Mayor’s race divides St. Paul unions

October 24, 2017 by

R to L: Melvin Carter, Pat Harris and Dai Thao.

It was no coincidence that Republican majorities in the Minnesota Legislature last session made stripping power from local governments one of their top priorities.

Frustrated by political gridlock at the state and federal levels, working people in Minnesota and beyond are building powerful coalitions to make their voices heard in local government, and their elected officials have been paying attention.

Municipalities across the country are taking action on issues where state and federal progress has stalled, like raising the minimum wage, expanding access to earned sick time and combating wage theft.

The momentum behind these local organizing efforts has prompted at least one Minnesota union to recalibrate its focus.

“We can’t count on federal lawmakers to help us with any of our issues, and the state is real iffy,” Mary Turner, president of the Minnesota Nurses Association, said. “So our interest has been turned onto city races.”

The MNA took a big step this year when it endorsed a candidate for mayor of St. Paul. It marks the first time in the union’s history that it has endorsed a candidate for office in the city.

Several other labor groups, including AFSCME Council 5, the Building and Construction Trades Council, the St. Paul Federation of Teachers and Teamsters Local 120, have endorsed candidates in the Nov. 7 election to succeed outgoing Mayor Chris Coleman.

After taking office in 2006, Coleman enjoyed broad labor support in two re-election campaigns, including the endorsement of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, with over 100 affiliate unions. The federation has not endorsed a candidate for mayor this year, but it’s not for lack of good options, President Bobby Kasper said.

“Our federation hosted one of the city’s first mayoral debates last spring, and I was encouraged to see unanimous support among the candidates for a $15 minimum wage and other measures that will lift up working people,” Kasper said. “Labor may not be united behind one candidate this year, but whoever wins can be sure we will be united with our faith and community partners at City Hall next year.”

Candidates for mayor who have won union endorsements include:

Melvin Carter

A former member of the City Council representing Ward 1, Carter resigned to take a job advising Gov. Mark Dayton on education policy. That work was a big reason Carter won endorsement from the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, president Nick Faber said.

“The heart of what we’re pushing for is full funding for racial equity in our schools, and we can’t do that without a mayor who understands the issue,” Faber said. “Even if the mayor’s relationship to education is distant, having an ally in that office is going to mean a lot.”

For members of AFSCME Council 5, which represents people who work City of St. Paul’s parks, libraries, permitting offices and beyond, the mayor’s race has a much more direct impact. Denna Thurmond, a member of AFSCME Local 2829 who lives in St. Paul’s North End, said she supports Carter, in part, because he has been a “champion for workers and public employees.”

“His dad was a public worker,” she added. “I’ve been canvassing with his campaign, and Melvin is a very down-to-earth individual who relates to working people, who understands and sympathizes with people because he’s been there. His experiences make it easy for him to identify with people like us.”

Pat Harris

Another former council member, Pat Harris represented Ward 3 from 2000 to 2012. He currently serves on the Metropolitan Airports Commission and works as a vice president for BMO Harris Bank specializing in government banking.

Harris’ expertise in public finance – a critical part of urban development that puts union tradespeople to work – attracted support from the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council and its affiliate craft unions.

“What put Pat over the top for us was his ability and understanding of businesses and financing and getting projects done,” Brian Winkelaar, political director for Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said.

Winkelaar pointed to Harris’ push for project labor agreements that ensure labor peace on construction projects at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. “There’s a lot of building going on at the airport, and those agreements are extremely helpful for our members,” Winkelaar said.

In his role on the MAC, Harris also helped pass an airport-wide minimum wage $1 higher than the state’s, and he pushed for a labor-peace agreement with the airport’s concessionaires. That impressed Paul Slattery of Teamsters Local 120, which pushed in vain for a similar agreement governing organized trash collection in St. Paul.

“Organizing workers under a labor-peace agreement is a lot easier,” Slattery said. “And all the candidates say they’re behind $15 in St. Paul, but Pat actually did something at the airport.”

Dai Thao

Ward 1 Council Member Dai Thao picked up the nurses’ endorsement, MNA President Turner said, because of his leadership in passing the nation’s strongest earned sick and safe time ordinance last year.

