Union sees growth potential in state’s medical cannabis industry

February 20, 2015 by

ufcw1189merge2smallWorkers at Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of two firms authorized by state regulators to manufacture and dispense medical cannabis, announced today they have unionized and ratified their first contract, all in the last week.

The state’s Bureau of Mediation Services on Tuesday authorized Local 1189 of the United Food and Commercial Workers – a St. Paul- and Duluth-based union representing workers in retail, health care and manufacturing – as the representative of Minnesota Medical Solutions’ eligible full- and part-time workers.

The union announced workers’ vote to ratify their new contract in a press release today.

The Minnesota Department of Health will begin enrolling patients with qualified medical conditions – outlined in legislation passed last year – into the medical cannabis registry program this spring. Registered patients may be able to purchase medical cannabis at eight distribution facilities across the state as early as July.

Bernie Hesse, Local 1189’s director of special projects, sees potential for growth for the medical cannabis industry in Minnesota. The UFCW, which represents thousands of medical cannabis workers in seven states and the District of Columbia, projects the industry will create one job for every 10 patients.

The Minnesota Medical Solutions bargaining unit “is a handful of workers to start,” Hesse said. “But it will grow.”

Meanwhile, Hesse said, Local 1189’s efforts to organize workers at the other licensed cannabis producer, Cottage Grove-based LeafLine Labs, continue.

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Video: Black Friday march in St. Paul

November 28, 2014 by

On the biggest shopping day of the year, nearly 500 people in St. Paul demonstrated outside the Midway Walmart, demanding that the retailer pay its associates living wages and stop retaliating against workers organizing for change. Four striking Walmart workers from Apple Valley led a march from Walmart to a nearby McDonald’s, where activists called on the company to guarantee its workers $15 wages and paid sick time.

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Dakota Premium, last packinghouse in South St. Paul, shuts down ‘indefinitely’

July 23, 2014 by

ufcw1189merge2smallDakota Premium, the only meatpacking plant still operating in South St. Paul, idled production July 2, leaving 300 workers, including 275 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189, out of work indefinitely.

Local 1189 President Don Seaquist thinks the closure is more definite than indefinite.

“The company’s public statement is that this is a temporary ceasing of operations due to a lack of cattle,” Seaquist said. “The cattle part is true.

“The temporary part I am suspect about because they can project the cattle herds out almost three years. So they know there isn’t going to be any more cattle. I’m not sure why they’re saying it’s temporary as opposed to a permanent closure.”

Before closing, Dakota Premium had been slaughtering about 500 head of cattle per day, down from a capacity of 900 to 1,000 at the plant’s peak, Seaquist said. Drought across the country in recent years, particularly in the Midwest, has reduced the number of cattle ranchers are raising.

If Seaquist is right – if Dakota Premium is closed for good in South St. Paul – it marks the end of an era in the city that was home to more than 5,000 meatpacking jobs in its prime. South St. Paul High School’s nickname, the Packers, is a nod to that legacy, one the city’s residents have not been too eager to preserve, Seaquist said

“This is the last packing plant in South St. Paul, but I don’t think it hurts the city’s feelings to see it go,” he said. “They’ve been after this packing plant for a while now anyway because they’re looking for clean industry, not food processing and packing.”

Companies like Hormel and Dakota Premium have been gradually moving operations from urban to rural communities since the 1970s, Seaquist said.

Dakota Premium held a job fair for idled workers after the announcement. Seaquist said about 70 members will transfer to plants in Long Prairie, Yankton, S.D, and Green Bay, Wis.

The company, which gave workers two days’ notice of the idling, will continue health insurance coverage for Local 1189 members through August. The local held meetings for affected members last month with the state’s Dislocated Worker Program.

The impact of the plant shutdown is a blow to several immigrant communities in the Twin Cities. Dakota Premium’s workforce was “largely minority,” Seaquist said, filling the local’s ranks with Somali, Burmese and Latino members.

“We had third-generation family members working in that plant,” he said. “Whole families – fathers, grandfathers, sons, wives and mothers – of folks that are going to have to go elsewhere for work.”

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Time is now, marchers say, for House to pass immigration reform

October 5, 2013 by
Supporters of immigration reform march from the Basilica to Government Plaza downtown Minneapolis.

