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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Trump guts agencies key to keeping worksites safe

May 23, 2025 by

Don Mullin (L), executive secretary of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, draped a black sash over the cross bearing the name of Daniel Lee, who died on the jobsite in November when a structural column fell on him. Ironworkers Local 512 President Troy Sebion held Lee’s cross during the Workers Memorial Day ceremony on the Capitol grounds. Sebion called Lee his best friend and said Lee nominated him to serve as the union’s president. “He was the best,” Sebion said. “Good worker, good father, horrible golfer. I miss him.”

Local unions’ Workers Memorial Day observances took on heightened urgency this year, as the Trump administration sought to hollow out federal agencies critical to protecting workers from injury, illness and death on the job.

Workers Memorial Day falls on April 28, the date President Richard Nixon signed the Occupa-tional Safety and Health Act into law in 1971. Unions across the U.S. hold events to honor workers who died on the job and rededicate their organizations to fighting for safer workplaces.

But 54 years since the landmark, bipartisan law took effect, Trump and his billionaire backers are moving to dramatically – and recklessly, unions say – to scale back the federal government’s investment in workplace safety.

Most alarming to worker advocates is a two-thirds reduction in staff at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the Health and Human Services Department that is dedicated to research that protects workers.

The agency’s recommendations are relied on by workers and employers throughout the world. Its work has informed life-saving regulations around asbestos, bloodborne pathogens, silica and black lung, and it tests and authorizes safety equipment relied on by American workers across most industries.

A coalition of unions has filed a lawsuit to restore staffing at NIOSH.

Meanwhile, workers in the Department of Labor, according to a report in The Guardian, have warned of widespread resignations that could cripple the federal government’s ability to investigate and enforce wage-and-hour and OSHA regulations.

Twin Cities Building Trades unions held a Workers Memorial Day ceremony at the Capitol on April 28.

If Trump succeeds in steering the federal government away from its responsibility to protect worker safety, labor leaders warn, it will put overwhelming pressure on unions and state and local agencies to pick up the slack.

“The realities of our present day are disturbing,” Dan McConnell, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, said during a Workers Memorial Day ceremony in St. Paul. “We must remember, while political leaders come and go, our movement endures, and our job remains unchanged.”

Held at the Minnesota Workers Memorial Garden on the Capitol grounds, the ceremony wove together solemn remarks from union leaders and state regulators about their commitment to safety on the job with a sobering reminder of what’s at stake in that work.

Dean Gale, business manager of St. Paul Plumbers Local 34, offered an opening prayer from a podium placed before a row of five white crosses, each bearing the name of a union tradesperson who died in jobsite accidents or from work-related illnesses in the past year.

“Help us honor the legacy the fallen have built and left behind,” Gale said. “You can see it in the skyline.”

The names affixed to the crosses included James Baker III of Bricklayers Local 1, David Buck of Operating Engineers Local 49, Gregory E. Jeanette of IBEW Local 242, Daniel L. Lee of Ironworkers 512 and Zachary McDonald of Bricklayers Local 1.

McConnell said unions would never accept the loss of any worker to jobsite hazards “as merely the price of doing business.”

“We gather today, on Workers Memorial Day, to remember our fallen brothers, to re-center ourselves, to recognize that our work advocating for the safety of our members will never be done and to remind one another, even though we belong to different trades, the safety of our members depends on every member of every trade performing their job safely,” he said.

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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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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Walz joins Building Trades unions in remembering fallen workers

April 28, 2021 by

In a ceremony today on the State Capitol grounds, Gov. Tim Walz and Labor Commissioner Roslyn Robertson joined members of Twin Cities Building Trades unions in paying tribute to workers who died in the past two years due to work-related injuries or illnesses. 

Observed each year on April 28, Workers Memorial Day honors those who lost their lives on the job. In ceremonies across North America, union members pause to reflect on the impact workplace deaths have on families, co-workers and communities, and raise awareness of ongoing efforts to ensure safer, healthier workplaces.  

Walz and other speakers at the St. Paul ceremony noted that COVID-19 has created new hazards and uncertainties for frontline, essential workers, who have not been able to work remotely over the past 13 months. 

