pilots who were not flying or in training, put the Minnesota-based airline on notice that its pilots remain committed to changing their status as the lowest-paid 737 pilots in the nation.

That is, Sun Country pilots are 100 percent committed.

That’s the level of support they showed in a vote two months ago authorizing their union, the Air Line Pilots Association, to call a strike if necessary.

ALPA members stage informational picketing outside Terminal 2 at MSP.

ALPA members stage informational picketing outside Terminal 2 at MSP.

Pilots have been in negotiations with Sun Country since their contract became amendable in April 2010, and the two sides began sessions with the National Mediation Board two years later.

With their negotiations stuck in a holding pattern, Sun Country pilots have only fallen further behind their peers in the industry. Capt. Jake Yockers, spokesperson for the Sun Country ALPA unit, said Sun Country pilots now earn 30 percent below the average pay for 737 pilots.

In negotiations, ALPA has proposed raising pilots’ pay up to the industry average gradually over the course of a new five-year contract. But Sun Country answered with a proposal that would keep pilots’ wages near the bottom of the industry, Yockers said.

“It is unacceptable,” he said. “We’re not asking for Delta wages. We’re not asking for Southwest wages. We’re just asking for the average wage.”

The airline’s ownership group, Yockers noted, has turned a profit every year since purchasing Sun Country in July 2011. The airline has doubled in size, added more routes and strengthened its position in the market. But its pilots, so far, have been left out of the gains.

“The employees have been there for the company in the bad times,” Yockers said. “We think that loyalty needs to be rewarded in the good times.”

In a press release, Capt. Brian Roseen, chairman of Sun Country’s ALPA Master Executive Council, said pilots are hopeful of reaching an agreement with the airline, but prepared “to do everything the law allows to lift ourselves up from the bottom of the industry.”

In order to go on strike, the NMB would have to declare that additional mediation efforts would not be productive and extend an offer to arbitrate the dispute. If either side declines arbitration, the parties enter a 30-day “cooling off” period, after which they are free to exercise “self-help” – in the pilots’ case, a strike.

A strike is not in either side’s best interest, pilots say.

“We don’t want a strike; we want a deal,” Yockers said. “We want to negotiate, and we’ll be ready with a response to the company’s proposal.”

Pilots from United, Delta, FedEx Express, Compass, Endeavor Air and other ALPA pilot groups joined the informational picket in solidarity with Sun Country pilots.

Said Capt. Paul Jackson, president of the Southwest Air Line Pilots Association: “Low fares do not have to equal low wages in our industry, and we fully support our friends at Sun Country in seeking a fair agreement.”

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Unions raise safety concerns at Ridgedale mall construction site

July 9, 2014 by
Members of several Building Trades unions picket outside Ridgedale: (L to R) David Sears of Painters District Council 82, Roger LeClair of the Insulators Local 34, Brian Gullickson of the Cement Masons Local 633, Michael Connelly of Laborers Local 563 and Ryan Mims of the Painters.

Members of several Building Trades unions picket outside Ridgedale: (L to R) David Sears of Painters District Council 82, Roger LeClair of the Insulators Local 34, Brian Gullickson of the Cement Masons Local 633, Michael Connelly of Laborers Local 563 and Ryan Mims of the Painters.

MINNETONKA – Laborers, bricklayers, painters, electricians and other union craftspeople picketed together outside Ridgedale Center in Minnetonka this morning, targeting several contractors working inside the mall that are undermining area wage and safety standards, according to the unions.

Ridgedale’s Chicago-based ownership group, General Growth Properties (GGP), is spending $100 million to upgrade the mall, which opened in 1974. Several tenants are investing in improvements to their retail facilities as well.

But progress on the Ridgedale renovation has been anything but smooth.

Since breaking ground last year, the project has been plagued by interruptions and safety problems, including a roof fire in Macy’s last November. Two months ago Vito Construction abruptly left the project after the demolition contractor drew protests from union workers who said the company’s lax approach to safety – including failure to lock out electrical panels and improper disposal of potentially hazardous materials – were putting both workers and the public at risk.

Kevin Pranis, organizing director of the Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota, questioned whether GGP was putting profits before public safety.

“Anyone who shops at Ridgedale mall could be at risk because of the safety problems here,” Pranis said. “That’s why we’re here today. When members of the public are at risk, we certainly want them to know what the issues are.”

Problems at Ridgedale have not been limited to Vito Construction, Pranis and Laborers Local 563 business agent Joe Fowler added. Even after Vito’s dismissal, the union brought evidence of new safety problems, including an unsecured demolition site that was accessible to the general public, to GGP shareholders during their annual meeting in Chicago on May 16.

“GGP Executive Vice President Richard Pesin told me he’d take care of the safety problems at the mall, but apparently somebody didn’t get the memo,” Fowler said.  “Just this week we found yet another unlocked electrical panel on yet another construction site that was not secured to keep out the general public.”

Other Building Trades unions joined the picket today, targeting contractors working inside the mall for undermining area safety and wage standards

Safety problems and labor unrest at Ridgedale stand in sharp contrast to progress at Bloomington’s Mall of America, where developers entered into a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with the Minneapolis Building and Construction Trades Council before breaking ground on a $325 million expansion project. PLA’s ensure all work done on a project meets area standards for wages, benefits and safety.

“Our experience has been very different on renovation projects at Mall of America and Southdale Mall,” Pranis said. “We see a general problem with vetting contractors here at Ridgedale.”

Fowler said many of the problems at Ridgedale could be avoided if contractors meet community standards for wages and benefits and comply with basic safety principles.

“The Twin Cities has high standards of safety and a good standard of living,” he said. “It is very important to all of us to keep it that way.”

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