Member support, stories turned tide for state workers in tough round of talks

July 22, 2025 by

Members of AFSCME Council 5’s contract action team support the bargaining committee before a session with the state.

Negotiators for the State of Minnesota and unions representing nearly 40,000 state workers reached tentative agreements June 27 on new contracts that will raise wages, preserve longevity pay hikes and, in a big win for union members, make no changes to their health insurance.

Union members who served on the bargaining team for AFSCME Council 5, which represents about 18,000 state workers, said the state’s demands from the outset of talks included an overhaul of health benefits that would have increased workers’ share of the costs.

“The plan shifts they wanted to do would have shifted thousands of dollars onto our members,” Council 5’s lead negotiator, Joel Hoffman, said. “It would have been terrible.”

With the state bracing for federal funding cuts and a projected budget shortfall in the next biennium, unions anticipated a difficult round of contract negotiations. But even experienced negotiators like Hoffman, a lab assistant at Moorhead State who completed a fifth stint on the bargaining team, were taken aback by the severity of the employer’s demands.

In addition to the health plan changes, state negotiators balked at wage increases and wanted to pause workers’ step increases, too. Steps are like longevity bonuses, giving workers a pay bump on the anniversary of their hiring date until they reach the top of the pay scale.

“We’ve had challenging cycles before, but not like this,” Hoffman said. “All of it together, it was just unacceptable, untenable. We couldn’t deal with it.”

It took 215 hours at the bargaining table, but union members succeeded in moving the state off its demands for takebacks, preserving their steps and their health insurance – and winning raises of 1.5% this year and 1.75% in 2026.

Council 5 said in a statement that every worker in the bargaining unit will see a net gain on their paycheck, and the bargaining team voted unanimously to recommend members vote to ratify the deal in balloting this month.

AFSCME, MAPE team up

Union negotiators cited two factors as key to securing a contract they could recommend: a visible, vocal pool of support from rank-and-file members and unshakable solidarity with the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE), which reached a tentative with the state covering over 18,000 workers on the same day as AFSCME.

“They were in the same position as us, and we decided we were going to stick together and have solidarity between the two unions,” Hoffman said. “If they tried to divide us, we weren’t going to have it. We would meet periodically to make sure we’re on the same team, and we had rallies together.”

The unity was especially important in negotiations over health benefits, which bring together over 10 bargaining units at the same table with the state.

When those talks bogged down, union negotiators tapped their “Contract Action Team,” rank-and-file members who had signed up earlier in the year to support their bargaining team. They joined union rallies and showed up at negotiations to send a message to the state – and the Walz administration – that workers were watching the talks.

Jes Shimek, an assistant art studio manager at Anoka-Ramsey Community College in Coon Rapids, credited the team with being intentional about member outreach from the start of the contract campaign.

“They were organizing rallies and a gauntlet during push week and all kinds of outreach – phone banking, workplace actions – throughout this process,” Shimek said. “We communicated more with our members. They could see that they needed to help us fight to not go backwards.”

Getting personal

The turning point in bargaining, Local 2829 President Curtis Seelen said, was when Shimek and two other state employees offered up personal stories that drove home the importance of keeping health insurance affordable.

“Jes brought in her medical supplies and showed just how draconian the state’s health insurance would be to the individuals who work every day to make Minnesota a great place to live,” Seelen said. “I think it was putting a face to all the state workers that keep Minnesota functioning that really helped us turn the tide and prompt the state to drop their more egregious proposals.”

“Two other women, Jess Langhorst and Kate Ella, told their stories too,” Shimek, a member of AFSCME Local 4001, said. “The state’s team was always very cordial to us throughout the process, but this was the first time that we saw emotion from them – a crack in that exterior.

“Right after we shared our stories, everybody walked out of the room to this gauntlet of AFSCME and MAPE members standing silently with their signs, and that was the turning point. We started back the next morning and worked all the way through that night until we reached a tentative agreement at 6:10 in the morning.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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AFSCME members to Ramsey County: ‘Residents First = Workers First’

December 12, 2024 by

AFSCME members who work at Ramsey County held a contract rally outside the Ramsey County Courthouse in St. Paul Oct. 29.

Four local unions representing over 2,000 Ramsey County employees are holding firm to their key demands – dignified wages, safe and adequate staffing, and respect on the job – as bargaining with the county inches closer to their contracts’ Dec. 31 expiration date.

