Council vote gives St. Paul nation’s strongest earned sick time ordinance

September 7, 2016 by
St. Paul business owner Diane Brennan speaks in support of a citywide earned sick time policy at a press conference before a public hearing on the issue.

St. Paul business owner Diane Brennan speaks in support of a citywide earned sick time policy at a press conference before a public hearing on the issue.

Members of the St. Paul City Council today voted 7-0 to pass an ordinance hailed by working people, small business owners, clergy members and other advocates as the strongest earned sick and safe time law on the books nationwide.

Mayor Chris Coleman immediately indicated he would support the ordinance, making St. Paul the 35th U.S. location to pass sick-pay legislation, according to Family Values at Work.

“We are experiencing tremendous momentum as a city,” Coleman said in a statement. “We need to do everything we can to ensure even the most vulnerable among us are experiencing that same momentum. This ordinance brings us one step closer to doing so, and I support it for that reason.”

Set to take effect July 1, 2017, the ordinance will extend ESST benefits to an estimated 72,000 working people in St. Paul.

It requires all employers – regardless of size, unlike the ordinance passed in Minneapolis earlier this year – to provide one hour of sick time for every 30 hours an employee works, with sick-time earnings capped at 48 hours per year. Employees will begin accruing sick time after working 80 hours, and they become eligible to use the benefit after 90 calendar days of employment.

Supporters like Nuurto Mohamed, a janitor for 3M in St. Paul, said the new ordinance will give healthier choices to working families like hers.

“I am so excited that we won paid sick days for families like mine in St. Paul,” Mohamed said. “We work hard, and having more paid sick days will mean we no longer have to choose between our health and our paycheck when someone in our family is sick.”

The ordinance also gives employees the right to sue if they face retaliation for using their paid sick time. Michelle Parker, a member of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change who works at Papa John’s in St. Paul, welcomed the enforcement provision.

Pastor Bradley Schmeling explains his support for a citywide earned-sick-time ordinance during a press conference at St. Paul City Hall.

Pastor Bradley Schmeling explains his support for a citywide earned-sick-time ordinance during a press conference at St. Paul City Hall.

“When I have to call in sick, my employer cuts my hours for the next week,” she said. “My family needs this safeguard.”

The ordinance closely follows the recommendations of a task force established earlier this year by Mayor Coleman and council members to study the issue. It included labor, faith and community leaders, as well as representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and small business owners.

“The benefits to providing sick time outweigh the costs a hundred fold,” said Workhorse Coffee’s Shannon Forney, one of more than 50 business owners citywide to back the ordinance publicly. “If we, a scrappy small business not supported by capital investments, can do it, certainly other businesses can too.”

Supporters celebrated the council vote as the culmination of a yearlong campaign that included congregational meetings, forums, door-knocks, phone banks, strikes, rallies and meetings with elected officials.

“This vote is a big step toward improving the quality of life for all working people in Saint Paul,” said Bobby Kasper, president of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation and a member of the ESST task force. “We’re grateful to the elected officials who showed courage on Earned Sick and Safe Time, and proud to be part of a coalition of community groups that, by working together, made history today.”

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Going against the grain, some small business owners back wage hike

April 30, 2013 by
Barb Johnson, owner of Lyle's Cafe in Winthrop, supports raising the minimum wage.

Barbara Johnson, owner of Lyle’s Cafe in Winthrop, supports raising the minimum wage.

Think the minimum-wage hike progressing through the Legislature is bad news for Minnesota’s small businesses? Think again.

A survey released last week indicates strong support among small business owners nationwide for raising the federal minimum wage and adjusting it annually to account for inflation.

Small business owners gathered at the Minnesota Capitol yesterday explained the surprising survey results. Barbara Johnson, owner of Lyle’s Cafe in Winthrop, said when low-wage workers see more money in their paychecks, they are more likely to spend it at local businesses like her café.

“It’s just common sense in the restaurant business that if people have more money in their pockets, they’re more likely to go out for lunch on their break or maybe take their family out for dinner once and a while,” Johnson said.

