Minnesota’s Erickson part of change coming to Teamsters’ international leadership

January 26, 2022 by

Teamsters Local 120 President Tom Erickson spoke at a rally against wage theft at Finish Line Express in 2018.

Tom Erickson won’t be sworn in as Teamsters Central Region vice president until March 22, but the principal officer of Minnesota-based Local 120 intends to hit the ground running.

He and other local activists were up well before dawn on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, supporting a nationwide campaign to push some of the union’s large, nationwide employers – like UPS, Sysco and U.S. Foods – to recognize the holiday.

“When you believe in something, it’s easy to get out of bed at 1 a.m.” said Erickson, Local 120’s president since 2014. “I’m a lucky person in that I get to wake up every single day and represent the best workers on the planet.”

That fighting spirit and grassroots energy, according to Erickson, is what separated his slate of candidates, led by President-elect Sean O’Brien and Secretary-Treasurer-elect Fred Zuckerman, from its rivals. Their victory will give the union of 1.4 million workers new leadership for the first time in 23 years, with Erickson becoming the first Minnesota Teamster to take international office in over a decade.

He looked back on the campaign and ahead to the challenges that await in this interview, edited for length.

UA: What drew you to the O’Brien slate?

TE: There were three different slates, and I can honestly say for the first time as a Teamster that all three candidates were viable, good candidates and on the right side of fighting for workers. But talking through it with my team at Local 120, we came to the conclusion Sean O’Brien and the team he was assembling was the future, and we were one of the early ones to jump on.

Sean and Fred built this thing from the members up, instead of saying here’s the guy and forcing it down to the members. All of our team, every one of us on the slate, worked in the craft. That was important to me.

UA: What was the campaign like?

TE: It was a (expletive) ton of work. We outworked the other teams, hands down. Sean just won’t accept anything less than working your ass off. I was lucky to have my wife there by my side, telling me to get going, and guys from Local 120 like Bill Wedebrand, Grant Bendix, Paul Slattery, Ladell Roberts and Karlan Bean showing up at 2 or 3 a.m., sacrificing their own personal time to go campaign.

But if I could describe it in one word, it was a blast. I got to meet so many great members who asked great questions, and our whole campaign was to stay positive and put the Teamsters back on the map.

UA: You first joined the Teamsters in 1983. Where did this journey start?

TE: I graduated from high school on a Friday night and started on the night shift at SuperValu that Sunday. I started out on the warehouse floor as an order selector and then a forklift operator and truck loader. When I started out, Tom Keegel was my principal officer at Local 544. (Local 544 merged into Local 120 in 1998.) Now, I’ll be a part of the General Executive Board, where Local 120 has not had a voice since the late, great Tom Keegel left.

UA: O’Brien-Zuckerman has been described as the “reform-minded slate.” What does that mean to you?

TE: It’s about the members first, having rank and file members participate in national negotiations like UPS. That’s a new idea. It’s about changing the union and uniting it, not fighting about it. It’s about member engagement like I’ve never seen before in my life.

UA: What does the margin of victory – the largest in your union’s history – say about the opportunities and expectations ahead?

TE: People are ready for a fighter, and Sean’s a fighter. He’s a south Boston guy who’s tough, but levelheaded and keeps his cool. The companies that are bullies out there, they need to know that if they go to war with the Teamsters, they better buckle up.

It’s also about growing the labor movement and being there for each other. At Local 120, we show up where we can – for the Laborers, the Operating Engineers, SEIU, AFSCME, the Nurses. Sean believes that, too. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to debate from time to time, but our focus is on making things better for working people.

UA: What will your new role be?

TE: Uniting this union again is going to be Sean’s task and my task and everyone else that’s part of this movement, right down to the member that just signed his card to become a Teamster. There’s going to be a learning curve, but at the end of the day I get to do what I love. And that’s represent good people. I’m fired up. I can’t wait.