Members of AFSCME Locals 8, 151, 707 and 1935 – librarians, social workers, child protection workers, parks employees and workers in scores of other job classifications – were also holding firm to their solidarity, union members said during a rally outside the Ramsey County Courthouse as talks entered a third month.

“The employer is still using the same old playbook of stalling, sewing division amongst the locals and attempting to erode our union legacy rights like seniority, the freedom to determine when we take vacation or receiving extra payments for working undesirable shifts,” Local 8 President Mario Lee, an animal control officer, said Oct. 29.

Rather than asking their employees for takebacks at the bargaining table, county administrators should be engaging their unions in meaningful discussions about how to address serious staffing shortfalls plaguing several county agencies, Lee and other union leaders said.

Several media reports in the last year have exposed the impact short staffing has had on county services. An October 2024 report by KSTP-TV found that the county’s Medical Assistance program had a backlog applications for benefit renewal, with more than 500 applicants waiting over 60 days.

Peggy Bloomstrand, a social worker and president of Local 151, said the county’s service delays are not isolated to Medical Assistance.

“Children at risk of abuse and neglect are not getting the services they need because our child protection workers are overwhelmed with high caseload sizes,” Bloomstrand said. “Support staff are working overtime to process cases…

“And it’s not because of the workforce,” she said. “It’s because Ramsey County has decided to eliminate positions and add top management that don’t work with clients or residents.”

“You have been asked countless times, consistently, every day to do more with less,” AFSCME Council 5 Executive Director Bart Andersen told county workers. “I’m sorry, but more with less is simply unsustainable.

“Your employers should be coming to the table proposing respectful wages, affordable health care, workplace safety and protections.”

Members of the Ramsey County Board of Commissioners, in voting to raise their own salaries by 3 to 5% earlier in 2024, cited the need to attract quality candidates – a fact not lost on union members, who say their pay has fallen by 13.5% over the last four years when adjusted for inflation.

According to an AFSCME payroll analysis, Ramsey County frontline workers’ wages are the 65th percentile in comparisons with their peers. Union members say the county needs to offer better compensation to recruit and retain staff in many positions, especially given the cost of living in the area and the scope of their work.

“We want a contract that aligns with the work we do and enables us to support our families,” Bloomstrand said. “We want more staff so our workforce has the ability to serve residents of Ramsey County.”

Those residents are making their voices heard in the bargaining process, too.

After their Oct. 29 rally, union members delivered a petition with over 1,000 signatures to the County Board. County workers gathered many of the signatures outside county libraries and other facilities, engaging residents in conversations about their campaign for adequate staffing and respect on the job.

“Our members go above and beyond the work they do, and we’re asking Ramsey County to compensate our members fairly for the work they do,” Bloomstrand said. “Hire additional staff so our residents get the service they need, and provide safe staffing levels.”

Ramsey County residents can sign onto AFSCME members’ petition in support of their contract campaign here.

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Ramsey County workers seek residents’ support for contract campaign

July 19, 2024 by

Four AFSCME unions representing Ramsey County employees kicked off their contract campaign July 13 at the library in Roseville, where they gathered signatures on a petition to county commissioners.

Before opening contract negotiations with Ramsey County this week, union members appealed to county residents for support of their top demands, including safe staffing and fair wages.

County workers rolled out their contract campaign on a busy Saturday at the Roseville library, presenting patrons on their way into the building with a petition to county commissioners.

Four local unions affiliated with Council 5 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) opened bargaining with Ramsey County on July 17. Together, AFSCME Locals 8, 151, 707 and 1935 represent over 2,000 county employees.

“We are here at the Roseville Library – one of the busiest public libraries in the state – to encourage residents to support workers across the county, who provide critical services to the community and are a valuable resource to all,” Local 8 President Mario Lee said during a brief rally July 13.

The county’s AFSCME unions are looking to build public support early in the bargaining process this year, after county administrators took a hardline approach to the last round of negotiations three years ago.

During those talks, management only moved off its demand for a wage freeze after workers called out county leaders with informational picketing outside the courthouse.

The county has become notorious in recent years, Local 8 Vice President Anna Christie said, for “balancing its budget on the backs of its employees.” She pointed to a 9.5% pay raise for the county manager from 2019 to 2022, while AFSCME members have lost 13.5% of their wages to inflation over the last four years.