Supporters of immigration reform march from the Basilica to Government Plaza downtown Minneapolis.

Supporters of comprehensive immigration reform clogged the streets of downtown Minneapolis today, joining a “National Day of Action for Dignity and Respect” and amplifying the call for Congress to fix the nation’s broken immigration system.

More than 1,000 people – a crowd heavy on families and children – marched from the Basilica of St. Mary to the plaza outside the Hennepin County Government Center. They carried signs and flags, and put up calls of “Si se puede!” and the mantra of the day, “The time is now.”

Members of District Council 82 of the Painters and Allied Trades and their families march together, wearing black union T-shirts.

Members of District Council 82 of the Painters and Allied Trades and their families march together, wearing black union T-shirts.

Pockets of union members were scattered throughout the crowd, including about 100 members of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82 and their families, who marched behind their union’s banner.

“We’re here to represent our union – not just members but their families,” Painters organizer Francisco Altamirano said. “It’s a family movement. It’s about human rights and keeping families together. That’s why we need to support immigration reform.”

The Service Employees International Union, the United Food and Commercial Workers, UNITE HERE and Education Minnesota also were well represented, and the Minnesota AFL-CIO and regional labor federations from St. Paul and Minneapolis provided logistical support.

The march opened with a prayer vigil, led by diverse collection of religious leaders, on the Basilica steps. It culminated with a rally in Government Plaza. Javier Morillo, president of SEIU Local 26, co-emceed the rally, noting wryly that it was a rare event when he shared the stage with someone from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.

Immigration reform, though, has support from “a broad group of Minnesota business owners,” Chamber Vice President Bill Blazar told the crowd. The reason, he said, boils down to two words: the economy.

“Minnesota’s economy needs the contribution that immigrants make,” both as workers and as entrepreneurs, Balazar said.

“It is time for all workers to be treated equally under the law,” Minnesota AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Steve Hunter said. Workers are entitled to a safe workplace, wage-and-hour protections and collective-bargaining rights regardless of their immigration status, Hunter added.

Reform efforts have bipartisan support in Congress, and the Senate has passed a bill to modernize the country’s immigration system. The House will do the same only if members hear from their constituents.

“We need people to move a mountain,” said UFCW Local 1161 President Mike Potter, “and we’ve got a mountain to move in Washington, D.C.”

Click here to contact your representative in Congress, and tell them to support comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship!

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Protesters call on Walmart to stop targeting workers organizing for change

September 6, 2013 by
Members of OUR Walmart Minnesota and their supporters demonstrate outside the retailer's Midway location.

Members of OUR Walmart Minnesota and their supporters demonstrate outside the retailer’s Midway location.

Gabriel Teneyuque was among 130 Walmart workers who went on strike in June. Sixty of the workers he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with during that strike have been fired or targeted for discipline by the company for speaking out.

Yesterday, standing before a crowd of 50-plus protesters gathered outside the Midway Walmart in St. Paul, Teneyuque explained why he would continue speaking out despite the risks.

Tara Davunt works at the Walmart Supercenter in Hermantown. She is in her second stint with the company, and this time around, she said, “I set out to make a change.”

Tara Davunt works at the Walmart Supercenter in Hermantown. She is in her second stint with the company, and this time around, she said, “I set out to make a change.”

“I put in a hard day’s work. I take pride in my area. And like many other associates, I am still part time, and I make poverty wages,” said Teneyuque, an associate in Walmart’s Apple Valley store.

“We should never feel threatened. We should never have to wonder where our next meal is coming from – especially at the world’s largest employer. I’m speaking up today so we can all live better.”

The demonstration in St. Paul was one of more than 15 staged nationwide by members of the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart). Members of the group say they have seen an aggressive uptick in illegal retaliation against workers who speak out for better jobs at Walmart.

“OUR Walmart Minnesota is standing with workers and their supporters across this Minnesota to demand that Walmart’s Board of Directors put a stop to the company’s illegal firings and attempts to silence workers’ voices, and publicly commit to respect their freedom to speak out for better wages, safer work environments, and respect on the job,” the group said in a statement.

Diana Tastad, an organizer with OUR Walmart Minnesota, said the nationwide demonstrations had already produced positive results. Walmart, she said, had agreed to reinstate two of the fired workers.