This interview appeared in The Union Advocate’s February 2022 issue. Click here to browse recent issues.

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Photos: Teamster horses bring union’s history to life in Blaine

September 23, 2021 by

Before they were driving 18-wheelers and UPS trucks, Teamsters drove horses. The union’s name refers to the people who drove a team of horses pulling a wagon, and the Teamsters’ logo still features two horses, Thunder and Lightning, to this day.

It’s a history lesson Teamsters Local 120 brought to life Aug. 25 at its union hall in Blaine, where Thunder and Lightning (or their descendants, anyway) made a guest appearance, offering wagon rides to members and their families.

Shawn Gordon, a member of Teamsters Local 41 from Kansas City, Mo., travels across the country with Thunder and Lightning as part of his nonprofit organization, dedicated to raising awareness of the Teamsters’ early history.

Gordon’s nonprofit has retrofitted an old freight wagon with benches that are perfect for leisurely rides, and he sits in the driver’s seat, dressed like a Teamster might have around the time of the union’s founding in 1903.

“The wagon you’re in is a little fancier than they would’ve used back then, but it’s a freight wagon,” Gordon told riders in Blaine. “And this is the original way people got their goods.

“We’re trying to preserve that, to keep our heritage alive and remember where we came from as a union. At the same time, we want to try and get younger people engaged again, to use the past to reflect our future.”

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Teamsters take fight to Marathon as refinery dispute enters fifth month

May 25, 2021 by

Mornings are a congested, busy time at the main gate outside Marathon’s St. Paul Park refinery. Semi trucks line up on both sides of the gate, waiting to cross a picket line held by Teamsters who, since January, have been holding out for a contract that protects local jobs and the safety of communities surrounding the refinery.

Local authorities have ruled no more than three members of Local 120 may picket an entrance to the refinery at one time, but dozens of Teamsters show up to the main gate anyway. They take turns on the line, keep each other company and otherwise pass the time.

It’s a slow-moving, but essential part of Local 120’s campaign against Marathon. But it’s not for everyone.

Almost every morning since the work stoppage began, a handful of Teamsters have volunteered for what’s known as “ambulatory picketing.” They pick out a truck exiting the refinery, tail it wherever it goes and picket outside the facility as the truck unloads. When the truck finishes unloading, the picket comes down.

More often than not, those trucks end up at a Speedway.

Picketing outside the refinery annoys Marathon and its vendors, but ambulatory picketing gives refinery workers like Ryan Bierman, whose pickup truck has been on “well over a hundred” picketing runs, an opportunity to educate the public.

“I enjoy just getting out and talking to different people about what’s going on with our strike and what the company wants to do, cutting potentially up to 50 local jobs and putting pretty much the whole plant at risk,” Bierman said. “And with that plant being so tightly-knit into different communities – St. Paul Park, Newport, Cottage Grove – if there is a major fire, an explosion or a chemical release, all these other communities are going to be put at risk too.”

Dick Briguet, Mason Bahl and Alex Kittleson advise Speedway customers in Brooklyn Center that the gas they’re about to purchase crossed a picket line.

Bierman typically livestreams the ambulatory picket on his social media account, where thousands of people have watched as he and other picketers use megaphones to warn approaching vehicles that the Speedway or other station is getting a delivery of “scab gas” from St. Paul Park.

“I’m letting people know that the highly trained employees who are normally in there making the fuel are not in there making the fuel,” refinery worker Dick Briguet said. “They brought in other workers to make it, other people in there testing it, so we can’t personally guarantee that it’s quality fuel.”

Local 120 members cannot legally call for a boycott of stations selling Marathon’s gas, but the union is finding creative and effective ways to pressure Marathon, the nation’s largest independent refining company, to get back to the table and bargain a fair, safe contract.

