Building Trades notch win for prevailing wage in West St. Paul

February 3, 2026 by

photo courtesy IBEW 110

By mobilizing their members and tapping solidarity from the local labor movement, Building Trades unions won an unexpected fight over prevailing wage in West St. Paul last year.

The city has long required developers to pay prevailing wages on any project that receives $50,000 or more in public assistance. But in July council members and the mayor voted narrowly to allow exemptions on certain projects, with an eye toward a housing development at 150 Thompson Ave.

The vote caught Building Trades unions off guard, but it also “kicked us into overdrive,” Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 110 representative Brian Winkelaar said. “We thought West St. Paul understood our issues.”

Electricians were among four crafts that would have been exempted from prevailing wage on the 150 Thompson project, along with plumbers, sheet metal workers and sprinkler fitters.

But other unions in the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council treated the proposed exemption as an attack on their members, too.

Prevailing-wage rules establish minimum hourly rates, plus benefits, that contractors must pay their workers. The rates are determined by an annual survey so that they reflect area standards, and they are specific to each construction trade.

Federal, state and local governments use prevailing-wage laws to ensure public investments support good jobs – and prevent low-road contractors from squeezing workers’ pay to win a public bid.

“This was an opportunity for the West St. Paul City Council to stand up and say, we want livable wages in our community,” St. Paul Building Trades Executive Secretary Don Mullin said. “We asked them to stand up for the middle class, to hold a standard in our neighborhoods – and they held that standard.”

The council originally scheduled a vote on the exemption for 150 Thompson in early September, but Building Trades unions successfully lobbied members to pump the brakes.

In the meantime, union organizers went to work, scheduling meetings with council members, encouraging tradespeople who live in West St. Paul to raise their voices and building support among the broader labor community.

“We had support from the nurses, SEIU, AFSCME, IBEW, the Building Trades,” Winkelaar said. “People said, ‘Even though it might not affect me, we’re standing with them.’

“There’s so much division in our world, whether it’s between parties or between unions, it really was great to see everybody come together.”

When the issue finally came before the council Dec. 8, union representatives and a strong majority of council members had identified a path forward for the 150 Thompson project that also protected prevailing wage.

With a crowd of about 75 union members in the meeting room, the council voted to apply the State of Minnesota’s rules on prevailing wage to 150 Thompson. Those rules allow contractors to hire registered apprentices, who earn less than journey-level tradespeople, to work on projects covered by prevailing wage.

The move will give the developer some relief while ensuring an even footing for union contractors in the bidding process, as the overwhelming majority of registered construction apprenticeship programs are sponsored by unions.

Council Member Robyn Gulley said the vote showed West St. Paul does, in fact, understand labor’s issues.

“One of the reasons that we protect strong wages is that they protect people in the community who work on these projects, and that is incredibly important,” said Gulley, a labor organizer and educator, who has earned an early labor endorsement in this year’s Senate District 65 election. “We cannot sacrifice our workers.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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Carpenters union’s tip leads to felony wage-theft charges

September 22, 2025 by

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi announced charges of wage theft, insurance fraud and tax evasion stemming from work on a public housing site in St. Paul. (photo courtesy Vince Muzik, FCF Minnesota)

Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and law-enforcement leaders credited the local Carpenters union with playing a key role in their investigation of wage-theft allegations on a public housing site in St. Paul, which resulted in criminal charges filed Sept. 3.

Choi’s office charged Jose Herrera, Carrie Gutbrod-Herrera and Joseph Herrera, owners of Bayvista Incorporated, with multiple counts of wage theft, insurance fraud and tax evasion stemming from their firm’s work at the McDonough Homes in 2024. All three owners face felony charges.

According to the criminal complaint, Bayvista procured a contract to provide labor for roofing and gutter improvements at the North End apartment complex, owned by the St. Paul Public Housing Agency, but the company cheated its workers out of over $200,000 in combined wages for their work.

Rather than paying prevailing wages of about $68 per hour for roofers and $84 for gutter installation, as required on the publicly funded project, Bayvista allegedly paid workers between $120 to $200 per day in cash.

Multiple workers told St. Paul Police investigators that “they had been instructed to falsely tell anyone who asks that they were, in fact, being paid at prevailing-wage rates,” according to the complaint.

Seven workers agreed to participate in the investigation, but Choi told members of the media during a press conference that he hopes to win full compensation for 24 victims in all, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

“We can’t hold people accountable if someone doesn’t raise their hand,” Choi said. “Somebody has to say, ‘This happened to me.’

“Thankfully we have a lot of advocates. Unions are very laser-focused on making sure that workers’ rights are upheld in this town. They’re helping us make those reports, but we have to corroborate that.”