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Apple Valley associate joins nationwide Walmart strike

June 5, 2013 by
Supporters show their support for low-wage workers at Walmart and Target at a sendoff event for Gabe Teneyuque.

Supporters show their support for low-wage workers at Walmart and Target at a sendoff event for Gabe Teneyuque.

An associate from Apple Valley is among more than 100 striking Walmart workers nationwide who are protesting outside the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Bentonville, Ark., this week.

Gabriel Teneyuque, a member of the grassroots campaign OUR Walmart, joined the “Ride for Respect” to company headquarters last week. The caravan traveled through about 30 cities, picking up striking workers on its way to Bentonville.

At a send-off event for Teneyuque May 29 in Minneapolis, local activists offered their well wishes – and laid plans to echo the strikers’ protest in Bentonville with a local action June 7 in St. Paul. [Click here for details or to RSVP.]

Bernie Hesse of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189, which represents retail workers in Duluth and the East Metro, said community support will be critical to the success of Walmart associates’ fledgling campaign for improved working conditions.

“We’re sending off workers today who are very brave,” Hesse said. “It takes a lot of guts to walk out of the biggest corporation.”

Teneyuque has more guts than most. He keeps a copy of Walmart’s employee handbook in his pocket whenever he’s on the clock, and talked about standing up to store managers to help a co-worker get the bereavement leave she was entitled to.

After getting involved in OUR Walmart last year, Teneyuque joined 500 workers nationwide in walking off the job on Black Friday, the nation’s busiest shopping day. The one-day strike led to a major victory for Walmart workers: the retailer now regularly posts associates’ scheduled hours – a major demand voiced by workers during Black Friday protests.

Teneyuque said actions this week will target the retailer’s aggressive use of intimidation and retaliation against workers looking to organize for better wages and health care benefits.

“A lot of the long-term workers at my store are still on state assistance. That bugs me really bad,” Teneyuque said. “With a successful company like Wal-Mart, that shouldn’t be the case.”

Indeed, that’s exactly the conclusion of a study released earlier this week by the Democratic staff of the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

“The price of Wal-Mart’s low wages and benefits at just one Wal-Mart store not only costs families in lost income and economic security, but it also may cost taxpayers about $1 million in higher usage of public-assistance programs by Wal-Mart employees and their dependents,” the study found.

Meanwhile, workers who clean Twin Cities-based Target stores are planning a similar action – including a caravan to the company’s shareholder meeting in Denver – if the retailer refuses to address their concerns about declining wages. Click here for more information.

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Union members join push for immigration reform with path to citizenship

January 30, 2013 by
SEIU Healthcare Minnesota member Mitch Azarcon talks about her mother's struggle for U.S. citizenship.

SEIU Healthcare Minnesota member Mitch Azarcon talks about her mother’s struggle for U.S. citizenship.

U.S. citizenship isn’t something Mitch Azarcon takes for granted – not after watching her Filipino-born mother wait 25 years to move her family to the U.S.

Now Azarcon, a surgical core technician at Rochester Methodist Hospital, is exercising her rights as a citizen, taking action through her union, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, to change federal law and make it easier for people like her mother to realize their dreams of becoming U.S. citizens.

“America is my home, and I am an active citizen,” Azarcon said. “During this last election I knocked on doors, phone banked, passed out fliers – everything in my power to participate. We helped elect leaders who will do the right thing for immigrants in this country.”

Union members like Azarcon form a critical bloc in a broad-based coalition supporting the immigration-reform effort declared a priority by President Obama earlier this week.

Locally, the coalition includes business, student, religious, civil-rights and labor organizations, and their representatives gathered at the Minnesota Capitol today to demonstrate their shared commitment “to doing what a broad swath of Americans want: to finally, once and for all, win comprehensive immigration reform,” said Javier Morillo, president of SEIU Local 26.

At a press conference, Morillo and other speakers stressed that immigration reform must include one “essential” component: a practical path to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants now living in the U.S.

Luis Enrique Gomez, holding a picture of his children, talks with Rev. Paul Erickson.

Luis Enrique Gomez, holding a picture of his children, talks with Rev. Paul Erickson.