In advance of the company’s April 28 virtual shareholder meeting, the Teamsters led a successful campaign to convince 70% of voting shareholders to oppose the company’s executive compensation – a pay structure headlined by $6 million in restricted stock for the outgoing chairman and CEO, Gary Heminger. It was the largest margin of defeat in a “say-on-pay” vote at any S&P 500 energy company this year, according to the union.

“Marathon investors are not impressed with the golden parachutes the company provides its executives, the 379:1 CEO-to-median-employee pay ratio, and the risks the company has created by jeopardizing safety at its St. Paul Park refinery by locking out its workers,” Teamsters General Secretary-Treasurer Ken Hall said. “Placing workers, the community and the environment at undue risk is a clear … failure reflected in the vote.”

Last Friday workers from the St. Paul Park refinery traveled to Ohio, where they rallied for an end to the strike with local Teamsters and lawmakers. Earlier in the week, St. Paul Park workers staged an action in Findlay, Ohio, home of Marathon’s headquarters.

Closer to home, the Marathon dispute has prompted several Minnesota legislators to look into changing state law to ensure an adequately trained workforce in local refineries.

And Local 120 has rolled out a “Burn Zone” campaign to raise awareness of the devastating impact a safety incident at the St. Paul Park refinery could have on surrounding communities. Text “BURN” to 86466 or visit areyouintheburnzone.com to learn more.

Members of Education Minnesota, LIUNA and the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation join Teamsters in raising awareness of the ongoing dispute at Marathon’s St. Paul Park refinery, which supplies most Speedway gas stations in the area.

“Teamsters are punching above their weight in this fight, and it’s inspiring to see,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson said. “So is the solidarity other union members have offered these refinery workers, who are taking a stand for everyone’s safety.”

When people understand what’s going on in St. Paul Park, they typically support the Teamsters’ cause, refinery worker Mason Bahl said. That’s why he likes ambulatory picketing.

“It actually gives you a sense a satisfaction to go to a Minnoco or another independently owned station and talk to the manager, and they agree without you,” Bahl said. “They say, ‘Hey, we get it. We won’t get fuel from your refinery anymore.’”

“We just try to tell people what’s going on, why we’re here and how to help us out,” refinery worker Alex Kittleson added. “And a lot of people seem to understand that it’s about safety for ourselves, our families and our communities.”

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Union family sticking together as Marathon lockout drags on

March 25, 2021 by

Locked-out workers’ family and friends picket the Marathon refinery during a solidarity event.

SAINT PAUL PARK – Megan Christner and Amber Marlatt could never put a price on the value of their husbands’ safety at work. So it infuriates them to see their husbands’ employer, the Marathon oil refinery here, do just that.

“It’s his life we’re talking about,” Marlatt said of her husband, Dave. “And Marathon cares more about saving money?

“I’m just blown away that someone could be so selfish.”

Outraged and unreserved, Christner, Marlatt and dozens of other family members and friends took over the Teamsters Local 120 picket line outside the refinery March 11, showing the depth of community support behind nearly 200 union members who have been locked out by Marathon since Jan. 22.

“I stand behind him 1,000%,” Christner said of her husband, Jason, an operator at Marathon. “I would be out here every night if I could, every day if I could. I told him do not back down. You’ve got to stand up for what you believe.”

What Christner and his fellow Teamsters believe is that Marathon’s contract demands, which the company has clung to in more than 24 bargaining sessions since November, would make workers inside the refinery less safe from workplace accidents – and put nearby communities at risk.

Members of Local 120’s bargaining team say the company is dead set on shaking up staffing at the facility. Management wants to replace some skilled, highly trained, experienced union members with workers from lowest-bidder subcontractors, including firms from outside Minnesota.

That’s a concern both for Teamsters and for their loved ones, many of whom already have grown accustomed to worrying about what happens inside the refinery.

Megan Christner said she remembers telling Jason not to apply for a job at the refinery in the first place because of the risks and hazardous materials involved. “Those are thoughts, when he goes to work, that I still have,” she said.