A tip from the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters (NCSRCC) sparked the investigation of wage theft on the McDonough Homes project.

The NCSRCC is among several local labor organizations with staff dedicated to monitoring conditions on construction sites across their jurisdictions. Carpenters business representative Woodrow Piner, who attended the press conference, said the council is now tracking about 1,400 projects – active or in the planning stages – in the seven-county metro area.

Piner and other union representatives developed a relationship with several Bayvista workers after an initial visit to McDonough Homes last year. Eventually, he said, workers disclosed that their wages were not meeting the legal standard.

“We knew it was a prevailing wage job, and when you see a group like this, typically they’re not being paid the proper wage,” Piner said, adding that it took time to gain workers’ trust.

“In a world like this, where you could possibly have compromised documentation, you’re terrified to even say what your favorite candy bar is. It takes a lot to develop that relationship.”

Rarely do those conversations at the job site lead to criminal charges, but they often do empower workers with the information they need to protect themselves from wage theft or misclassification, NCSRCC’s Dominic Andrist added.

“Union or nonunion, we’re just trying to uphold the rights of working men and women, to make sure that when they’re out there and it’s 20 below, they’re getting their just due and the pay that they deserve,” he said.

That’s a point St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry echoed during the press conference.

“I think some people think that those folks are just looking out for their membership,” Henry said of local Building Trades unions. “They are not. They are looking out for what’s fair and what’s right out in their community.”

The investigation ultimately expanded from wage theft to charges of tax evasion and insurance fraud, as a newly formed Labor Advisory Council tapped into the Bayvista owners’ payroll records, tax returns and insurance policies. Spearheaded by Choi’s office, the working group brings together law-enforcement agencies, state regulators and worker-advocacy groups.

Mike Wilde, director of the Fair Contracting Foundation of Minnesota, a prevailing-wage watchdog, credited the Labor Advisory Council with helping Minnesota lead the country in “stamping out corrupt practices in our industry.”

“Our public infrastructure must be built first on integrity,” Wilde added. “It’s expected by taxpayers, the lawful contractors who bid on this work and the construction workers who actually build it for us all.”

Choi urged anyone who believes that they have witnessed or experienced wage theft to call 651-266-3371.

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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Updated prevailing wage standards ‘a tremendous win’ for tradespeople

June 10, 2024 by

Sen. Tina Smith (R) and Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman announced new prevailing wage standards in Minnesota.

The Labor Department has updated federal prevailing wage standards in Minnesota, a move local Building Trades unions hailed as critical to ensuring that the tradespeople working on historic infrastructure investments passed during President Joe Biden’s first term are paid fairly and consistently.

Tom Dicklich, executive director of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council, called the Wage and Hour Division’s announcement “a tremendous win for the working women and men of Minnesota.”

“The implementation of new prevailing wage standards will provide our workers with the financial security they deserve and ensure that our construction projects are carried out by skilled, fairly compensated professionals,” Dicklich said. “We’re excited to see the tangible benefits this will bring to our communities.”

Under the new standards, the prevailing wage rates applied to federally funded building, highway and heavy construction projects will be the same as the state’s prevailing wage rates.

Minnesota’s prevailing wage rates better reflect the labor costs incurred by responsible contractors, like unions’ signatory contractors, Wage and Hour Division Administrator Jessica Looman said at a press conference May 31 at the St. Paul Labor Center.

Looman, who served as executive director of the Minnesota Building Trades council before accepting a post in the Biden administration, said the change to federal rates here is part of the “most comprehensive review” of prevailing wage standards undertaken at the Labor Department in “more than 40 years.”

“The new prevailing wage standards will ensure that workers on federally funded projects are compensated fairly, reflecting the true value of their labor,” Looman said. “This initiative will help close wage gaps and set a higher standard for transparency and fairness in the construction industry.”

Under the Davis Bacon Act, contractors carrying out most federal building projects are required to pay the local “prevailing wage” – an hourly rate, plus benefits – determined by the Labor Department. Many states and municipalities also have their own prevailing wage standards.

Prevailing wage laws ensure that workers on publicly funded construction projects are paid wages that reflect area standards – and prevent low-road contractors from squeezing workers’ pay in order to win a public bid.

The Wage and Hour Division announcement comes at a time when billions of additional dollars are being invested in Minnesota under two of Biden’s signature legislative achievements, the bipartisan infrastructure law and the CHIPS and Science Act.

Sen. Tina Smith, who joined Looman at the event, said the new prevailing wage standards add to Biden’s record as “the most pro-worker administration” in her lifetime. Smith ran down a list of pro-worker advancements since Biden took office, from expanding eligibility for overtime pay to banning noncompete agreements.