Nurses also asked mayoral candidates to offer ways they could support efforts to improve staffing at hospitals and protect nurses from violence in the workplace – two of the union’s top legislative priorities.

“Dai Thao was the one who said even though the city can’t write new laws, as mayor he can bring together people and organizations that could be instrumental in helping educate the community on these issues,” Turner said. “He was the only one who came up with a plan rather than just checking the box saying, ‘Yes, I agree with you.’

“That made a difference.”

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Campaign for $15 sets sights on St. Paul

August 21, 2017 by

After an inspiring victory in Minneapolis, the coalition of unions, faith groups and community organizations working in support of a $15 minimum wage has shifted its focus to St. Paul, where a wide-open mayoral contest creates a strategic window of opportunity.

After it passed the City Council by an 11-1 vote, Mayor Betsy Hodges signed Minneapolis’ minimum wage ordinance into law June 30.

It marked a stunning turnaround for the city’s elected officials, who, when pressed to act on the minimum wage three years earlier, commissioned a study instead. Two years later, they voted to block a ballot initiative after 15 Now activists delivered over 20,000 signatures on a petition seeking to put the minimum wage question before voters.

While the city succeeded in keeping $15 off the ballot, 15 Now Minnesota lead organizer Celeste Robinson said, the overwhelming community support delivered a powerful message to Hodges and members of the City Council that “poverty wages aren’t a negotiable issue.”

“It’s not something they could stall on, it’s not something they could bargain away – because the rent won’t wait,” she added. “That relentless pressure that we applied to elected officials was the key.”

Organizers are taking a different approach in St. Paul, where a the mayor’s race already has catapulted the question of raising the minimum wage to the front burner. All five candidates who attended a mayoral debate hosted by the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation earlier this year spoke in favor of raising the minimum wage to $15.

With candidates for mayor using $15 as a campaign pledge, organizers see an opportunity to win at City Hall without pounding the pavement to collect signatures on a petition.

“Of course, we’re having problems nailing down support on the City Council,” Robinson said. “But there does seem to be a lot of enthusiasm (in the mayor’s race), and that does offer us a window. Hopefully, those mayoral candidates can kind of pull the council members along with them.”

Union members played a critical role in the success of Minneapolis’ campaign to raise the wage, and they figure to do the same in St. Paul.

Some unions support 15 Now because the cause – a $15 wage floor – has become central to their contract campaigns. In Minneapolis, the United Food and Commercial Workers’ efforts to organize co-op workers got a boost from the fight for $15. Robinson called it an “incredibly effective” approach that resonated with young workers in particular.”

“For workers who haven’t had experiences with union power before, it might not be immediately evident to them why a union is good,” she said. “But if you tell people we can have $15 an hour and that’s not all – ask them, ‘What else should we fight for?’ – that’s a really good segue into unionization.”

Other unions see fighting poverty wages as a necessary part of the work their members do. For example, teachers see in their classrooms the strain poverty puts on working families, and nurses know the connection between higher incomes and better health outcomes.

“This is a public health issue,” said Deb Haugen, a registered nurse at Children’s Hospital. “We see it daily: people who can afford their medicine, eat a healthy diet and take time to exercise tend to be less sick than those who can’t because they are working two or three jobs and don’t have the wages to support these important pillars of health.

“That’s why the Minnesota Nurses Association supports a $15 minimum wage and, as a St. Paul resident, I am excited that the campaign is coming to my city next.”

Nick Faber, president of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers, said his union not only supports a minimum wage ordinance, but has pushed the St. Paul Public Schools to adopt a policy requiring its contractors to pay $15 an hour.

“We know when the adults in our students’ lives are working three jobs at poverty wages, it negatively impacts a student’s ability to learn,” Faber said. “As educators, we not only want what’s best for our students in the classroom, but what’s best for their family. Families that are not worrying about food, rent or health care are more able to engage in their students’ learning the way we know all parents want to.”