For residents, the lack of competitive pay shows up in services they receive at county libraries, public health offices, parks and other agencies, where high employee turnover and short staffing have become the norm, according to union members.

Lee said staffing shortfalls in some departments put workers’ health and safety at risk.

“Our workers have continued to be spat upon, yelled at, physically assaulted and stalked, but aren’t treated with dignity and respect from our employer,” he said. “Besides asking the county to offer fair and equitable wages to frontline staff, we urge them to address severe staffing shortages that are negatively impacting service to patrons and residents while placing our employees at risk of harm.”

Frontline workers, Christie said, feel like Ramsey County “keeps asking us to do more with less.”

“We keep showing up for Ramsey County,” she added. “It’s time for Ramsey County to show up for us by paying us fair and equitable wages and ensuring safe staffing levels so we can provide the highest quality service to our residents and the public we serve.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Day of action unites working people in St. Paul, nationwide

February 24, 2018 by

Hundreds rally at the Capitol in support of worker freedom and economic fairness, joining a nationwide Working People’s Day of Action.

Working people filled the Capitol rotunda in St. Paul today, celebrating their freedom to join together for a voice on the job and pledging to fight corporate attacks with urgency and solidarity.

“Unions are here for the common good,” former St. Paul teacher Mary Cathryn Ricker, now vice president of the American Federation of Teachers, told hundreds of people gathered for the Working People’s Day of Action. “And we are here for good.”

The rally in St. Paul was one of more than two dozen across the country highlighting the benefits of collective bargaining and the critical role union members play in their communities.

Anne Bipes, who works as a secretary in a west-metro school district, attended the rally with members of her union, Service Employees Local 284. She said strong unions mean more than “just pay and benefits” for workers like her.

“It’s about equity and justice within our society, about equality for working people,” Bipes explained.

 

The day of action comes two days before the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a lawsuit, bankrolled by corporate special interests, challenging the ability of Local 284 and other public sector employee unions to collect fair-share fees from workers they are legally required to represent.

The court’s conservative majority is likely to side with the plaintiff in Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, and the decision, expected as early as April, could make right-to-work conditions in the public sector the law of the land.

But public-sector workers aren’t cowering. They traveled in busloads to the Capitol, wore their union colors and carried signs vowing that no court ruling will keep them from joining together to fight for themselves and their communities.

Jim Glazer, a teacher in the South Washington County Schools and member of Education Minnesota, joined the rally to be “part of the energy” fueling actions across the country today.

“Janus is really going to test our unions’ ability to stick together,” he said. “That’s the point of it, to drag us apart. But we have a common cause here: workers’ rights and freedoms.”

Public-sector workers aren’t standing alone either. Private sector union members bolstered their ranks at the Capitol, as did allies from immigrant rights groups, faith organizations and the business community.

“What affects public workers will affect all workers,” said Deb Haugen, a registered nurse at Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis and member of the Minnesota Nurses Association. “For many years unions have set the standard for conditions in the workplace. If our voice is weaker, it’s not only going to be felt by union workers, but by all of us.”

Wendy Anderson, a Century Link retiree who remains active in her union, Local 7201 of the Communications Workers of America, said the landscape for unions is changing, but she thinks working people are up to the test.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in the same union as me,” Anderson said. “We’re brothers and sisters, and we support each other.”

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AFSCME Council 5’s founding director to step down – but keep fighting

October 27, 2017 by

Eliot Seide

Eliot Seide was even more fired up than usual when he sat down for a Thursday-morning interview at AFSCME Council 5’s South St. Paul offices last month. News had just broken that the U.S. Supreme Court would hear a case with the potential to weaken public-sector workers’ collective bargaining power, and it had Seide and his staff scrambling to craft a public response.

The interview, scheduled weeks in advance, was timed to coincide with Seide’s retirement as executive director of the state’s largest union of public-service workers. (Assistant Director John Westmoreland will assume the top post Nov. 1, with Seide staying on to assist with the transition until sometime in December.)

A 39-year veteran of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Seide is the only executive director Council 5 has ever known. After organizing and political stints for the union in Florida, Minnesota, New York and elsewhere, Seide moved back to guide the merger of three Minnesota councils into one, finalized in October 2004.