But the change will also benefit construction employers, she said, by streamlining the bidding process and ensuring greater fairness and transparency.

“This is a significant step in ensuring fair wages and consistency for our workers on federally funded construction projects,” Smith said. “From boosting American manufacturing and construction through unprecedented infrastructure investments to improving wage transparency for workers and contractors in Minnesota, we are making historic progress in supporting our workers and strengthening our labor unions.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Dems’ climate measure ties tax credits to prevailing wage, apprenticeship

September 22, 2022 by

Matt Campanario, executive director of the Carpenters Training Institute, leads Sen. Tina Smith on a tour of the LJ Shosten Training Center in St. Paul, which houses the union’s pile driver and millwright apprenticeship programs.

The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in August, promises the most aggressive action to combat climate change in U.S. history, a $369 billion investment that aims to reduce carbon emissions by 40% this decade.

But what most excites some union leaders about the IRA are long-sought provisions that will ensure the transition to a cleaner-energy economy creates and sustains union jobs – and taps into the job-training capacity of unions’ registered apprenticeship programs.

In a win for Building Trades unions, businesses looking to claim tax credits available under the IRA must commit to paying prevailing wages and employing a minimum number of registered apprentices on their jobsites.

The requirements apply to most tax credits that were greatly expanded by the historic legislation, which Democratic majorities spent months shepherding through Congress.

The tax credits will spark private-sector construction of energy-efficient commercial buildings, housing and electric vehicle charging stations, as well as investments in energy sources outside of fossil fuels.

An analysis released by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst projects the IRA’s climate and energy investments will create 9 million jobs over the next decade.

By insisting on strong labor provisions, said Adam Duininck, director of government affairs for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, Biden and other lawmakers ensured those investments will create good-paying jobs for skilled American workers.

“The expanded tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act will benefit businesses that pay prevailing wages and hire our apprentices,” Duininck said. “Paying workers prevailing wages will further support our communities where workers live and spend their money. This will give local businesses and our public services like education, public safety and well-maintained infrastructure the financial backing they should be receiving from hard working, middle-class workers.

“Our communities miss out on billions of tax dollars by unethical business practices of dishonest contractors. It is great to see support for those who conduct business in a manner that benefits people rather than lining the pockets of only a few individuals.”

Carpenters apprentice Amanda Heiser tells Smith recently passed infrastructure and climate bills “definitely provide a more stable future” for apprentices like her.

The IRA also includes penalties for firms that pledge to pay prevailing wages but don’t follow through, requiring them to make workers whole – plus interest.

Meanwhile, industrial unions hailed domestic content requirements included in the IRA, which will encourage the use of American-made batteries, solar and wind components and other technologies on clean energy projects.

The requirements will stimulate job growth in the U.S. manufacturing sector, said Jason Walsh, director of the BlueGreen Alliance, which brings together unions and environmental groups.

“Few pieces of legislation this century have come close to such sweeping job creation potential,” Walsh said. “This bill’s investments offer an opportunity to support and create good union jobs and for workers and communities to reap the economic gains of the clean economy.”

For the Biden administration, the IRA delivers – again – on a campaign promise to make union jobs the focus of its economic policy.

A $1 trillion infrastructure law, which Biden signed in November 2021, is already creating work for union tradespeople in Minnesota. Over 100 projects statewide have tapped into $1.4 billion in federal funding available through the bill so far, including a $22 million project at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Prevailing-wage rates are set by the federal government and vary by location. The rates reflect the average wage paid to similarly employed workers in a specific occupation in that area.

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Report: Union construction sites draw fewer safety violations

December 13, 2021 by

A new analysis of Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) inspections at construction jobsites in nine midwestern states backs up what unionized tradespeople have long been saying.

Union jobsites are safer jobsites.

The report, released Nov. 30 by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Project for Middle Class Renewal, found that unionized construction workers were exposed to 34% fewer health and safety violations in 2019 than their nonunion counterparts.

“With our nation readying at least $1.2 trillion in new infrastructure investments, it is vital to understand safety trends in construction because it is one of our economy’s most physically demanding and dangerous occupations,” study co-author Frank Manzo IV, director of the ILEPI, said. “The data makes clear that the unionized side of the construction industry is producing vastly superior outcomes.”

In Minnesota, OSHA inspectors found 40% fewer violations per inspection on union worksites than they did on nonunion sites in 2019. Violations turned up, on average, 5% less frequently on union sites.

The union advantage

Local union leaders said the study points to an often-overlooked advantage of their construction model. Union members have a voice over their working conditions and, when they need to speak up about unsafe conditions, the protections of a union contract.