“The company is penny pinching,” Christner added. “They want to save a buck. But this is about lives, about our husbands and our friends and our family members coming home.”

Amber Marlatt said the thought that Dave, an operator at the refinery, would feel less safe working under Marathon’s contract proposals, is “heartbreaking and scary.”

“We have two girls, 4 and 8, and they want their dad to come home,” Amber Marlatt added. “I need him to come home. That’s why we’re not giving up.”

Family members aren’t the only outsiders with a stake in the standoff between Marathon and Local 120 over safety. The refinery is nestled between residential areas of Newport and St. Paul Park, along the banks of the Mississippi River.

Amber Marlatt (L) and Megan Christner

In April 2018 an explosion rocked the Husky Energy refinery in Superior, Wis., and ensuing fires prompted local authorities to evacuate people living nearby. Two dozen people working in the facility were injured.

Among the Teamsters locked out by Marathon in St. Paul Park are several workers trained in fighting chemical fires. Most fire departments in the area focus on training to fight residential fires, union members say, leaving the refinery poorly protected during the lockout – and potentially, if management gets its way in negotiations, for good.

It’s no surprise, then, that the March 11 event drew community members to the picket line, support Christner called “refreshing to see.”

“People are here because this is where they live, and they don’t want to see something potentially bad happen in their community,” she said.

“Marathon is paying all these people to come in from out of state and work during this lockout, paying for their expenses, paying for their hotels. Meanwhile, their loyal workers are out here on the line, fighting for the community’s safety. People appreciate that.”

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St. Paul unions’ free food giveaways pass million-pound milestone

March 22, 2021 by

Volunteers load cars with 30-pound packages of fresh food in St. Paul Park, where the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation’s food giveaways surpassed the million-pound milestone Saturday.

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation and its nonprofit Labor Studies and Resource Center (LSRC) have taken a leading role in connecting Minnesotans with fresh food available through a new USDA program this winter. And on March 20 in St. Paul Park, their efforts hit a major milestone: 1 million pounds of food distributed into local communities.

“With demand for emergency food assistance at an all-time high during the pandemic, it’s been amazing to see local unions step up this winter to connect more Minnesota families with free, fresh food available through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farmers to Families Food Box program,” Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson said.

The giveaway at the American Legion in St. Paul Park, just blocks away from the Marathon refinery where nearly 200 Teamsters have been locked out for two months, was the 29th coordinated by the Regional Labor Federation since October.

Rev. Stacey Smith (R) and St. James AME Church hosted an event at the church in St. Paul.
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189 and President Jennifer Christensen hosted a giveaway in South St. Paul.
Volunteers at one of several free food giveaways hosted by Teamsters Local 120 in St. Paul Park, where Marathon refinery has locked out nearly 200 Local 120 members.
Volunteers with District Council 82 of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades load food into a pickup during a giveaway at their union hall in Little Canada.
The CWA Minnesota State Council and its affiliates hosted an event at the Local 7200 hall in Minneapolis.

Eleven more events are on the calendar for March, with more coming in April. Find a list of coming events at stpaulunions.org or the federation’s Facebook page.

At each event, the nonprofit LSRC accesses a USDA truckload of food and partners with local unions, labor councils and community organizations to stage contactless distribution events. Each event requires dozens of volunteers to unload and distribute about 1,300 packages of fresh food, each weighing about 30 pounds.

“Logistically, we need forklifts, we need palette jacks, and we need people who can operate them – that’s what unions and our partner organization are providing,” said Erica Dalager Reed, an AFL-CIO Community Services Liaison with the LSRC. “They’re also providing the empathy and connection that all of us so sorely need.”

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Community rallies around refinery workers as Marathon lockout enters third week

February 5, 2021 by

Gov. Tim Walz rallies with locked-out refinery workers in St. Paul Park.