In Minneapolis, studies found 71,000 working people will see their wages increase as a result of the city’s new ordinance. So far no similar study exists for St. Paul, but ballpark estimates put the number between 50,000 and 100,000.

15 Now has opened up a temporary office in the St. Paul Labor Center, thanks to support from the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation. RLF President Bobby Kasper urged unions to get involved in the fight to raise St. Paul’s minimum wage.

“We made great strides in St. Paul by passing the nation’s strongest earned sick and safe time ordinance,” Kasper said. “I have confidence we’re going to make history with a $15 minimum wage, too.”

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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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St. Paul’s ‘labor mayor,’ Coleman has earned a third term in office

November 1, 2013 by
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, pictured second from right, has broad support from labor in his bid for re-election.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, pictured second from right, has broad support from labor in his bid for re-election.

Since being sworn in as mayor in 2006, Chris Coleman has been standing up for St. Paul’s working families. On Nov. 5, working families have an opportunity to stand up for Coleman by reelecting the DFL mayor to a third term in office.

Coleman earned labor’s endorsement, union leaders and activists said, by bringing structural balance to the city’s budget without sacrificing essential public services, and by supporting economic development that creates good-paying jobs. The mayor also has maintained a no-fuss relationship with unions that represent city workers.

Project1_Layout 1“He really understands the value of public service and the value of the work AFSCME members and other public employees do for the City of St. Paul,” said Jim Niland, political director for Council 5 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents workers throughout the city.

Coleman “will go down in history as a good labor mayor,” according to Harry Melander, president of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council.

Melander pointed to a flurry of construction projects afoot within the city limits that have provided much-needed employment for Building Trades members. The list includes the new St. Paul Saints ballpark in Lowertown, the Penfield and West Side Flats housing developments and the Central Corridor light-rail transit line.

“Mayor Coleman has been real instrumental in trying to move development projects like these forward both in town and in the region,” Melander said.

As a result, Building Trades unions trust Coleman’s leadership in guiding development over the next four years. Likely development sites include the Twin Cities Assembly Plant in Highland Park, the former 3M property on St. Paul’s East Side (now called Beacon Bluff), the former Macy’s downtown and multiple properties along the Central Corridor line.

Transit projects like the Green Line, Coleman said, are key to St. Paul’s economic future, but the competition for federal and state funding is fierce. He believes the East Metro Transit Alliance, a public-private partnership developed with Coleman’s leadership, will “jumpstart” efforts to draw future transit investments to the area.

“One clear lesson we learned as we fought to build the Green Line was that if we in the East Metro are not fighting hard for transit investment, we can’t expect anyone else to do it,” Coleman said. “When we came together to advocate for the Central Corridor, we were a force to be reckoned with.”

Relationship building has been a hallmark of Coleman’s tenure as mayor, whether it’s public-private partnerships like the transit alliance or partnerships with other government entities like the St. Paul Board of Education or the Minnesota Legislature.

“He’s been a real partner with us in terms of improving public services and also advocating with us at the Capitol for full funding of public services,” AFSCME’s Niland said.

For union members, that remains the most important bridge built by Coleman – the one between City Hall and the city’s employees. Union leaders credit Coleman for taking a collaborative approach to the city’s budget issues during tough economic times, and for approaching unions as partners, rather than adversaries, in decisions that affect staffing.

“Mayor Coleman has done a great job trying to make sure there have been no layoffs at the city,” Melander said. “If there were reductions in departments, people were moved around to continue to have employment.”

Paul Slattery, an organizer for Teamsters Local 120, which represents workers in St. Paul’s Department of Public Works, called Coleman “a dedicated friend to the labor movement who supports the right of every worker to bargain collectively for a union contract.”

For Coleman, the relationship with labor is a two-way street. He supports workers because, in turn, Coleman knows he can count on workers’ support.

“We know that we are stronger when we act together, and it is important that we continue to advocate and fight for St. Paul,” Coleman said.

“Mayor Coleman has been on the forefront of creating a labor friendly environment throughout the City of St. Paul,” said St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper. “As mayor, he has promoted multiple development projects that have enhanced employment opportunities for our union brothers and sisters.”

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