Target Field workers dig in for fair contract: ‘We love the Twins. We love the fans. But that love is not going to pay our bills.’

July 20, 2026 by
Roxy Hoda holding a picket sign outside Target Field

Target Field suites worker Roxy Hoda, a resident of St. Paul, is on her union’s bargaining team in talks with Delaware North.

For as long as the Twins have been playing baseball at Target Field, Roxy Hoda has been hosting fans in the luxury suites. The 37-year-old from St. Paul went to work at the ballpark in 2010, and she now serves on the bargaining team for her union, UNITE HERE Local 17, in contract negotiations with the team’s concessionaire, Delaware North.

Union members made history June 22, staging the first ever strike at a Twin Cities sports stadium, and Hoda was among those walking the picket line before the Twins and Dodgers took the field. In this interview, which has been edited for length, she talked about the decision to strike, why workers are pushing so hard for their demands and what hospitality workers want Twins fans to know.

UA: Did Delaware North make any effort to avoid this strike after you announced the date almost two weeks ago?

RH: We’ve met several times since then, and the only improvement that they made was saying that they would give our non-tipped employees and minimum-wage employees an extra 10 cents an hour, so a 60-cent raise over the life of the contract.

UA: That doesn’t sound like much movement.

RH: No, and they’re very careful with their language. They’ll say things like, ‘We only have so much allocated money. We only have so much in the pot.’ They want it to come across that they can’t afford it, but we know that’s not true. Otherwise, they would show their economic data to our union. They just don’t want to eat into their profit margins at all, not even for their own employees.

UA: You’re supposed to take their word for it.

RH: It’s tricky because we know our local management is just responding to corporate directions.

UA: Did management reach out today before the strike began, or have the Twins stepped in at all?

RH: My understanding is that everything has come to a halt. Delaware North has requested a mediator for our negotiations, which we as a union will not do (because) we know that will silence our voices. They want to sit in a separate room, so they don’t have to operate so carefully with their words and don’t have to listen to our employee impact statements. That’s unacceptable to us. We deserve to be in that room, especially since there has been little to no movement on many of our very reasonable requests.

As far as the Twins are concerned, they have not reached out to us as employees. I’m not sure about the union. I feel they are just trying to stay out of it. But I really hope that they see what we’re doing here today. We love the Twins organization. We love our guests. We love the fans. But that love is not going to pay our bills. It’s not going to get us healthcare. And we deserve, as hospitality professionals, to be treated that way.

UA: What are the big issues for you, personally?

RH: No. 1 is healthcare. My partner and I have two kids. Both of us are hospitality professionals, and we’ve had to rely on marketplace insurance for a long time. About three years ago we were paying $800 per month, not including deductibles. That was a lot, but it was doable. That amount has almost tripled. It is almost as much as our mortgage.

Delaware North has this opportunity to join the UNITE HERE Health Fund, which nationwide has over 200,000 union workers in it. Because of that, insurance companies are able to offer steep discounts. All we’re asking Delaware North to do is join that trust, but they’re not interested.

UA: With all the money made off of these stadiums, it doesn’t seem like too much to ask that employers pitch in toward healthcare.

RH: There are other stadiums (in the Twin Cities) with contracts that are coming open with other hospitality companies. A lot of my co-workers work at multiple stadiums, and that makes up a full-time job for them. We’re the first ones that are kind of setting the tone, and we want to make sure that we’re holding firm. We deserve healthcare.

UA: What do you like about working in the Target Field suites?

RH: It’s like my second family. I feel like I grew up here. A lot of us have been to each other’s baby showers, and I’ve had the same clients for a lot of the time too. I work with a lot of big companies throughout Minnesota, and I love them to death. Overall, I think it’s just such a joy.

Working here is important, too. I think the pandemic really showed us, when you take the fun out of life, what that looks like. That’s what we do. We want people to come to the game, have a good time, forget the worries going on in their lives, and make memories with their friends, family and loved ones.

UA: Have you ever been on strike before?

RH: No.

UA: What do you want people coming to the game – and all Twins fans – to know about this?

RH: We are hospitality professionals, and this is a real career. A lot of us have degrees in other fields. We do this job because we’re good at it, and it really does make a difference in people’s lives. I think people just don’t realize that because we’re always smiling, but it is socially taxing. Still, it is a passion of ours.

UA: You and many others are not going in to work today, but what do you expect will happen with those who do?

RH: We have seen some scabs coming in today. However, I’m giving them some grace because I know that this is scary, and a lot of people are very worried about their jobs. I understand that there is a hard decision to make here.

But even though not every issue on the table affects me personally, I know it affects a lot of other people at the stadium. To me, I think it’s more important to stand up for everyone and to be unified.

– This “Labor Q&A” appeared in The Union Advocate’s August 2026 print edition.

Filed Under: Labor Voices Tagged With: , , , ,

Target Field workers call June 22 strike, urge Twins to ‘step up’

June 11, 2026 by

Nariel Green (L) leads fellow Target Field concessions workers in a chant: “Fifty cents won’t pay the rent.”