ST. PAUL PARK – As picketing at the refinery in this small, suburban community entered a third week, members of Teamsters Local 120 and Gov. Tim Walz ratcheted up the pressure on Marathon last night with a rally highlighting workers’ safety concerns.

Each day the lockout continues, Local 120 steward Tylor Sardeson warned, Marathon is putting its workers and surrounding communities at risk.

“We’re on this side of the fence,” said Sardeson, a crude operator at the facility. “It’s the wrong side of the fence to make sure this place stays safe.”

Nearly 200 Teamsters are standing together to resist the company’s demand for dramatically different staffing inside the refinery, including the ability to replace union members with workers from lowest-bidder subcontractors.

“They’re going to add more jobs to my plate, and I don’t even feel comfortable with the ones I have right now,” Local 120 steward Dean Benson said. “Safely, it’s just not possible.”

Walz listened as workers and family members laid out the stakes of contract negotiations with Marathon. Rhiannon Sklavenitis fought back tears as she recalled a serious burn injury her husband suffered at the refinery, which left her more afraid for his safety than when he was deployed into combat with the Navy.

The governor then took the stage and called on Marathon “to get back to the table” and “make sure safety is at the center” of talks. He praised union members for taking a stand.

“It’s about the safety of this community,” Walz said. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am for that.”

Elected officials have tread a beaten track to St. Paul Park since the work stoppage began, offering their support to Teamsters on the picket line. Some lawmakers have taken managers at the refinery to task for locking out experienced workers.

U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, in a letter to local Marathon executive Amy Macak, noted ownership of the refinery has changed multiple times in recent years, but its “dependable, highly-skilled, local union-represented workforce” has been a constant presence.

“The breakdown of contract negotiations and use of outside contractors by Marathon raises serious questions about safety,” McCollum wrote, adding that the 2018 explosion at Husky Energy’s refinery in Superior, Wis., serves as a “grave reminder of the need to maintain the highest standards for safety.”

Members of other local unions are showing their solidarity with locked-out Teamsters as well, joining them on the picket line, providing food and other supplies, and contributing to workers’ defense fund.

“There are a whole bunch of unions in this crowd,” Kera Peterson, president of the 66,000-member St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, told locked-out workers during the rally. “This fight is Minnesota’s fight, and we are with you in this for the long haul, as long as it takes.”

Teamsters who work at the St. Paul Park refinery – electricians, operators, maintenance and other workers – originally went on strike Jan. 21, three weeks after their union contract expired.

After 24 hours on the picket line, striking workers offered to return to their jobs, but they were turned away at the gate – a move Local 120 President Tom Erickson called the most reckless he’s seen in 30 years negotiating contracts.

The two sides have held at least one bargaining session since the lockout began. But like the 24 sessions leading up to the lockout, it was negotiations in name only, union members said.

Jim Swanson, an electrician at the refinery, told U.S. Sen. Tina Smith on the picket line Saturday that union members make sure to bring their phones into bargaining, so they have something to read after the company’s negotiators walk out of the room.

Local 120 members Luke Naber and Tyler Sardeson demonstrate outside the Speedway in St. Paul Park, informing potential customers about the refinery lockout.

“They just haven’t negotiated at all,” Swanson said. “It seemed like they had an agenda right from the beginning. I think they planned to not even negotiate and have us go on strike.

“We never brought up money once,” he added. “I don’t think anybody here is concerned about money. It’s issues in the refinery – safety stuff and trying to eliminate positions.”

As the lockout drags on, Local 120 members have begun following trucks from the refinery to local freight yards and Speedway gas stations, looking to raise awareness of the lockout.

While they cannot legally call for a boycott of Speedway, workers can advise potential customers that the fuel being sold crossed a picket line, and that the company has locked out workers whose training and experience keeps St. Paul Park and its surrounding communities safe.

“We don’t want the Husky incident to happen here,” Sardeson said. “I live in Cottage Grove. My children go to school here in Cottage Grove. It’s very important to me that the facility stays running and stays safe.”