“When you walk on a union jobsite you know that safety is not just a buzzword or toolbox talk,” said Chris Peltier, a business agent for LIUNA Local 563. “We can have confidence knowing that every contractor on site has provided all of their employees with the best resources in the industry and quality training. We know that every worker on the jobsite shares the same culture and has the same goal – that every worker returns home to their families safe and sound at the end of the day.”

Adam Duininck, director of government affairs for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, said construction unions “make it a priority to work together with our contractors, developers and members to prevent workplace injuries and ensure members return home safely to their families at the end of each workday.”

Safety is a cornerstone of union training programs, too. Unions and their signatory contractors partner to sponsor, develop and administer world-class apprenticeship programs in Minnesota and across North America.

“We start by providing new apprentices with OSHA training and continue to provide more advanced safety education throughout our members’ careers,” Duininck said.

A public cost of unsafe sites

In conducting their analysis, researchers examined data on more than 37,000 OSHA inspections conducted in 2019. They found that union jobsites were 19% less likely to have any health and safety violations. The number of violations per inspection was 34% lower on union jobsites.

Robert Bruno, a professor at the University of Illinois and co-author of the study, said the lax health and safety practices more prevalent on nonunion construction sites put workers at risk and increase strain on the workers’ compensation system.

“Construction worksites with OSHA violations are more likely to suffer workplace injuries, which can impose billions of dollars per year in added burdens on businesses and state workers’ compensation systems,” Bruno said. “Employers that take preventative and proactive steps to lower the risk of injuries and illnesses experience greater levels of output on the jobsite, and ultimately save money for both themselves and taxpayers.”

Attack unions, undermine safety

The difference between violation rates on union and nonunion jobsites was notably greater in Michigan (49%), Wisconsin (59%) and Indiana (64%), states where Republican lawmakers have repealed prevailing wage and passed right-to-work laws in recent years.

Prevailing-wage laws require employees working on state-funded projects to be paid wage rates comparable to those paid for similar work in the region. With a prevailing wage built into all bids, contractors bidding for public projects compete on skill, productivity and other factors – not on who can scrape together the cheapest workforce.

“A safe workplace is filled with workers and an employer that puts safety before profits, something we rarely see on nonunion worksites,” said Duininck.

The report makes clear, authors said, that measures to weaken unions and their collective bargaining power come at a potentially steep cost.

“Safety problems are not just a threat to the health of the construction workforce our nation needs right now, they impose real burdens that hurt productivity, shrink output and increase costs,” Bruno said. “The data is very clear: embracing the institutions that correlate with better safety outcomes in physically demanding occupations can be a win-win-win for workers, businesses, and taxpayers alike.”

Apprenticeship is key

To promote safer construction worksites across the country, the researchers suggest that policymakers seek to promote institutionalized training and high safety standards with prevailing wage laws, responsible bidder ordinances, project labor agreements and the repeal of so-called “right-to-work” laws, which have been linked to weaker apprenticeship systems in previous research.

“Registered apprenticeships aren’t just attaching workers to middle-class construction careers, they are training workers in industrywide best practices for operating heavy machinery, working with hazardous materials, and avoiding preventable accidents on the jobsite,” Manzo added. “There is no doubt that this work isn’t just paying off from the standpoint of reducing fatalities, but also from the standpoint of preventing the very health and safety violations cause these tragedies.”

Matt Johnson, a senior instructor at the Laborers’ Training Center in Lino Lakes, said workers who make the jump from non-union firms to his union apprenticeship program often tell him they wish they would have had his safety training when they worked non-union.

“I love being able to pass on the knowledge that I have learned over the course of my years working and help others prevent mistakes that I myself have made,” said Johnson, who worked in the field as a construction Laborer for nearly 18 years before going to work as an instructor.

“Unfortunately there’s a misconception for a lot of owners that safety training costs more money than it is worth,” Johnson added. “I see it differently. Work injuries not only cause bodily harm, they also cost money, and we can help prevent that with good training.”

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Leadership changes, but Trades’ focus remains on building careers, communities

July 22, 2021 by

The Crow Wing County VFW color guard installs the colors at the start of the Building Trades convention.

A new president gaveled the 75th convention of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council to order at Madden’s on Gull Lake today, as delegates unanimously affirmed their Executive Board in electing Laborers Local 563 Business Manager Joe Fowler to lead the statewide organization.  

President Emeritus Harry Melander, who retired in June after 12 years leading the council, administered the oath of office to Fowler and other executive officers as one of the convention’s first orders of business. 

“I will give it my all to advocate the just cause of organized construction labor in the state of Minnesota,” Fowler said, thanking delegates for their support.  

While the leadership of the organization has changed – it’s the first convention for newly hired Executive Director Tom Dicklich, too – the Building Trades Council’s work remains focused on fostering family-sustaining, high-quality job opportunities for tradespeople across the state. 