Got tickets to the Twins’ home game June 22 against the Dodgers at Target Field?

Expect picket lines outside and long lines inside, as concessions workers plan to strike during the opener of a three-game series against the defending World Series champs.

UNITE HERE Local 17 announced the one-day strike outside Target Field this morning. Union officers and rank-and-file members warned fans, the team and its concessionaire, Delaware North Company, that picket lines will go up June 22 unless the sides settle before then.

The bargaining unit brings together about 500 workers in Target Field’s concession stands and premium restaurants. Members voted last month to authorize their negotiators to call a strike, with 81% support.

Union members entered bargaining with Delaware North in April seeking a $20 minimum wage, job protections and a pathway to healthcare benefits for workers at Target Field and other local stadiums.

But in six sessions since then, the union says, management has refused to take those demands seriously.

The two sides are meeting again today, but Local 17 Secretary-Treasurer Sheigh Freeberg said workers’ patience is running out.

“They’ve had our proposals for months,” Freeberg said during a press conference. “We only just got their economic proposal.”

That offer would hold hourly wages flat for some workers and raise others’ by 50 cents. Many Target Field concessions workers earn minimum wage, which is just over $16 per hour in Minneapolis.

Purnell Payne, a bartender at Target Field, said the stadium’s increasing use of nonprofit volunteers to sell concessions raises safety concerns – especially when it comes to alcohol sales.

“Fifty cents won’t pay the rent,” Local 17 member Nariel Green said, leading union supporters in a brief chant.

Green added that Delaware North’s refusal to discuss issues – like faulty equipment, unequal treatment and an increasing reliance on nonprofit volunteers to do union members’ work – shows a lack of respect for the workers who are critical to fans’ experience at the ballpark

“They expect us to show up with a positive attitude when we are treated like second-class citizens,” Green said. “All they have done (in bargaining) is waste our time repeatedly.”

Local 17 has had “minimal” engagement with the Twins about the slow pace of contract negotiations, Freeberg said, but he called on the club to “step up” and “tell Delaware North to come to a fair agreement because the Twins organization will be affected by a strike.”

Local 17 has represented workers in Target Field concession stands since the ballpark opened in 2010. Last fall, about 200 workers in the facility’s premium restaurants won their campaign to join the union too, nearly doubling the size of the bargaining unit – and increasing its leverage at the table.

Local 17’s previous contract expired in January but remains in effect as negotiations continue.

If Delaware North workers stage a strike June 22, it would be the first of its kind at any Twin Cities sports stadium, according to the union.

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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

Target Field workers ready to strike in push for $20 minimum wage

May 20, 2026 by

Devante Boyd is a food runner and member of Local 17’s bargaining team.

Concessions and other hospitality workers at Target Field have voted to authorize their bargaining team to call a strike, a decision could come as early as this week, the union warned today, after the employer brought “union-busting proposals” to negotiations.

The workers’ union, UNITE HERE Local 17, announced results of the vote May 4. Of members who participated, 81% voted to authorize the strike.

Local 17 represents about 500 workers at the Twins’ stadium who are employed by Delaware North Company. That’s nearly double the size of units that bargained previous contracts, as Local 17 succeeded last fall in organizing 200 new members who work in the facility’s premium restaurants.

With the stadium unionized “wall to wall,” Local 17 members are looking to make significant gains in their new contract. Their top demand is a $20 minimum wage this year, paired with significant annual raises in the future.

Devante Boyd, who runs food from concession stations to seats at Target Field, said he earns about $16 per hour now. He voted to strike to “prevent Delaware North from taking advantage of me and let them know that I am willing to advocate for my value.”

Workers also want job security, citing the stadium’s increased reliance on nonprofit volunteers to staff its concession stands. “We’re trying to keep people working and prevent those nonprofits from eroding more into our union spaces,” Local 17 organizer Theo Bilski said.

Members are fighting for a path to health care, too, with proposals that would create a partnership with other arenas in the Twin Cities to pool worker benefits.

Local 17’s previous contract with Delaware North expired in January, but it remains in place as negotiations continue.

Boyd, who serves on the bargaining team, said workers don’t want to strike, but they will if the employer fails to take them seriously at the table.

“We all have one thing in common, and that’s that if not for us, then Delaware North does not succeed,” Boyd said. “We’re making sure that the customers have a great experience.

“I like my job. I don’t want to have to leave because I can’t afford to work here.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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

MN unions to employers: Keep ICE out of our workplaces

February 4, 2026 by

Members of several health care unions gather outside HCMC for a “unity break” to decry ICE’s presence in their facilities.

As federal immigration raids continue in the Twin Cities, several local unions are stepping up to demand their employers protect both workers and the people they serve.

From health care workers and letter carriers to transit workers and educators, the message has been clear: keep ICE out of our workplaces.