Filed Under: Organizing, Politics, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Teamsters at Marathon’s St. Paul Park refinery strike over safety

January 21, 2021 by

Members of Teamsters Local 120 picket the main gate at Marathon’s St. Paul Park refinery as the sun rises on Day 2 of their ULP strike.

Operations and maintenance workers at Marathon Petroleum’s refinery in St. Paul Park went on strike today. Members of Teamsters Local 120 say they are taking a stand not just for good jobs, but also for the safety of their community.

At issue in the dispute is management’s ability to replace union members with workers from lowest-bidder subcontractors, including firms from outside Minnesota.

“We want a contract that protects jobs where the money goes back into our communities, jobs for people who have an interest in the safety of our community,” Local 120 Business Agent Scott Kroona said. “If somebody comes in from Texas or Indiana, which is what the company wants, their money goes back to Texas or Indiana. And they don’t care about St. Paul Park.”

Local 120 represents nearly 200 workers at the Marathon refinery.

Picket lines went up at each of the facility’s gates at 5 p.m., and they will stay up around the clock indefinitely, Kroona said.

With Teamsters outside, it raises the question of who’s doing the work inside the refinery. Kroona said he expected the company to bring in replacement workers.

“I have to believe they are not as skilled or well-trained as the workers we have in there,” he said. “And when you’ve got petroleum products under high temperatures and high pressure, every job is dangerous. I don’t care how minor a job you’d call it.”

As proof, the union pointed to an April 2018 explosion at the Husky refinery in Superior, Wis., which resulted in worker injuries and residential evacuations in the area. Contractors working in the refinery at the time later sued the company.

“These are some of the most dangerous jobs you can have,” Local 120 President Tom Erickson said. “Mistakes are literally life and death, not just for workers but for people in the community and the environment.”

By refusing to bargain over the impact of contract language that would put more subcontracted workers in the facility – impacts like safety risks – Marathon is forcing union members to take a stand for their community, Kroona added.

“We don’t want to happen at St. Paul Park what happened at Superior,” he said. “We absolutely don’t want something like that to happen here, and it absolutely could happen here.”

The union has filed charges of unfair labor practices against Marathon, claiming the company, in 24 negotiating sessions since late November, has bargained in bad faith.

“Marathon never had the intention of reaching a contract from the very beginning,” Kroona said.

Local 120’s previous agreement with Marathon, a three-year pact, expired Dec. 31.

Teamsters who work at the St. Paul Park refinery last went on strike in the summer of 2006.

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Victory at MSP, as workers win $15 after long campaign

October 19, 2020 by

MSP Airport workers march outside Terminal 1 during a 2018 demonstration in support of a $15 airport-wide minimum wage.

The working people who keep Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport running, who keep it clean and who have made it safe for travelers during the COVID-19 crisis are about to get a well-deserved raise.

Members of the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) voted unanimously today to put the airport on track to a $15 minimum wage. The wage increase will start on Jan. 1, 2021, and be phased in over the next two years.

Airport workers, including members of UNITE HERE Local 17, Teamsters Local 120 and SEIU Local 26, have been pushing for a wage increase for years. Many currently make just $11 per hour, the current airport minimum wage.

The wage hike will put the workforce, predominantly immigrants and people of color, on equal footing with workers in Minneapolis and St. Paul, where $15 minimum wage ordinances are on the books.

In a virtual press conference earlier this month, after commissioners signaled support for the measure, Local 120 member Michael Bardenpratt, who has worked at Swissport Fueling for 22 years, gave credit to workers who had the courage to tell their stories at MAC meetings and public demonstrations, putting a public face on poverty wages at the airport.

“Anybody that works 40 hours a week should not have to live in poverty,” Bardenpratt said. “This increase could help working people get off of government assistance, lower their dependence on food shelves, reduce the stress of wondering whether or not they’re going to have enough money for rent, food, a vehicle. It’s going to give families better lives.”