In practice, Fowler said, that means recruiting new workers – particularly veterans and workers from underrepresented communities – into unions’ registered apprenticeship programs to keep up with the industry’s demand for skilled labor. It means organizing to end mistreatment of workers on non-union construction sites, where wage theft, employee misclassification and labor trafficking are too common. And it means opposing right-to-work laws and attacks on prevailing wage at the Capitol. 

Gov. Tim Walz greets delegates to the convention.

By most of those measures, Minnesota’s Building Trades unions have fared better than their counterparts in other Midwest states, and Fowler said the reason for that is unity. 

“Sticking together and showing solidarity is what sets us apart from other organizations that would like to see us and organized labor as a whole fail, and that will never happen,” he said. “If we do not have solidarity, we do not have a strong Building Trades, and in Minnesota that is just not an option.” 

The Trades have worked in recent years to attract bipartisan support for their agenda at the State Capitol, and that support was on display in the string of guest speakers who lined up to take the podium today. Mayors, state legislators, agency commissioners, members of Congress and Gov. Tim Walz all touted their work in support of union tradespeople. 

Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, a Republican whose district includes the Gull Lake area, told delegates his caucus, unlike Republicans in states like Wisconsin, won’t advance measures to undermine collective bargaining or attack prevailing wage. 

“Times are changing,” Gazelka said. “We’re the ones that are fighting for the mining jobs, whether it’s copper-nickel or taconite mining. We’re the ones standing up for the pipelines.” 

But Walz warned against politicians who frame a “false choice” when it comes to energy policy and mining. He said his administration is determined not to “cut corners,” but has moved projects like the Polymet mine through the permitting and review processes quickly. It is Senate Republicans’ move to force out his head of the state’s Pollution Control Agency, Walz said, that has slowed that process down. 

Joe Fowler, business manager of Laborers Local 563, is the new president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council.

“They’re playing games with your jobs,” Walz said. “They’re playing games with a process that now works. This isn’t about me picking winners or losers, it’s about following the science, following the law and following the process.  

“We did all those things. And we’re a long ways down that process on the Polymet mine, but it’s pretty damn hard to go back to an agency when that commissioner is no longer there.” 

DFL lawmakers also called out Republicans for bailing on the Building Trades-backed refinery safety measure during the special session last month.  

The measure, which would have required skilled laborers at sensitive petroleum facilities complete a registered apprenticeship program, gained steam after Marathon replaced local, union contractors at its St. Paul Park refinery with workers from out-of-state, non-union contractors. It passed the DFL-controlled House but was stripped from the Senate jobs bill after more than a dozen Republicans who originally voted to advance the measure withdrew their support. 

Rep. Rob Ecklund, a DFLer from International Falls, said the vote revealed who is “standing with labor not just when it’s politically convenient, but all of the time.” 

A diplomatic Fowler sought to cool the political rhetoric, insisting the council, under his leadership, “will always be nonpartisan in the sense that we support those who support us and who understand labor is always on the side of the worker.” 

There were some issues on which everyone in the room could agree, including a renewed state investment in Helmets to Hardhats, which has successfully introduced thousands of military veterans to career opportunities in the union trades. Justin Ross, a former Marine who heads the statewide initiative, said 840 Minnesota veterans have enrolled in unions’ apprenticeship programs over the last three years after accessing the program.

President Emeritus Harry Melander (L) congratulates Secretary Treasurer Craig Olson after swearing in the officers.

“I know firsthand what it can be like returning from military service,” Ross said. “I spent over five years bouncing from job to job, trying college a couple times. It wasn’t until I found my way into an apprenticeship program with Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 that I really found a home.” 

Another point of universal agreement: appreciation for Melander’s leadership during the 12 years he served as president of the council. Walz presented the president emeritus with a plaque declaring today Harry Melander Day in Minnesota. 

In characteristically brief remarks, Melander assured delegates their organization is in good hands, and left them with a few words of wisdom. 

“Teach the trade; honor the craft,” he said. “Just remember that. Teach the trade to the young people, and honor the craft amongst ourselves. And thank you for the privilege of serving the last 12 years.” 

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Senate GOP ousts MN labor commissioner, plays politics with worker health, safety

August 13, 2020 by

In a surprise move yesterday that troubled Minnesota’s union leaders and outraged the DFL minority, Senate Republicans voted to oust the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry’s acting commissioner, Nancy Leppink.

Her removal threatens to undermine ongoing efforts, led by Leppink in collaboration with labor and industry leaders, to keep workers safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic, union leaders warned.

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy, the state’s highest-ranking union officer, called the party-line vote a “slap in the face to working Minnesotans.” Joel Smith, president of LIUNA Minnesota and North Dakota, said the firing “will make workers less safe.”

