Unions’ pre-apprenticeship program puts more Minnesotans on path to construction careers

May 9, 2022 by

The Building Strong Communities program holds a graduation ceremony. (photo by Vince Muzik)

Thirty-five Minnesotans are a big step closer to family-sustaining careers in the unionized construction industry after graduating from the Building Strong Communities program last week.

Elected officials, union leaders, employers and family members gathered for a ceremony May 5 at North Hennepin Community College to recognize graduates of the pre-apprenticeship program for women, veterans and people from racial and ethnic minority groups.

“You have the opportunity to be able to provide for your families, to make a meaningful contribution to society, to our cities, to our state, and you have much to be proud of,” Labor Commissioner Roslyn Robertson told graduates. “It is my honor to be able to witness this day.”

Funded and administered by the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, Building Strong Communities is part of unions’ ongoing effort to increase community awareness of career opportunities in their industry.

“None of this is possible without the strong support of the Building and Construction Trades,” said Aaron Koski, workforce manager at the Met Council. “So thank you, unions.”

The 12-week course, offered each spring, provides an overview of the different crafts that make up the construction industry, using a Multi Core Craft Curriculum developed by unions, hands-on training at union apprenticeship centers and tours of union construction sites.

Graduates Isabelle Schultz and Dwayne Douglas take the stage during the ceremony.

Participants also take eight weeks of virtual classes in construction career readiness at North Hennepin, followed by four weeks of training to build up emotional intelligence, a skillset industry experts have identified as key to overcoming challenges new workers often encounter on the jobsite.

“You really learned how to control your emotions and not give people your remote,” 2022 graduate Isabelle Schultz said. “And if you are in control of your remote, then no one can control your emotions.”

Graduates completed the course just in time for the start of summer construction season, and Schultz, who will begin an apprenticeship with Operating Engineers Local 49 and Lunda Construction, was among several who had already signed on to begin working for local union contractors.

“This opportunity has opened my eyes to a whole new experience,” said Dwayne Douglas, set to begin an apprenticeship with Laborers Local 563 and Lunda after graduation. “To be a part of a training like this means everything in the world. This is something that is going to be beneficial for me and beneficial for my family for the rest of my life.”

Building Strong Communities Program Manager Thomas Scott said the work of “helping to make our construction industry in Minnesota more reflective of all our communities throughout the state” does not end with graduation. Each graduate has selected an advocate to provide mentorship and support over the next year.

“The goal is to stay in the industry and for the individual to experience everything that motivated him or her to choose the construction industry in the first place,” Scott said. “Our community advocates will continue to work with graduates … so that they have a strong support when things get rough.”

Joe Fowler, president of the state Building Trades council, welcomed graduates into the union family.

“As you look to begin your new careers, know that you’re entering a family of brothers and sisters who stand up for each other,” Fowler said. “And just remember that solidarity is key to making sure that you’re successful, and it’s key to making sure that our unions continue to thrive and are successful as well.”

Learn more about Building Strong Communities at buildingstrong.org.

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Unions honor fallen tradespeople on Workers Memorial Day

April 28, 2022 by

Twin Cities Building Trades councils observed Workers Memorial Day with a ceremony on the Capitol grounds today, remembering union tradespeople who died from workplace injuries and illnesses over the past year and rededicating their organizations to the cause of safer worksites.

“Every worker, regardless of their language, their gender, their skin color, their age or their citizenship status, has the right to be safe and healthy on the job,” Minnesota Labor and Industry Commissioner Roslyn Robertson said in remarks during the ceremony, held in the Workers Memorial Garden.

Standing along a stone memorial wall, union leaders and family members held 12 white crosses with the names of fallen union members: Neil Boser of Laborers Local 563; Gerald Peterson, Eric Raddatz, Dean Sinwell and Robert Vogelsberg of Operating Engineers Local 49; Duane Peterson, Craig Hansen, Robert Winczewski and Eric Dennis of Glaziers and Glassworkers Local 1324; George Kisel and Gary Newman of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 34; and Donald Hopper of Painters Local 1962.

Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council President Joe Fowler chimed a bell as each name was read over the loudspeaker, and a black sash was draped over each cross.

Another cross held the name of longtime Carpenters union member and volunteer Darrell Ray, who died April 19. Ray was a fixture of the trades’ Workers Memorial Day ceremonies, usually as the person ringing the memorial bell.

Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough, a longtime member of Glaziers Local 1324, encouraged those gathered to imagine a Workers Memorial Day when that bell remains silent and “there are no more crosses” marking the deaths of construction workers.

“Memorials like this remind us of the work that’s yet to be done,” McDonough said. “And who’s going to do that work if it’s not you and me standing together in solidarity?”

Labor Commissioner Roslyn Robertson speaks during the Workers Memorial Day observance.

Robertson said upholding labor rights is an important part of making sure workplaces are safe.

“We must listen to the voice of the workers because it’s those workers who really know how to do their jobs safely,” she said. “We have to encourage those workers to be able to stand up when they see unsafe practices taking place.”

The annual day of reflection comes each year on April 28, the anniversary of the creation of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1971. Across the country and throughout the world, working people pause to remember workplace fatalities and commit to improving safety on the job.

An annual report from the AFL-CIO, “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect,” found that U.S. workplaces have much room for improvement when it comes to safety. Using 2020 employment data, the report found that hazardous working conditions led to 340 deaths every day that year, a rate of 3.4 fatalities per 100,000 workers.

The fatality rate was three times higher in the construction industry in 2020, and nearly four times higher among transportation and warehouse workers. More than a third of fatalities occurred among workers ages 55 and over.