“Those that aren’t with us today, those 7,000-plus Minnesotans who aren’t here, no doubt some of them contracted COVID and lost their lives doing their jobs,” Walz said. “And we found out very early how essential workers are.” 

“Today is about remembering,” Walz added. “But there better be some lessons we’ve learned over the last year.” 

Building Trades unions honored 12 fallen members at the ceremony, their names affixed to white crosses held by family members or union representatives. At the conclusion of the observance, a speaker called out each name, followed by a single bell toll, as black sashes were placed over the crosses. 

“They used their God-given talents to provide,” St. Paul Building Trades President Tom McCarthy said during an opening prayer. “They left us too soon. We humbly pray for their families and loved ones.” 

On behalf of the people of Minnesota, Walz extended his “deepest condolences to the representatives and the families here who have lost loved ones doing the work that makes our lives a little better, doing the work that fuels our economy, doing the work that moves us from place to place.”

Nationwide, about 15 workplace fatalities occur each day, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That’s roughly one fatal injury every 99 minutes. 

In Minnesota, the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigated 30 workplace fatalities in 2020. 

In her remarks, Robertson noted that Workers Memorial Day is timed to coincide with the anniversary of the date, now 50 years ago, that federal legislation creating OSHA went into effect. Minnesota won approval to establish its own OSHA in 1985. 

“Workplaces are much safer today than they were before the OSHA Act, but our work is not done,” Robertson said, adding that the legislation “transformed employers’ responsibility to keep workplaces safe.” 

Robertson emphasized the need to do more to protect workers who face greater risks on the job, whether due to the dangerous nature of their work or due to factors that may prevent them from understanding their rights and protections on the job, including language and cultural differences. 

“A safe workplace isn’t a privilege, it is a right of every worker,” the labor commissioner said. “It’s important that all workers have the information and training they need to be safe at the work site, regardless of what they look like, where they come from or what language they speak.  

“If they’re in the workplace, they have a right to a safe work environment.” 

That’s a principle shared by labor unions, which have taken a leading role during the pandemic in winning protections for members and all working people. Unions have fought for access to personal protective equipment, ventilation and paid COVID leave, and they have lobbied lawmakers like Walz for emergency workplace health and safety standards.  

“With the voice of labor and the voice of legislators to back it up, we made sure we wouldn’t ask someone to go back into an unsafe work condition unless we made sure they were taken care of,” Walz said. “We wouldn’t ask them to go back in there unless we were doing all we could to protect them.” 

View the names of tradespeople honored at today’s ceremony here. 

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St. Paul Park refinery picks fight with Building Trades unions, too

March 25, 2021 by

Pipefitters Local 455’s (L to R) Troy Heidrich, Dan Clark and Jacob Bear demonstrate outside the Marathon refinery in St. Paul Park.

Teamsters aren’t the only union members Marathon is looking to replace with nonunion, out-of-state workers at the St. Paul Park refinery.

They aren’t the only ones fighting back, either.

Earlier this month, several Building and Construction Trades unions began setting up banners around the refinery, publicly shaming Marathon for turning its back on Minnesota contractors and tradespeople – and for putting the safety of St. Paul Park and surrounding communities at risk.

Although some of the banners are within shouting distance of locked-out Teamsters’ picket lines, the two disputes are not connected. Both reflect a troubling disregard for community safety on Marathon’s part, however.

“Marathon has been going down this pathway for a long time,” Don Mullin, executive secretary of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, said. “They’ve been taking on efforts to be anti-organized labor because that’s the way they do it in other states.”

Ironworkers Local 512’s Ted DeSantell (L) and Nate O’Reilly
Laborers Local 563’s Sarah Monkey, Stephen Cruz and Jade Monkey, Sarah’s daughter
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 110’s Matt Walker, Dick Schmitt and Nick Rosenberg;

The dispute heated up this year after Marathon informed a union contractor there was no work forthcoming at the refinery, despite a scheduled maintenance turnaround beginning in late April. Turnarounds involve dangerous work, Mullin said, and can mean hundreds, even thousands, of jobs for tradespeople at a refinery like the one in St. Paul Park.

But rather than trust that work to highly skilled tradespeople who live and work in the area, Marathon is cutting costs by bringing in workers from across the country.