Gov. Tim Walz appointed Leppink to serve as labor commissioner after taking office in January 2019, but she, like several members of Walz’s cabinet, had not been confirmed via floor vote in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Majority Leader Paul Gazelka (R-Nisswa) stunned DFLers by putting Leppink’s confirmation on the Senate agenda yesterday, as lawmakers held a special session required to extend Walz’s state of emergency during the pandemic.

Minority Leader Susan Kent (D-Woodbury) said both she and the governor’s office learned of Republicans’ plan to vote not to confirm Leppink in a text message Gazelka sent just minutes before bringing her appointment to the floor. The ambush effectively prevented Leppink’s supporters preparing arguments in her defense.

“None of us in the minority had any expectation that this was going to be an issue in today’s session,” Sen. Dick Cohen (D-St. Paul) said, adding that the surprise confirmation vote was “in contrast to how we’ve handled things” since he joined the Senate in 1987.

Others from Cohen’s caucus were less diplomatic.

Sen. Jason Isaacson (D-Shoreview) called the move “bush league.” He questioned whether Senate Republicans, who have voted repeatedly to curb Walz’s emergency powers during the pandemic, were exacting political revenge.

“You look at the pedigree (Leppink) brings to the table – the professionalism, the experience,” Isaacson said. “And then you look at the ridiculously long list, bipartisan list … who unanimously endorse Commissioner Leppink…

“It leads me to wonder, why would you do this? Is it because we didn’t get our way, and now we’re mad? Is it because the governor hurt our feelings?”

After accepting a position in Walz’s cabinet, Leppink relocated from Geneva, Switzerland, where she worked as branch chief for the International Labour Organization, overseeing efforts to improve worker protections in 187 member states.

But St. Paul is where Leppink began her career as a watchdog for workers’ rights 34 years ago, advancing from the state Attorney General’s Office to a position as chief general counsel in the labor department. She served under both Republican and DFL governors. Later, she went to work in the Obama administration as a leader in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division.

In less than two years as commissioner, Leppink has drawn praise from unions and industry groups for her department’s approach to workforce development, particularly when it comes to expanding registered apprenticeship opportunities statewide.

Additionally, Leppink has sought to modernize the department’s enforcement of wage-and-hour standards, including Minnesota’s historic wage theft law, which Leppink championed last year. The department recently secured nearly $315,000 in total back-wages owed to 70 construction workers on a project in Thief River Falls, where a subcontractor violated prevailing-wage, overtime and other wage rules.

But during debate on the Senate floor yesterday, Gazelka and other Republican senators said Leppink had not been accommodating enough to the state’s business owners.

“The Department of Labor and Industry is expected to be responsive and not a hindrance to state’s businesses,” Gazelka said, claiming his caucus has heard “case after case of harassment” from constituents interacting with the department. “She’s in the wrong role.”

Every Republican who spoke in support of removing Leppink was quick to offer assurances that the decision was not being made lightly – even if it was being made without warning.

“I take this very seriously,” Sen. Carrie Ruud (R-Breezy Point) said.

“This is a serious issue we take up,” added Sen. Jason Rarick (R-Pine City).

“We do take this very seriously,” Assistant Majority Leader Karin Housley, of Stillwater, insisted. When the Senate Jobs Committee issued no recommendation on Leppink’s confirmation during a meeting six months ago, Housley added, “that was the notification right there” that yesterday’s floor vote was coming.

DFLers remained unconvinced. Sen. Scott Dibble (D-Minneapolis) pleaded with Republicans not to throw the agency in charge of protecting workers’ health and safety into chaos during a public health emergency, just “to get a shot off at a chief executive with which you are unhappy.”

Whatever victory Republicans achieved with yesterday’s vote, Minnesota Building and Construction Trades President Harry Melander said, came at the expense of working people.

“In these uncertain times, difference of opinion is healthy, but this kind of unproductive posturing in government serves no one and creates anxiety for our members,” Melander said. “Minnesota workers should be put first, but today’s action by the Senate put workers last.”

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On right to work and prevailing wage, it’s Walz … or Wisconsin

October 24, 2018 by

Tim Walz, the labor-endorsed candidate for governor, is pictured speaking at a union rally in 2016.

When Tim Walz addressed delegates to the Minnesota Building Trades’ annual convention in Duluth over the summer, the labor-endorsed candidate for governor did not mince words, giving the labor leaders and union stewards a message to take back to their union halls.

“People will tell you, ‘I’m not into politics,’” Walz said. “You tell them too damn bad because politics is into you.

“The choice is Walz or Wisconsin when it comes to organized labor. It’s that simple.”