She and other business owners spoke at a press conference staged by a coalition of unions, non-profit organizations and faith groups backing a House bill that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $9.50 over three years, and tie it to inflation. The bill’s author, Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL-Golden Valley), said 400,000 Minnesota workers would see a raise if the measure becomes law.

By participating in the event, Johnson and other small business owners would appear to flout the company line toed by powerful trade groups and business lobbyists fighting hard against Winkler’s bill. These groups claim a minimum-wage increase would disproportionately affect small businesses by forcing them to reduce their payrolls in order to absorb the added labor costs.

There’s just one problem with that argument: It’s not backed by economic research.

In a study released last summer, the National Employment Law Project found that two-thirds of low-wage workers are employed not by small businesses, but by large corporations that are highly profitable – and entirely capable of absorbing increased labor costs.

Indeed, each of the nation’s three largest low-wage employers – Wal-Mart, Yum! Brands (parent of Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell) and McDonalds – is turning profits “substantially higher” than its pre-recession levels, according to the NELP. And while they may argue it would be impossible to absorb the cost of higher wages for their lowest-paid employees, CEO pay at the three corporations remains healthier than ever.

The report, entitled “Big Business, Corporate Profits and the Minimum Wage,” concludes: “Contrary to what critics sometimes suggest, the majority of the impact of any increase in the minimum wage will … be felt by large companies and corporations rather than small mom-and-pop establishments.”

What’s more, when large employers like Wal-Mart and McDonalds raise their workers’ wages, it boosts the buying power of a group of consumers least likely – or able – to save their wages for a rainy day. The Minnesota-based JOBS NOW Coalition reports that every $1 increase in the minimum wage boosts consumer spending in the average low-wage worker’s household by $2,800 over the following year.

That’s a ripple effect felt by businesses like Lyle’s Café. “If more people are spending more money, that’s great news for my bottom line,” Johnson said.

So why all the fuss from trade groups and chambers of commerce in advance of a minimum-wage hike?

“Employers complain a lot during these debates,” John Schmitt, a senior economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said during a forum on minimum wage hosted earlier this year by JOBS NOW and the University of Minnesota’s Labor Education Service.

“They say one thing beforehand, and what they do after (a minimum wage increase) is they learn to live with it,” Schmitt said. “We don’t see any decrease in employment.”

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Labor 2012 Endorsed: Small business owner DeGree sees through GOP rhetoric

November 2, 2012 by

Tom DeGree is the labor-endorsed candidate for House District 39B.

Tom DeGree, the labor-endorsed candidate for House District 39B (map), is a small business owner, and his first campaign for public office has a distinctly entrepreneurial feel.

DeGree knows the numbers, from his campaign budget to the number of successful voter contacts volunteers have made during phone banks and door-knocks. The campaign has a dynamic website, and DeGree is reaching out to voters via social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

But most importantly, DeGree knows what consumers – the voters of District 39B – want, and it isn’t more of the same.

“People in this district are independent minded,” Degree said. “They don’t really see clearly down one part path, liberal or conservative. They are just sick of the gridlock, especially what happened with the state shutdown.”

DeGree brings a unique perspective to his campaign, as both a union member and a small business owner. So he knows firsthand that the policies pushed by Republicans in the Legislature the last two years – including his opponent, Kathy Lohmer – aren’t serving either side well.

As a teacher in the St. Paul Public Schools, DeGree has seen the effects of stagnant state funding for education – and the $2.4 billion school shift that forced districts to borrow money to meet their costs.

“The fiscally responsible Republicans charged up credit card debt with school loans,” DeGree said.

As a co-owner of Wilde Roast Café in Minneapolis, with a staff of 70 employees, DeGree also knows Republicans in the Legislature, by cutting state support for local governments, are effectively raising property taxes on small businesses.

“Property taxes are going up, I know this,” DeGree said. “The things they have done are not lowering taxes and creating jobs, even though Republicans claim they are.”

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