Not only does that undermine Minnesota’s labor standards, Building Trades unions say, it calls into question the safety of work being done at the refinery, located near homes and businesses in St. Paul Park and Newport.

Mullin accused Marathon of scraping the “bottom of the barrel” for tradespeople, bringing them in from Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky and elsewhere. He said unions are taking a stand because Minnesota deserves better, and he encouraged members of the public to do the same.

“It’s disgusting what Marathon is doing,” Mullin said. “We need to write Marathon or call them and tell them this is the wrong way to handle their business. They need to be a good community partner. Right now they’re not.”

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St. Paul unions take on new role getting fresh food to families

February 23, 2021 by

Dave Hallas (L) of United Steelworkers Local 7263 and Tom Edwards, a retired Postal Worker from St. Paul, wave cars through a contactless food distribution event in St. Paul Park, where nearly 200 refinery workers are locked out.

Local unions are stepping up this winter to connect thousands of Minnesotans with free, fresh food available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box program.

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, which brings together over 100 local unions in Chisago, Dakota, Ramsey and Washington counties, is spearheading the effort, working in partnership with local unions and labor councils to plan and stage distribution events outside union halls and training centers – and even blocks away from a picket line.

The distribution events are open to all, and with food-shelf visits at an all-time high in Minnesota, they are drawing a lot of interest.

[Find a list of scheduled food events on the Regional Labor Federation’s Facebook page.]

Unions like Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) are eager to help meet the growing need for food, Business Manager Jamie McNamara said. The union hosted a distribution event at its facility on Conway Street Feb. 20, one of 12 organized by the Regional Labor Federation and its partners last month.

“We’re extremely honored to be able to provide food to the East Side of St. Paul,” McNamara said. “The IBEW has a great partnership with the community here, and we’re very grateful to be of service to a community that’s been so good to us. We look forward to doing another one of these in the future.”

Union volunteers are eager to support food distribution events like this one at IBEW Local 110.

Each distribution site that participates in the Farmers to Families program receives a truckload of around 1,300 food packages. Each package contains 25 to 30 pounds of fresh fruits, vegetables and meat and dairy products, including a gallon of milk.

The events are opportunity to restock the refrigerator, whereas food pantries mostly offer non-perishable, shelf-stable goods.

Erica Dalager Reed, an AFL-CIO Community Services liaison with the Regional Labor Federation, said the fresh food boxes help families struggling with food insecurity to “supplement what they are getting from other resources,” like food shelves.

But offering fresh food comes with unique challenges for Dalager Reed and the federation’s partner organizations.

Timing is everything. When a truck arrives at a distribution site, volunteers must be ready to unload and sort the food for contactless pickup. Distribution must begin – and end – shortly after the food leaves the truck to prevent it from spoiling.

It’s a labor-intensive process, which makes unions uniquely qualified for the job. And through their training centers and industry connections, unions can usually access a pallet jack or forklift to unload the trailer, too.

“When we first hosted a food distribution site at the Labor Center last October, it gave us a real sense of the need that exists in our community,” Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson said. “Since then, our affiliate unions and volunteers have given their time and talents generously at event after event, outside and in the cold. I am deeply appreciative.”

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation and St. Paul Building Trades teamed up for a distribution event at the Labor Center Feb. 3.

The Regional Labor Federation’s nonprofit arm, the St. Paul Labor Studies and Resource Center, plays a key role in accessing the USDA program, which allows only registered nonprofit organizations to arrange for delivery of a Farmers to Families truckload.

The program has been so popular that union groups statewide – and even in North Dakota – have reached out to Dalager Reed about setting up distribution events in partnership with the St. Paul federation and the LSRC.

“We’re just looking to help the community,” Tony Poole, business manager of St. Paul Pipefitters Local 455, said during an event Feb. 16 at the union’s training center in the North End. “We’ve got a lot of low-income families around this neighborhood, and we just want to help. It worked out really well.”

Officers, staff and volunteers from Pipefitters Local 455 pause for a photo during a food distribution event at their North End facility.

It’s gone over well with the public, too.

Dalager Reed said she saw several comments on social media after the Pipefitters’ event, with some users thanking the union and others expressing surprise. One person, she said, wrote: ‘That’s my dad’s union! I didn’t know unions did stuff like that.’”