Walz was referencing the string of attacks Wisconsin union members saw on their wages, benefits and freedom to join together after Republicans, led by Gov. Scott Walker, seized total control of the state’s government eight years ago.

It began with Act 10, which gutted the collective bargaining power of teachers and other public-sector workers in 2011. Four years later Walker signed a right-to-work bill, weakening the bargaining power of all unions.

And last year, Wisconsin Republicans unleashed a pair of attacks on union tradespeople and their quality of life. One law banned local governments from entering into project labor agreements, which establish fair wage and benefit standards on construction projects. Another repealed the state’s prevailing-wage law, which builds fair wages into the public construction bidding process.

But it hasn’t just happened in Wisconsin.

“We’ve got to keep Minnesota from going the way of Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Alabama, Kentucky, New Mexico – all states that since 2012 have gone right to work, have banned project labor agreements and have eliminated prevailing wage,” said Tony McGarvey, government affairs liaison for District 82 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

Already, the effects of Wisconsin’s anti-worker agenda are noticeable even here in Minnesota.

In Rochester, where construction of a Destination Medical Center has helped create a booming job market for tradespeople, Painters Local 681 rep Scott Parker said he sees an “influx of union workers coming over from Wisconsin,” where they would earn less for doing the same work.

“If we go right to work, where do we go? North Dakota? South Dakota? Wisconsin? Iowa?” Parker said. “We are an island surrounded by right to work. Where will I go to make the money I’m making now?”

Prevailing wage: A case study

No issue better represents what’s at stake for construction workers in this election than prevailing wage.

Minnesota’s prevailing wage laws establish wage floors in regions across the state that contractors must agree to meet in order to win bids on publicly funded construction projects. The principle behind the law is that workers should be able to afford to live in the area where they find work.

Opponents argue that repealing the law would save taxpayers money, and as a former state legislator, it’s an argument Carly Melin, now executive director of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council, has heard plenty of times.

“We know repealing prevailing wage doesn’t save the public any money,” Melin said. “The contractor still makes the money, it’s just the workers who see less of it in their paychecks.”

The vast majority of peer-reviewed academic studies on prevailing wage support Melin’s claim, according to a report issued earlier this year by researchers at the nonpartisan Midwest Economic Policy Institute and Colorado State University-Pueblo.

The report concludes that if Minnesota joins its neighbors in repealing prevailing wage, tradespeople stand to lose their wage advantage and more. “Minnesota’s prevailing wage law supports self-sufficient construction workers,” the report’s authors, Frank Manzo and Dr. Kevin Duncan, concluded.

By comparing data from seven Upper Midwest states, the report found Minnesota tradespeople are doing better than their counterparts in Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin – states without strong (or any) prevailing wage laws. Because Minnesota still has prevailing wage on the books, construction workers here see 5.2 percent higher incomes, are more likely to have health and pension benefits, and are less likely to rely on food stamps.

Threat to apprenticeship

In fact, rather than driving up public construction costs, the researchers found Minnesota’s prevailing wage law actually delivers significant value to the state in terms of workforce development.

By setting a higher wage floor, the law guarantees local union contractors a fair shake at publicly bid construction projects. And when Building Trades union members are working, a portion of their wages are deducted to help fund their unions’ apprenticeship training programs, which provide world-class training opportunities to thousands of Minnesotans without any government funding.

Without prevailing wage, the authors conclude, Minnesota contractors who participate in apprenticeship training programs would lose more bids to “fly-by-night contractors from neighboring states with low wages, resulting in fewer training opportunities (not to mention shoddier infrastructure).

That’s the reality Building Trades union members are now facing in states like Wisconsin and Michigan – labor strongholds where “we never would have thought they would repeal prevailing wage,” Melin said. And it’s a threat Minnesota’s Building Trades unions are hoping to keep at bay by electing Tim Walz governor Nov. 6.

“If it can happen in Wisconsin and it can happen in Michigan, then it can happen in Minnesota,” Melin said. “We have a lot at stake.”

Filed Under: Organizing, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Workers trust Ellison to have their back as AG

October 11, 2018 by
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U.S. Rep Keith Ellison, the labor-endorsed candidate for state attorney general, received a warm reception from union members during a meeting at the St. Paul Labor Center last night.

Deb Howze fought hard to get a union. Now, the home care worker from Minneapolis is fighting to stop politicians like Doug Wardlow from taking it away.

The state’s home care workers have successfully bargained for wage increases, paid time off, holiday pay and new training opportunities since organizing with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota four years ago. But they also have become the target of corporate special interests trying to roll back those gains with lawsuits and phony anti-union campaigns.

“If Doug Wardlow were attorney general, he would join these attempts and try to reverse the progress we have made,” Howze said.