As the council’s founding director, Seide has been a fierce advocate for public workers – and a vocal critic of any attempt to cut, privatize or diminish their work. That includes court cases like Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, and Seide didn’t hold back on that or any other topic in this interview, which has been edited for length.

UA: What drew you to a career in the labor movement?

ES: I don’t really think I had much of a choice… My father learned the printing trade from my grandfather, and he became a chief steward, a business agent and eventually president of Local 51, the Commercial Printers Union in New York City. My mother is a retired AFSCME member. Table talk in our house was about the union… I didn’t get to go to the dentist until the Printers negotiated dental benefits.

UA: How did Minnesota become home?

ES: After (Tim) Pawlenty won the governor’s race and the 2002 elections didn’t go so well for us, the AFSCME councils here asked the international president if I could come back. We started a program called Take Back Minnesota, which I ran for about 9 months. Then I became the director of Council 14, and we started discussions about merging the councils together.

UA: How has that merger paid off?

ES: What we wanted to do was not just consolidate and get larger, but to change. We needed a full-time organizing program and a full-time communications program to project a bold, proud image of what our members do and who we are. And we wanted to do political action in a more thorough way. To use an agricultural metaphor, we were harvesting, but we weren’t seeding, planting and fertilizing.

We went through two shutdowns and difficult contract negotiations with the state. We had to fight back furloughs from the Pawlenty administration. There have been attempts to take away our bargaining rights as early as the 2003 legislative session. But because of our unification, workers have a stronger voice in the workplace. And as a result of the capacity that workers built in this union, Mark Dayton got elected governor. That was the difference between us being Wisconsin or us being Minnesota.

UA: For politicians on the right like Scott Walker, public employees and their unions have become popular targets. Is it an intentional decision at Council 5 never to duck that fight?

ES: Absolutely. My grandmother would say you can tell the quality of a civilization by the state of its libraries. It’s no lift to defend and project a bold, proud image of public workers. Without public workers our roads don’t get maintained, our bridges will be unsafe, the roads don’t get plowed. It’s public workers who stock the lakes with walleye, who make sure we have the most pristine, beautiful parks in the country. The vulnerable folks in our society … are all served by public workers at the state and local level. Without public workers, Minnesota has no quality of life.

UA: We’ve known for a while that, as a result of cases like Janus, right-to-work conditions are on the horizon for public employees nationwide. Will Council 5 be able to continue building power for public workers in that environment?

ES: First, you have to ask this: Why do they want to rob the voice of workers in the workplace? They won Citizens United, and now they want total control of the political process in the U.S. This is about a grab for power by the wealthy, and it’s an abomination. It shouldn’t be happening. We have to confront this, and that’s what the union movement is about.

Council 5 has been about bringing workers together and strengthening the voice of workers in the workplace. The council first has to service its members. But we feel very strongly that we can only serve our members by advocating for all workers. That’s why we’ve allied ourselves with coalitions to raise the wage in the Twin Cities and Duluth. That’s why we fought for parental leave, much to the chagrin of the Legislature. It’s why we’re working in Duluth on earned sick and safe time.

UA: What might things look like for Council 5 if the Janus challenge succeeds?

ES: We’ve had attacks going back to the Pawlenty administration. That’s why we merged. But look, you’ve got to do a fearless self-examination. You’ve got to say to yourself, there are things I’m doing well and there are things I’m not. And we realized, as an organization, we have got to do a better job of having day-to-day communication, one on one with workers. And since January of last year we have had those conversations with over 31,000 members – and we’re not satisfied yet until we get to 40,000. We’ve signed up thousands of new members.

We are building networks in the workplace to make sure folks know that in order to continue to have that voice in the workplace, we have to answer this fundamental question: Do we want to have a union? And the resounding answer from AFSCME Council 5 members has been, damn right we do.

UA: As you look back on your time here, are their particular things you’re proud of? Any regrets?

ES: It’s very satisfying when workers come and tell you the work we’ve done made a difference in their lives. I was at Hennepin County Medical Center, and a cafeteria worker I’ve known for a very long time came up and said she wanted to give me a hug. I asked her why, and she said, ‘Because without the work that Council 14 did and you did when you were our rep, they would have privatized the food service by now – and I wouldn’t be getting a pension.’ That’s a very satisfying thing to hear.”