St. Paul Building Trades Executive Secretary Don Mullin, whose council co-hosted a distribution event Feb. 3 at the St. Paul Labor Center, said that while unions and union members have a long history of giving back to their communities, they aren’t always good at taking credit for it.

“This has been a great opportunity to provide meals to the community, and it really speaks to everything labor does as a whole,” Mullin said. “We help out. We work with the community. And we’re showing the community what we’re all about.”

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Magler retires from St. Paul Pipefitters’ top office

December 21, 2018 by
web.Magler-retirement

Tony Poole (L) will succeed Rick Magler as business manager of Pipefitters Local 455. Magler shows off a box-elder bowl carved by a neighbor to celebrate his retirement.

Rick Magler, business manager of St. Paul Pipefitters Local 455 for the last six years, celebrated his retirement yesterday with family, friends and fellow Pipefitters.

The celebration took place at the local’s state-of-the-art apprenticeship center and union hall, which opened its doors on L’Oreint Street three years ago. Magler played a leading role in building the Pipefitters’ new, permanent home in St. Paul, but you wouldn’t know it by asking him.

“I was just lucky to have been in charge when that happened, and I had a lot of help,” the always humble Magler said. “It wasn’t just me, it was our whole membership.”

Assistant Business Manager Tony Poole will step into the top job at Local 455 after Magler’s retirement is official.

Magler gained initiation into Local 455 in February 1981. Before going to work as a business agent nine years ago, he worked as a welder, mostly in power plants.

Magler credits his father for talking him into going through with his apprenticeship interview 38 years ago, during a surprise visit as Magler was on his way to work at a nonunion job.

“I liked my job, and they treated me good,” Magler remembered. “But this one day I got up and was getting ready for work, and somebody was knocking on my door. I thought, ‘Who the heck is here?’

“So I went to the door, and it was my dad. He said, ‘Don’t you have an interview today?’ He said he had a chance to get into the union when he was younger, and he didn’t do it. And he said I should at least go to the interview. Two weeks later I was starting day school.

“That was the smartest thing I ever did.”

Magler’s interest in politics drove him to get more involved with the union. He served in several elected offices within Local 455: sergeant at arms, vice president, president and Executive Board member. He also held office in several labor councils, including as a trustee for the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO.

Bobby Kasper, president of the St. Paul RLF, presented Magler with an award at his final federation meeting last week for lifetime service to the labor movement.

“Congratulations to Rick on his well-deserved retirement,” Kasper said. “We will miss his steady leadership and reliable presence at Regional Labor Federation events.”

The celebration Thursday was as down-to-earth as Magler, who made a batch of booya for the occasion.

Magler and his wife, Karen, live in Connorsville, Wis. He has four daughters and one son, who is a second-year apprentice with Local 455. One of Magler’s sons-in-law is on track to become a journey-level Pipefitter next year, too.

Magler has no plans to give up the craft in retirement, either.

“I miss welding, I love to weld,” he laughed. “I’m going to do some of that in retirement.”

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Women in Construction plan two events this month

October 9, 2018 by

Two events this month will bring together women who work in construction or are considering a career in the Building Trades.

The St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council will sponsor Women Wear Hardhats! – a networking event for women interested in learning more about the career opportunities available in the union trades – from 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, at the St. Paul Labor Center, 353 W. 7th St.

Organizers promise an “interactive, informational event,” with representatives of local unions and apprenticeship programs taking part in an open panel discussion.

The event is free and open to all. Union representatives interested in participating should RSVP to Tasha Lawrence at 612-709-8240 or tasha.lawrence@metromech.us.

Tradeswomen from several area states will travel to Bloomington Oct. 26-27 for the National Association of Women in Construction’s Midwest Region Fall Conference.

Find information about convention business and registration here.

Read more about efforts to recruit more women for careers in construction – and the challenges they face in the industry – here.

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Senator’s new State Fair booth – like most buildings on the fairgrounds – is union built

August 27, 2018 by

Putting up Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s booth on the State Fairgrounds is an annual tradition for the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, but it isn’t the only structure on the fairgrounds built by union members – far from it, in fact.

“A majority of the building on the grounds were built union, going all the way back to the 1950s,” Don Mullin, the council’s executive secretary, said. “That continues today, whether it’s putting up new facilities or maintaining the old ones.