How can she be so sure?

Hostility toward unions and attacks on workers’ freedom to join together form a common thread running through Wardlow’s career. Howze and other union members traced that thread during a press conference today in St. Paul with the labor-endorsed attorney general candidate, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison.

During the two years Wardlow represented Eagan in the Minnesota House, the Republican led efforts to get a “right to work” constitutional amendment on the ballot, cut state employees’ pay and repeal a state law requiring local governments to ensure women are paid the same as men.

Joe Fowler, business manager of Laborers Local 563, said Wardlow also attacked Minnesota’s prevailing wage law, which builds fair wage and benefit standards into the bidding process for public construction projects. For people who work in the Building Trades, Fowler said, having an attorney general who enforces prevailing wage is critical to their standard of living.

“Laws only protect the honest from the honest,” Fowler said. “Enforcement is what keeps the dishonest from taking advantage of the honest.”

By contrast, Ellison has earned the trust and support of union members as a dependable, energetic advocate on workers’ behalf.

“Our members know Keith has stood with them over the years on every front,” Minnesota Nurses Association President Mary C. Turner said.

Jennifer Christensen, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189, said Ellison understands the economy is rigged in favor of corporations and the rich, and they too often treat workers “with little regard, as mere commodities and numbers.”

Ellison, she added, is someone union members can trust to hold corporations to their obligations during mergers, acquisitions, relocations and other “stressful” events.

“We need an attorney general who’s going to hold these big companies responsible and accountable if they don’t … honor their union contracts,” Christensen said.

On the campaign trail, Ellison has said he wants to be the “people’s lawyer.” He has pledged to crack down on corporations that violate safety regulations or don’t pay workers what they are owed. One report estimates wage theft costs 390,000 Minnesota workers – from a wide range of industries – nearly $12 million each year.

“I think it is the job of the Minnesota attorney general to stand with workers and say, if you put in a hard day’s work, you will get a hard day’s pay,” Ellison said. “But it’s not enough to have good laws; we’ve got to have good people who enforce those laws.”

Ellison also promised to defend working people against the corporate special interests funding legal attacks – like the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Janus decision – on their freedoms.

“These special interests already have high-powered lawyers on their side,” Ellison said. “They don’t need another one in the Attorney General’s Office.”

Filed Under: Labor Voices, Politics Tagged With: , , , ,

Trades praise agreement covering construction project in Forest Lake schools

January 12, 2016 by

Forest-Lake-Area-SchoolsA $140 million bonding initiative approved by voters in ISD 831 last fall will improve the security and structural integrity of buildings throughout the Forest Lake Area Schools. And thanks to a project labor agreement (PLA), the district’s investment will uphold area wage, benefit and safety standards as well.

By a 7-0 vote, the Forest Lake school board voted Thursday to enter into a PLA covering the construction project, which will break ground later this year.

Don Mullin, head of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, which pushed for the PLA, called the decision “an all around great thing.”

“It means everybody’s on the same page,” Mullin said. “We’re all working toward a common goal, which is making sure our schools are safe, a great place to work and a great experience for our children.”

PLAs establish terms and conditions for construction employees and contractors on a project, from wages and benefits to overtime pay, grievance procedures, drug testing, holidays and more.

By setting those terms and conditions at the outset, project owners make their labor costs more predictable, weed out irresponsible bidders and ensure labor peace for the entirety of the project. Several studies show projects built under PLAs are more likely to be completed on time, within budget and with quality construction.

“It puts the agreement up front, says here’s how we’re going to work through this project,” Mullin said. “And because we have this agreement, we’re not going to have any issues.”

PLAs are commonly used on large-scale construction projects like hospitals and pro-sports stadiums, but they aren’t always an easy sell to suburban school boards and city councils.

Located 25 miles north of St. Paul, Forest Lake is no exception. During construction of a new city hall two years ago, two Building Trades unions erected informational picket lines or banners to protest the city’s use of contractors that undermined area standards for wages and benefits.

Mullin said union members who live and work in Forest Lake have reached out to local elected officials since then, building relationships, increasing awareness of what unions do and providing critical support for the bonding measure that won voters’ approval in November, after failing the previous year.

Last week’s unanimous vote is an indication that work is paying off, Mullin said.

“It speaks volumes to the work people like (Carpenters union representative) Jeff Peterson and Kera Peterson with the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation have been doing for years in the area,” Mullin said. “It goes back to those relationships and the power of our membership saying, ‘We live in this community, and we take pride in what we do.’”

Bids for the $140 million construction project go out in March. Work will include security enhancements at each building the school district operates, repairs to several existing roofs and walls, and a complete overhaul of one district facility.

Filed Under: Organizing, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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