Filed Under: Labor Voices, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , ,

Lawmakers seek answers as Walmart strains local police time, municipal resources

December 15, 2016 by
Rep. John Lesch flips through a stack of incident reports he obtained from the City of St. Paul, stemming from calls for police service made by the Midway Walmart over a the course of one year.

Rep. John Lesch flips through a stack of incident reports he obtained from the City of St. Paul that stem from calls for police service made by the Midway Walmart over the course of one year.

State Rep. John Lesch, a prosecutor in St. Paul for 15 years, can recite the address from memory: 1450 University Avenue West.

That’s Walmart’s Midway location, and it is a magnet for shoplifting and other petty crime that, like several other Walmart stores in Minnesota and across the country, absorbs a disproportionate amount of attention from community police.

“They’re the problem child of Minnesota retailers, and they’re costing taxpayers,” Lesch said.

The worker-led group Making Change at Walmart rolled out a campaign yesterday to hold the nation’s largest retailer accountable for the strain its stores put on local resources. With support from the United Food and Commercial Workers union, the organization unveiled a PSA highlighting high crime rates at the St. Paul store, set to air on local TV networks.

The PSA notes two Twin Cities Walmart locations – St. Paul and Brooklyn Park – average three calls for police service per day. “Our police should protect us and not your profits,” the PSA tells Walmart.

UFCW Local 1189 represents workers at Cub, Rainbow Foods and other local retailers, many of which contract with private security firms. By relying instead on local police for security, Walmart undercuts those competitors – and passes the cost onto taxpayers.

“Walmart needs to step up,” Rep. Mike Nelson, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said. “They should not be sponging off the communities in which they do business.”

UFCW Local 1189 President Jennifer Christensen says Walmart's refusal to hire private security puts retail workers at risk.

UFCW Local 1189 President Jennifer Christensen says Walmart’s refusal to hire private security puts retail workers at risk.

With over $14 billion in profits last year, Walmart can afford to address security issues in its stores – for the benefit of the communities it serves and its own workers, Local 1189 President Jennifer Christensen said.

“Walmart’s failure to maintain a trained, visible, qualified store-security workforce at their own expense is putting workers at risk,” she said. Not only are workers at risk on the job, but when they go home to their neighborhoods, where, Christensen said, “we don’t have patrol cars because they’re busy doing Walmart’s work for them.”

Municipalities lack the resources necessary to push back against Walmart’s disproportionate use of their resources, Lesch said. That’s why he plans to seek a legislative hearing on potential solutions to the issue next session.

Lesch anticipates other state lawmakers will share his interest in ensuring Local Government Aid appropriated by the state to municipalities provides services equitably for residents and businesses in those communities – something he’s long known isn’t happening at 1450 University Avenue West in St. Paul.

“We want Walmart to lower the numbers they have of demands on police services in the state of Minnesota, so that they’re a fair player in the use of taxpayer services,” Lesch said.

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Friedrichs is history (maybe), but Minnesota workers aren’t letting their guard down

May 3, 2016 by
Workday Minnesota Editor Barb Kucera (L) moderated a panel discussion with public-sector union leaders, including (L to R) Debbie Prokopf of MAPE, Tee McClenty of MSEA and Denise Specht of Education MN.

Workday Minnesota Editor Barb Kucera (L) moderated a discussion with public-sector union leaders (L to R) Debbie Prokopf of MAPE, Tee McClenty of MSEA and Denise Specht of Education MN.

 

Labor History Month kicked off in St. Paul last night with a discussion of history in the making, as panelists offered insight into public-sector workers’ recent push to breath new life into their unions and defend their right to a voice on the job.

The public forum, titled “The Friedrichs Case and the Future of the Labor Movement,” opened Untold Stories, the labor-history series staged annually in May by The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, with support from a number of unions.

[Programming continues tomorrow with an author talk at the Merriam Park Library. Click here to view details and a full lineup of events.]

At last night’s forum, held at the new St. Paul Labor Center, leaders of three Minnesota unions that represent public-sector workers reviewed recent legal and legislative challenges to their organizing rights – and talked about the ways their organizations are responding.

Debbie Prokopf, attorney and business agent for the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, said corporate-backed politicians and anti-worker legal funds seemingly come up with new ways to “chip away” at public-service workers’ rights every day.

“They’re trying all these wacky, right-wing theories to see what sticks,” Prokopf said, pointing to measures that would require unions to hold recertification votes every year and to negotiate in public, or would severely limit the scope of their contract talks.