Without a path to citizenship, families like Luis Enrique Gomez’s will continue to be split apart. Gomez, who lives in St. Cloud, has been ordered to return to his native Mexico by March 9. If he complies, he said, he will be forced to leave behind his two U.S.-born children.

“I think we need to keep together families,” Gomez said, gripping a photo of himself with his arm around his children. “It can cause psychological problems, separating kids from their parents.”

Rather than labeling workers like Gomez “illegals,” U.S. policy should “recognize that (immigrants) are simply responding to economic forces on both sides of the border,” said Rev. Paul Erickson, an assistant to the bishop of the St. Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Immigration policy is not just about borders and security, Erickson added, “it’s about real human lives.”

It’s also about workers’ rights, which is why Minnesota’s unions, according to Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson, are “fully engaged” in the push for “common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform.”

In addition to SEIU and the Minnesota AFL-CIO, which together represent more than 330,000 union members statewide, UNITE HERE Local 17, Local 1189 of the United Food and Commercial Workers and the community-based group Minnesotans for a Fair Economy also have pledged support the immigration-reform effort.

The reason, Knutson said, is simple: A rising tide lifts all boats.

“Empowering immigrant workers is a win for all working families,” Knutson said. “With a well-functioning process in place, immigrant workers will have the voice in the workplace they need to defend their rights, which in turn will improve standards for all workers. That’s because the ability to exploit any worker lowers the standards for all workers.”

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On Black Friday, hundreds protest outside Walmart in St. Paul

November 23, 2012 by

Protesters line the streets outside Walmart on University Avenue in St. Paul.

Big-box retailers like Walmart pushed their Black Friday sales to new extremes this year, but retail workers and their supporters are pushing back.

More than 200 protesters lined the sidewalk outside Walmart’s University Avenue location in St. Paul today. They pledged to stand with Walmart associates like Gabriel Teneyuque, who protested the company’s low wages and unfair working conditions by walking off the job on Black Friday.

Teneyuque, who works at the Walmart in Apple Valley, is among a growing number of courageous associates nationwide who are speaking out despite Walmart’s record of retaliating against workers who try to organize in the workplace.

“When Walmart associates speak out, Walmart retaliates,” Teneyuque told supporters. “I’m here today to say I will not be silenced.”

Teneyuque and other striking associates have formed a grassroots campaign, OUR Walmart, to pressure the company into raising its wages, providing greater access to health care benefits and ending its campaign of intimidation and retaliation against workers who look to organize.

Don Seaquist, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189, said his union is committed to fighting for any Walmart associate who stands up for better working conditions.

If turnout at the Black Friday protest is any indication, the community is committed to that fight as well. The St. Paul Walmart has been a frequent target of UFCW protests over the last decade. None drew as large a crowd as the Black Friday event, which brought together union activists, families and members of the faith community.

Gabriel Teneyuque walked off his job at Walmart on Black Friday.

“Workers deserve dignity, and our faith traditions call us to speak out for justice at work and rights of workers to organize,” said Doug Mork, a pastor at Cross of Glory Lutheran Church in Brooklyn Center, who said the Twin Cities faith community would stand behind striking Walmart associates. “We’re with you.”

Teneyuque said associates will need all the community support they can get.

“Our fight doesn’t end today,” he said. “This is just the beginning.”

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Union to hold fundraiser for Minnesota flood victims July 26

July 12, 2012 by

Local 1189 of the United Food and Commercial Workers will host a fundraiser for victims of flooding across northeastern Minnesota last month. The benefit will take place July 26, from 5 to 8 p.m., at the local’s union hall in South St. Paul, 266 Hardman Ave. North, and will feature “food, fun and solidarity.”

Proceeds from the fundraiser will go to the Disaster Relief Member Assistance Fund established by the Northeast Area Labor Council, AFL-CIO, based in Duluth. Checks can be made out to “NEALC/Disaster Relief Member Assistance Fund.”

Local 1189 formed two years ago as a result of a merger between St. Paul-based UFCW Local 789 and Duluth-based UFCW Local 1116. The union represents nearly 12,000 workers in retail, health care, meatpacking, manufacturing and food processing in Minnesota, western Wisconsin and North Dakota.

For more information on the fundraiser, call Bernie Hesse at 651-451-6240, or click here to download the event flier.

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