Other workers, while relieved to see $15 move forward, pledged to continue fighting for more.

Glen Brown, a wheelchair attendant at MSP for the last five years and member of Local 26, said he found it hard to celebrate the wage increase in light of the risks he and other airport workers continue to face during the pandemic.

“I’m glad this is finally happening; I’m proud of everyone who’s been fighting for this change for so long,” Brown said.

“But when this ordinance passes and we get a higher wage, it still doesn’t match the risk. We’re still in the middle of a pandemic. To overlook that, it just isn’t fair.”

Filed Under: Community, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , ,

Union solidarity drives fight for $15 at MSP Airport

January 22, 2020 by

Ahmed Abdul Aziz, a member of Teamsters Local 120 who works for a rental-car agency, speaks before the Metropolitan Airports Commission in favor of a $15 minimum wage.

They may work different jobs or carry different union cards, but workers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are fighting together to raise MSP’s minimum wage to $15.

And their solidarity is paying off.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission, which oversees operations at MSP Airport, is advancing an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage in three increments, reaching $15 per hour by July 1, 2022. That’s the same date ordinances in St. Paul and Minneapolis tick up to $15 for large employers.

At a final public hearing on the draft ordinance yesterday, commissioners listened to testimony from airport workers who stand to benefit, including members of the Service Employees International Union, Teamsters Local 120 and UNITE HERE Local 17.

Obang Okelo, a Local 17 member who works for airline caterer LSG Sky Chefs, told commissioners the raise would help him finally afford health insurance. For Michael Schofield, who works in an airport bookstore, the raise would mean more time to spend with his family.

“I work full time for Delaware North, but I have to have a second job because, like many, I have a family to support,” Schofield said, adding that he sees his co-workers at the bookstore clock out after an eight-hour shift, only to clock back in for work at another airport job. “They’re essentially working 16-hour days,” he said.

Obang Okelo tells commissioners raising the minimum wage would help him afford health insurance.

SEIU Local 26 member Glen Brown, a wheelchair attendant at MSP, said it’s not right that airport workers get poverty wages while corporations making money off the airport earn record profits. For most of the five years he’s worked at MSP, Brown told commissioners, his hourly pay has been under $11.

“I make this amount despite seeing the news stories about airlines making billions in profits,” Brown said. “I make this much despite seeing news stories about MSP Airport being one of the best in the country since 2016. I make this despite seeing airline CEO’s like Ed Bastian at Delta making $6,300 an hour.

“That just doesn’t sound fair to me.”

Several community supporters at the hearing agreed.

“It’s not right that we have a world-class airport … and depend on poverty wages in order to provide that service,” House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, a DFLer from Golden Valley, said.

Mary Sansom, a retired member of Machinists Local Lodge 1833, urged commissioners to put themselves in airport workers’ shoes.

“These are not easy jobs, and minimum wage is not sufficient,” said Sansom, who worked at MSP for 47 years. “And if anyone in this room believes that surviving on minimum wage is OK, then I challenge you to do it.”

Fortunately, the MAC appears to be taking workers’ concerns seriously.

Last August, the MAC unveiled an initial draft of the wage ordinance. It included language workers oppose, including a lower wage floor for tipped workers, known as the “tip penalty,” and exemptions for employers with collective bargaining agreements.

Misrak Anbese (R), an SEIU Local 26 member and longtime airport employee, appears before the MAC with Local 26 Presdident Iris Altamirano.

A month later, airport unions turned out hundreds of members and supporters to a public hearing on the proposal. Over 50 testified, and all spoke in support of a $15 minimum wage for all MSP workers, with no carve-outs or exemptions.

That’s exactly what they got just two weeks later, when the MAC revised its draft ordinance. Now, union organizers anticipate a vote in February or March.