Such attacks never gained traction in Minnesota, and that allowed many public-sector unions to “become very complacent,” Education Minnesota President Denise Specht acknowledged. “With our state’s strong labor laws, we’ve taken a lot for granted.”

Two developments woke Minnesota’s public-sector unions out of that slumber.

First, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, after making scapegoats of teachers and other public workers on the campaign trail, signed legislation designed to cripple their collective bargaining power. And working people in this neighboring state took notice.

The first Untold Stories event of 2016 took place in the new St. Paul Labor Center, at 353 W. 7th St.

The first Untold Stories event of 2016 took place in the new St. Paul Labor Center, at 353 W. 7th St.

“When unions aren’t able to do their work, then we get Wisconsin,” Specht said. “They’re kind of the poster child now – but not in a good way – and that’s helped us in getting our members to realize what’s at stake.”

The U.S. Supreme Court raised those stakes even higher last year when it agreed to hear Friedrichs v. CTA. The case challenged public-sector unions’ ability to collect fair-share fees from workers they represent, and during oral arguments in January, the court’s conservative majority appeared poised to issue a ruling that would make “Right to Work” the law of the land in the public sector.

‘Don’t wast a good crisis’

The writing, it seemed, was on the wall, and public-sector unions last year began scrambling to convert as many “fair-share fee-payers” into full union members as they could before the court issued its ruling.

The Minnesota School Employees Association, which represents 6,000 workers in more than 60 school districts statewide, set a course for signing up 5 percent of its fee-payers.

Executive Director Tee McClenty said the union surveyed fair-share fee-payers and found many had no idea they weren’t paying full dues. MSEA trained stewards, rank-and-file members and staff for one-on-one conversations about fee-payers’ issues and concerns. And within 11 months, the union had reached its goal.

MAPE and Education Minnesota, as well as unions like AFSCME and SEIU, rolled out similar internal-organizing initiatives, with similarly successful results.

“They say don’t waste a good crisis,” Prokopf said. “And I think Friedrichs was a very good crisis for us in that it shook us out of our complacency.”

Bullet or boomerang?

Ironically, the doomsday ruling anticipated in the Friedrichs case never came. After conservative Justice Antonin Scalia died, the court issued a 4-4 decision upholding the status quo.

Will public-sector unions in Minnesota let down their guard again? Not likely, panelists said.

“We didn’t dodge a bullet; we dodged a boomerang,” Prokopf said of Friedrichs, noting that plaintiffs in the case already have filed for a second hearing before the court. “It’s coming back.”

McClenty said MSEA’s annual delegate assembly last month included a training session on Friedrichs.

“People were like, ‘What? We’re done with this now,’” McClenty said. “But we can’t get too comfortable. We feel like there’s momentum happening at MSEA, and we want to keep it going.”

Even if a pro-worker justice replaces Scalia, attacks on public-sector workers at the legislative level – including a “poison pill” attachment to the bill approving state workers’ contracts this session – aren’t likely to stop anytime soon.

“We’re not going to let up,” Specht said. “This is the labor movement at stake. We’re all depending on each other to be strong. We’re going all in, and we’re not stopping.”

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AFSCME members defend public services during annual lobbying day

April 5, 2016 by
Workers who have been injured or assaulted on the job at a state mental health facility stand up during AFSCME Council 5's Day on the Hill rally.

Workers who have been injured or assaulted on the job at a state mental health facility stand up during AFSCME Council 5’s Day on the Hill rally.

 

No one knows more about public services in Minnesota than the workers who deliver them, and state lawmakers had access to an abundance of wisdom today during AFSCME Council 5’s annual lobbying blitz.

“The experts in public service are coming to the Capitol,” Council 5 Director Eliot Seide said at the close of a rally at St. Paul’s RiverCentre. “The legislators better get ready.”

Council 5 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 43,000 public-service workers statewide, usually holds its Day on the Hill rally in the Capitol rotunda, but remodeling work has restricted public access to the building this session.

Eliot Seide speaks at AFSCME Council 5's Day on the Hill rally.

Eliot Seide speaks at AFSCME Council 5’s Day on the Hill rally.

Instead, buses shuttled nearly 1,000 union members from RiverCentre to the Capitol after the rally. In meetings with their representatives, AFSCME members pushed several key priorities, including investments in public services and transportation infrastructure.