“It’s a great thing for tradespeople to be able to come out with their families to the fair and be able to show them something we build. It’s like we say, we’re proud to build St. Paul.”

St. Paul Building Trades volunteers on hand to help frame Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s new state fair booth included, L to R, (back) Ryan Ponthan, Rob Busch, Mick Christy and Aaron Hill of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, and (front) Joe Navejas, Laborers Local 563; Tim House, Plasterers Local 265; Brian Gullickson, Cement Masons 633.
Brian Gullickson (front) of Cement Masons Local 633 and Joe Navejas of Laborers Local 563 test the length of a crossbeam.
Ryan Ponthan
Ryan Ponthan (top) consults with Mick Christy, a fellow member of the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters.
Volunteers from IUPAT District Council 82 pose for a photo with the finished project.
Volunteers from the Painters union.

This year Klobuchar’s campaign – at the suggestion of union tradespeople – purchased materials for a new, safer, state-of-the-art structure.

To ensure the initial installation went right, the council brought together volunteers from several of its member unions Aug. 15. Among them were Carpenters Local 322, Cement Masons Local 633, Electrical Workers Local 110, Laborers Local 563, Painters District Council 82, Plasterers Local 265, Plumbers Local 34 and Roofers Local 96.

“It’s a great opportunity for the Building Trades to showcase the work that we do, and to make sure Sen. Klobuchar has a great place to showcase the work she does for Minnesota,” Mullin said.

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Area Building Trades councils honored for community outreach

April 20, 2018 by

At the Ayers Award ceremony (L to R): Duluth Council President Craig Olson, NABTU President Sean McGarvey, Dan McConnell and Jenny Winkelaar of the Minneapolis Building Trades, Minnesota Executive Director Carly Melin, Minneapolis President Dave Ybarra, St. Paul Executive Secretary Don Mullin, St. Paul President Tom McCarthy and NABTU Secretary-Treasurer Brent Booker. submitted photo

Local Building Trades unions have put an emphasis in recent years on reaching out to make more women, veterans and people of color aware of their registered apprenticeship programs and the middle class career opportunities they make possible.

Those efforts earned national recognition Wednesday in Washington, D.C., when North America’s Building Trades Unions presented the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Minnesota Building Trades councils with the annual Mark H. Ayers Community Achievement Award.

After the longtime president of NABTU died in 2012, the organization created the award to honor Ayers’ passionate belief that Building Trades unions are a force for good in their local communities.

Tradespeople deliver value to communities not only on the jobsite, Ayers believed, but also as stewards of their registered apprenticeship programs, which create a pathway for thousands of people across the country to get good jobs with family-supporting benefits and a secure retirement.

In presenting the award to the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Minnesota councils, NABTU recognized several union-driven initiatives piloted here – and replicated across the country – that recruit and prepare people for construction apprenticeships.

• Construct Tomorrow. In this program, representatives of different Building Trades apprenticeships set up interactive, hands-on exhibits in a school gymnasium, rec center or other public space, offering young people an opportunity to try out more than a dozen different construction crafts in the same day.

• Minnesota Trades Academy. This paid summer internship brings teenagers from a handful of urban schools into several different unions’ training facilities, where they spend their days learning from registered apprenticeship instructors.

• Outreach into public schools. Building Trades councils have been aggressive in cultivating new relationships with public schools, so that students, counselors and technical-education instructors are more aware of the opportunities available through unions’ apprenticeship programs.

Don Mullin, executive secretary of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, credited the award to the “broad efforts” of the council’s affiliate unions, as well as the vision laid out by his predecessor in office, Harry Melander, who now serves as the top officer of the state Building Trades council.

“All of our affiliates have had a hand in earning this recognition,” Mullin said. “We’ve worked together – in St. Paul, Minneapolis and statewide – to create opportunities for people across our state to take advantage of construction apprenticeship as a pathway to the middle class. And we’re proud of that work.

“President Ayers was a strong believer in community, that as Building Trades union members we live and work and volunteer in our communities. To be associated with his legacy is an amazing honor.”

The University of Minnesota’s Labor Education Service produced the video below for the 2018 Ayers Award ceremony.

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