Airport workers got more good news earlier this month, when the MAC released results from a survey of airport employers. Over 80% of those who responded anticipated the wage hike would not affect their ability to do business at MSP, and nearly 90% said the change would not impact the number of workers or total hours on their payrolls.

At the public hearing Tuesday, a handful of airport concessionaires disputed the survey results. They echoed now-familiar warnings about job cuts and business closings heard during debates over the minimum wage in Minneapolis and St. Paul in recent years.

But Wade Luneberg, Local 17’s recording secretary, said airport employers will lose experienced workers to neighboring cities if their wages fail to keep pace. And the airport, which has been showered with awards for its efficiency and service in recent years, has an interest making sure that doesn’t happen.

“These workers are the first and last impression for the flying public, and literally care for the public,” Luneberg told commissioners. “They work in a secure environment that isn’t easy to get to – or into. They keep challenging schedules, balancing multiple jobs and family commitments. They’ve made a commitment to this facility, and they’ve made a life here at MSP.

“Airport workers deserve $15.”

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Bill to stop wage theft advances in Minnesota House

February 6, 2019 by

Supporters of House File 6, a bill to crack down on wage theft, staged a press conference at the Capitol.

A labor-backed bill to protect Minnesota workers from wage theft advanced out of its first committee hearing at the Capitol today. The bipartisan measure would crack down on employers that don’t pay workers what they are owed – and create an even playing field for employers that do.

“Those good employers are getting burned by these criminals – and that’s what they are,” said Rep. Tim Mahoney (DFL-St. Paul), the bill’s lead author and a member of Pipefitters Local 455.

Working people nationwide lose billions of dollars to wage theft each year. They include an estimated 39,000 workers in Minnesota, according to an estimate from the state’s Department of Labor and Industry.

CTUL, a worker center based in the Twin Cities, has helped workers recover over $2 million in lost wages in recent years.

Wage theft can take a number of different forms. Employers who fail to comply with minimum- or prevailing-wage laws commit wage theft, as do employers who don’t pay overtime.

Sometimes, wage theft is obvious, as it was when Lakeville Motor Express abruptly shuttered its Roseville terminal in November 2016, claiming it had no money to pay 95 members of Teamsters Local 120 for their prior two weeks of work.

The same thing happened in 2014 to Robin Pikala, a personal care assistant from Fridley and member of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota. She was among 800 workers who lost a combined $1.4 million when Crystal Care, one of the largest in-home service provider in Minnesota, filed for bankruptcy – after stringing employees along without pay for 45 days.

“Wage theft is real, and it’s hurting too many families in our state,” Pikala said at a press conference staged in advance of today’s committee hearing by the Minnesota Coalition to End Wage Theft, which includes several of the state’s largest unions.

Other workers who spoke at the press conference described how wage theft can be embedded within an industry’s culture, or built into a complicated web of workplace relationships, like construction workers misclassified “independent contractors” to circumvent wage and benefit standards.

“In the restaurant world, wage theft isn’t the exception,” Kevin Osborn, a line cook in Minneapolis, said. “It’s the norm.”

Osborn said it’s “standard procedure” for cooks to set up their workstations before punching in and continue cleaning them after punching out. Sometimes employers will move hours around between pay periods to avoid paying overtime, he said; other times they don’t bother paying at all.

And if a worker complains? “We don’t call it retaliation,” Osborn said. “We call it getting your hours cut.”

New penalties for employers who retaliate against employees, commit wage theft or deny workers access to their payroll information are among the provisions of Mahoney’s bill, House File 6. In addition, the bipartisan measure would require uniform payroll record keeping, and empower the Department of Labor and Industry to subpoena those records if a worker brings forth a wage-theft claim.

Mahoney has 34 co-authors on House File 6, although there is currently no companion bill in the Senate.

House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler, who attended the press conference, said addressing wage theft was a top priority in the DFL caucus. Winkler said he is confident the measure would pass the House, potentially as part of a larger “omnibus jobs bill.”

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