Gov. Mark Dayton’s proposed budget includes $47 million in Local Government Aid funding to ensure Minnesotans have access to quality public services “no matter where they live,” AFSCME Local 1842 President Koami DaCruz said.

DaCruz, a City of St. Paul employee, said that without LGA, communities “would have to lock up parks and libraries and lay off vital police and firefighters. That’s how they do it in Wisconsin.”

Eric Halverson, a member of AFSCME Local 789 from Morris, urged support for a comprehensive, long-term investment in transportation. Too many Republicans at the Capitol, Halverson said, want to “patch potholes with students and seniors,” citing proposals to cut education and human-services funding in order to spend more on transportation.

AFSCME members also called for a statewide ban on private prisons, student-debt relief, support for public pensions and increased staffing at the state’s mental health facilities.

Local 1842 President Koami DaCruz

Local 1842 President Koami DaCruz

Jackie Spanjers, a member of Local 1307, said assaults on staff have doubled at her workplace, the Anoka Regional Treatment Center. One such attack left her with a torn rotator cuff and ruptured biceps. Dozens of others in the crowd stood up to indicate having suffered similar experiences on the job.

“Hundreds of us are taking a beating inside the mental-health facilities. We feel like punching bags,” Spanjers said. “But we don’t have to suffer in silence anymore. Our union is organizing online and in workplaces to increase staffing levels and change policies so we can be safer at work.”

Council 5’s show of force at the Capitol puts a human face on the work of public service, Local 1092 member Jessica Langhorst said. And in an era of increased attacks on workers – especially public-sector workers – that’s more critical than ever.

“Public workers are not the culprits,” Langhorst said. “We live here. We pay taxes here. We work hard to support our families. We’re not the problem, and we’re not the enemy.”

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In Minnesota, public-sector workers building power from the inside out

February 19, 2016 by
web.Friedrichs-panel

MAPE Local 801 member Victoria Hopwood speaks at a forum at the East Side Freedom Library about threats to public-sector unions.

They may no longer be on the brink of a Supreme Court-imposed Right-to-Work rule, but Minnesota’s public-sector union members aren’t celebrating. They’re organizing.

“What we got was a reprieve, not clemency – and surely not a pardon,” Education Minnesota attorney Meg Luger-Nikolai warned a standing-room-only audience of activists last night at the East Side Freedom Library, site of a forum on Friedrichs v. CTA .

In oral arguments last month, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared in agreement on the case. Most observers predicted a 5-4 decision to overturn the 40-year precedent allowing public-sector unions to collect fair-share fees from workers who benefit from a contract but choose not to join the union.

While Justice Antonin Scalia’s death Feb. 13 may have changed Friedrichs’ short-term fate, the legal attacks on working people – bankrolled by big-moneyed, right-wing special interests – will only keep coming.

Bill Barry is author of “Closing Up the Open Shop: A Guide to Internal Organizing.”

Bill Barry is author of “Closing Up the Open Shop: A Guide to Internal Organizing.”

“Some people are breathing a sigh of relief, thinking we’re all set,” Maryland-based labor educator Bill Barry said. “We’re not all set.”

That message already seemed to have registered with the public-sector union members who spilled out from the library’s stacks last night.

The forum, planned before Scalia’s death, was billed as an opportunity to share strategies for maintaining strong unions if fair-share fees become illegal – a likelihood public-sector unions here have been anticipating since Scott Walker’s assault on collective bargaining in Wisconsin six years ago.

As members discussed how their unions might adapt to survive, there was no talk of letting up just because the Supreme Court’s makeup is in flux. Some even appeared to welcome the challenge.

“I think we can survive and thrive with a new membership-driven union,” said Carol Nieters, whose union, SEIU Local 284, represents 9,000 school support workers. “I think we can turn on its head what others think they can pull apart.”

Barry, who taught at the Community College of Baltimore County, preaches a similarly proactive approach in his latest book, “Closing Up the Open Shop: A Guide to Internal Organizing.” It offers up case studies from around the country in how workers have overcome Right-to-Work laws to build powerful unions.

“We’ve got to revive ourselves,” he said. “It’s no good talking about a problem without talking about solutions. We’ve got to go forward, and if we do it now, it’s going to make a stronger, better, more aggressive union.”