Cohlton Boser (L) and Talyre Boser hold a cross for their father, Neil Boser, a member of Laborers Local 563 who died in a workplace accident last August.

Minnesota saw 67 workplace fatalities in 2020, according to the AFL-CIO report; 28 came as a result of transportation incidents.

Overall, employers reported nearly 3.2 million work-related injuries and illnesses in 2020, according to the report, and musculoskeletal disorders continued to make up the largest portion injuries, at 21%.

Latino and Black workers remained at greater risk of dying on the job than other workers, the report found.

Researchers also said underreporting of workplace injuries and illnesses is widespread, estimating the true tally of work-related injuries and illnesses at between 5.4 million and 8.1 million each year.

The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, is calling on both OSHA and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) to enact stronger job safety and health protections, for Congress to increase resources for job safety agencies and for workers to have a real voice on safety and health in our workplaces without the fear of retaliation or intimidation.

“That’s tens of thousands of families losing a parent, a child, a sibling, every single year,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said. “Latino and Black workers specifically remain at greater risk of dying on the job than all workers. That is, frankly, unacceptable.”

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Roslyn Robertson: ‘Every fatality crosses my desk, and my stomach just cringes’

April 26, 2022 by

Commissioner Roslyn Robertson (mn.gov photo)

Each year on April 28, the labor movement observes Workers Memorial Day, when union members pause to remember workers killed or injured on the job – and to recommit to the fight for safe workplaces.

It’s a mission shared by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI), led by Commissioner Roslyn Robertson since January 2021. Robertson, who has more than 30 years of experience working in the agency, discussed the state’s efforts to promote safe workplaces and more in this Union Advocate interview, edited for length.

UA: What message do you want working people to hear this Workers Memorial Day?

RR: A renewed commitment to supporting workers. COVID changed the world of work to the point that right now it is a worker’s market; there are significantly more job openings than the number of skilled workers who can fill those positions. So I think one of the messages workers should hear this Workers Memorial Day is a debt of gratitude. I’m personally faced with many, many challenges, even at the state level, to find the right fit for the available openings, and I hear that in every arena that I find myself in. But as a regulator, I think the message workers need to hear is they are appreciated, they are supported, they are needed and they are valued in the workplace.

UA: Workers have faced new and unfamiliar risks during the pandemic. What lessons have we learned?

RR: Safety and health in the workplace are as important today as ever. COVID showed us that work is not in any way immune – as a matter of fact, the mere work environment can pose life-threatening hazards to the worker. So prioritizing safety and health is paramount.

We also know that safety pays, that a safe workplace is a profitable workplace. If employers are not doing all they can to control the known hazards, then the disruptions in the workplace could very easily affect their bottom line. Injuries negatively impact more than just that single worker. It can negatively impact the psyche of the workers around that individual, the confidence those workers have in their employer. When you couple that with the significant number of job openings, this should be the motivation for today’s employer to keep workers as safe as possible.

UA: As we look at means of protecting workers from injuries, what’s the importance of a union contract?

RR: Again, COVID has shown just how fragile some of our systems are, and having representation is even more important today than it could have been years ago. This should be an opportune time for unions to expand their reach. Many employees have learned through COVID just how vulnerable they are. Unions promote good safety, health and benefits to workers, whereas those employees who are not represented are really at the mercy of an employer. This is really the time for unions to toot their horns.

UA: What’s behind your passion for promoting and expanding registered apprenticeship?

RR: I started my career in the apprenticeship unit, so I learned how registered apprenticeship creates highly skilled workers that are capable of earning a very decent wage. But my passion for apprenticeship goes even further because my son went through a registered apprenticeship program. Over the years, I always sort of took him along to events. I remember taking him to an apprenticeship graduation ceremony when he was in 10th grade, and I said, that guy there will be earning whatever the journey-level wage rate was for an electrician at the time. My son was just floored.

UA: And how does apprenticeship factor into keeping worksites, particularly in the construction industry, safer?

RR: The first thing an apprentice learns is safety. When you start off prioritizing safety and incorporate that into every single process you do, all of a sudden, they don’t know how not to do it. That really yields some good results, and the commitment to safety training continues throughout their career. Every serious injury crosses my desk, every fatality crosses my desk, and my stomach just cringes. We can never take safety for granted, and we do that by making it a standard part of every training curriculum. That is what you find with union registered apprenticeship.

UA: A recent report brought to light some alarmingly high rates of injury at Amazon warehouses in Minnesota. Is that on the department’s radar?

RR: Amazon warehouses are definitely on our radar. The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires state regulators … to investigate any complaints, and there have been a small number of complaints, which is a bit shocking. But Labor and Industry have received complaints against an Amazon warehouse in Shakopee.

Here’s what really bears a bit more explanation. We have conducted a number of investigations at Amazon’s warehouse, however we can only assess the situation for what it appears when we’re there. Many of the injuries that have been subsequently reported through the workers-compensation system are injuries sustained over a period of time. So when you go out and you do an inspection, you can’t see the body changing. Musculoskeletal injuries, injuries based on repetitive motion, they are a bit harder to observe. It’s not like an electrical hazard or a noise hazard or a physical hazard. It looks very different, and it continues to challenge us on appropriate ways we can address it.

UA: Will that require targeted legislation?

RR: Maybe it will. I don’t have language in mind, but I do know this is an issue being debated across the nation. How do you handle the types of injuries that are occurring either because of the line speed or repetitive motion? It’s a serious situation. We’re going to have to bring some well-informed folks to the table in order to figure out a workable solution, one that will improve the safety for workers but also give the employer some space at the table to talk about the uniqueness of their business. It’s a big deal.

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