Barry advocated training and empowering stewards to do work often handled by union staff, engaging new members on Day 1 of employment and moving more of the union’s processes – like grievance filings and contract negotiations – into the open.

Panelists included (L to R) John Westmoreland of AFSCME Council 5, Brian Aldes of Teamsters Local 320, Carol Nieters of SEIU Local 284 and Ellen Olsen of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers.

Panelists included (L to R) John Westmoreland of AFSCME Council 5, Brian Aldes of Teamsters Local 320, Carol Nieters of SEIU Local 284 and Ellen Olsen of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers.

After Barry’s presentation, a panel of activists offered glimpses into their own unions’ internal organizing efforts.

John Westmoreland, a former prison guard who’s now assistant director of AFSCME Council 5, acknowledged that fair-share fees “made us lazy” in the past, but he said Friedrichs has sparked a new campaign to sign up 94 percent of the workers Council 5 represents.

“We’re engaging them where they work, everybody coming in the door,” Westmoreland said. “Once we complete this campaign, I won’t have to worry about the Supreme Court justices anymore.”

It’s a lofty goal, but one public-sector union members – and, likely, all union members at some point – will need to meet to keep a strong voice on the job.

“We should make a commitment,” East Side Freedom Library director Peter Rachleff said at the close of the forum. “We’re all going to come back here in six months and see how it’s going.”

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Workers see corporate power grab behind court case challenging their union rights

January 8, 2016 by
Anna Angeles-Farris, a custodian in the Lakeville schools, and Capt. Chris Parsons of the St. Paul Fire Department stand together for strong public-sector unions.

Anna Angeles-Farris, a custodian in the Lakeville schools, and Capt. Chris Parsons of the St. Paul Fire Department stand together for strong public-sector unions.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday in a case with big implications for Minnesota firefighters, teachers and other public-sector workers who benefit from the collective bargaining process.

At a press conference inside the Firefighters Hall and Museum in Minneapolis today, public workers warned that the case, Friedrichs v. CTA, is an attempt by corporate interests to weaken not only their unions, but also the services they provide.

“I’m worried that this lawsuit could weaken my ability to advocate for my students,” St. Paul special-ed teacher Shannon Jax said. “It will make it harder for educators to fight for what children need.”

Bankrolled by the right-wing Center for Individual Rights, the Friedrichs case challenges unions’ ability to collect fees from public-sector workers who choose not to join a union but, as members of the bargaining unit, enjoy equal access to benefits provided by the contract.

“Fair-share fees,” ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court 37 years ago, ensure no worker contributes to a union’s political activities without first giving consent, but require all workers share equally the cost of negotiation and representation.

The system works well, St. Paul firefighter Chris Parsons said, in Minnesota and other states that have not already prohibited unions from collecting fair-share fees.

“In the fire service we believe in fraternity, loyalty, honesty and integrity,” Capt. Parsons said. “We believe in family and in being our brother’s keeper. We also believe that each man and woman has the obligation to pull their own weight.”

Prohibiting public employees from forming strong unions, Parsons said, makes it harder for firefighters to bargain for the equipment they need to work safely or for staffing levels that keep the community safe.

"I can speak up for better working conditions for myself and my colleagues to do my job to the best of my ability," St. Paul teacher Shannon Jax said.

“I can speak up for better working conditions for myself and my colleagues to do my job to the best of my ability,” St. Paul teacher Shannon Jax said.

Jax said her union, Education Minnesota, has empowered teachers in the St. Paul Public Schools to fight back against cuts to art and music programs, and to hold the state accountable for meeting special-education funding requirements.

“Our children are coming to school with more and more needs than ever before, and I want to make sure I do everything I can to help them succeed,” Jax said. “Being a union member gives me a voice in my profession. I can advocate for my students, make a difference and help them get the resources they need.”

Other workers at the press conference said strong public-sector unions help set high standards when it comes to pay equity, earned sick time and other “benefits that everyone needs to raise a family,” retired AFSCME member and former Itasca State Park worker Connie Andrews said.

That corporate interests are looking to roll back those gains comes as no surprise to Anna Angeles-Farris, a custodian in the Lakeville schools and member of SEIU Local 284.

“Unions have made workforces more equitable for all working people. This court case is a clear attack on families who provide essential services for our communities,” Angeles-Farris said. “Our schools, our hospitals and our communities deserve better.”

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