Education Minnesota, the statewide teachers union, today joined two school districts in a lawsuit seeking to block ICE and Border Protection agents from conducting operations on or near public schools, arguing that recent federal actions have disrupted, education, endangered students and driven families away from classrooms.

“Students can’t learn, and educators can’t teach, when there are armed, masked federal agents stationed within view of classroom windows, sometimes for days on end,” Education Minnesota President Monica Byron said. “ICE and Border Patrol need to stay away from our schools so students can go there safely each day to learn without fear, and so that our members can focus on teaching instead of constantly reacting to the shocking and unconstitutional actions of federal agents.”

At Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, hospitality workers, support staff and drivers with Uber and Lyft saw an escalation of immigration activity in early January.

At a press conference with union and faith leaders, airport workers described being stopped by federal agents on their way to work – or even on the job – and asked for documentation that they are in the country legally.

Uber Driver Hamsa Hussein said federal agents at the airport were clearly stopping drivers based on their appearance.

Airport workers, Uber and Lyft drivers and clergy held a press conference at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport after several union members were detained at the facility last month.

“This is not how things are supposed to be working,” he said. “It’s about intimidation, not safety. No one should be treated like a suspect for showing up to work.”

UNITE HERE Local 17, which represents over 250 food-service workers at the airport, reported that over a dozen of its members had been detained last month – on both sides of MSP’s security checkpoints. Geof Paquette, an internal organizer with Local 17, said anyone working behind the checkpoint must pass a rigorous federal background check.

“All of these workers who were kidnapped had the proper authorization to be working in an airport behind security,” he said. “They’re doing it the right way. They’re doing it the legal way – and they’re still targeted.”

Many hospitality workers, as a result, are simply staying home, Paquette added. He noted that it’s also happening at the airport and in restaurants and hotels, many occupied by ICE agents themselves.

Local 17 is helping the families of members who have been detained track and support their loved ones. The union also is raising funds – over $100,000 to date – to support workers and their families with food, rent and other costs.

Union members working in local hospitals, meanwhile, reported seeing federal agents lurking near their campuses or waiting outside patients’ rooms – with some patients even being shackled to their hospital beds.

Dr. Zach Perez, a first-year resident at Hennepin County Medical Center and a member of the SEIU-affiliated Committee of Interns and Residents, said an alarming number of patients are skipping appointments, not picking up medications and forgoing treatment.

“This is an extremely preventable public health crisis, and it’s created by ICE,” Perez said during a unity break with members of AFSCME, the Minnesota Nurses Association and the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild outside HCMC on Jan. 23.

Perez added a message for business leaders, hospital executives and elected officials: “Work together to rid our community of this disease.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

Filed Under: Labor Voices, Politics Tagged With: , , ,

Hospitality workers at MSP make gains after holiday strike threat

December 12, 2025 by

Victor Arreole, a line cook at Bottle Rocket, speaks during a press conference at MSP Airport.

Travelers passing through Minneapolis-St. Paul International this holiday season can congratulate the airport’s food service-workers on a new union contract that delivered the strongest economic gains for their bargaining unit in recent memory.

The victory for members of UNITE HERE Local 17 came after they voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike – and threatened to do it the week of Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel times of the year.

The union’s bargaining team reached a tentative agreement with HMS Host on Friday, Nov. 21, and members voted to ratify the contract, with 98% support, the following weekend.

A multinational corporation, HMS Host is one of MSP Airport’s largest food and beverage operators, employing about 250 members of Local 17 at bars, restaurants and coffee shops in both Terminal 1 and 2, from Starbucks and Auntie Anne’s to Chili’s and The Wild Sports Bar.

Local 17’s previous contract with HMS Host expired in December 2024, but union members stuck to their economic demands as bargaining dragged on for over 12 months.

Kifle Habtemarian, a cook at The Wild Sports Bar, said workers in the bargaining unit felt strongly about locking in wage and benefit increases – even if it meant going on strike.

“Life is expensive now,” he said. “In the store, before I could pay $300 for two weeks and be good. Now it’s $500.”

A no-strike clause in the previous contract expired last May, freeing workers to leverage a strike as pressure on the employer to meet their demands.

And it worked, as cooks, utility workers and engineers in the bargaining unit – some paid as little as $15.98 previously – won historic wage increases in the new contract.

Tipped workers made gains too, including benefits that address the income they forego – their gratuities – when accessing paid time off.

The contract also introduces a tip line for airport fast-food workers and baristas.

And the new contract also improves airport hospitality workers’ benefits, providing them with access to affordable health insurance coverage for their dependents.

Victor Arreole, a cook at HMS Host’s fast-casual restaurant Bottle Rocket, said the gains made in the new contract were “a long time coming” for workers who have stuck with the employer during a challenging five years for the travel industry.

“We fought for more than a year to win back what we lost during the pandemic, and we’re finally getting the wages and benefits our families deserve,” Arreole said.

“This contract is going to change lives.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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

MSP Airport unions lead march on ICE terminal as labor shows solidarity with Somali community

December 3, 2025 by

Local 17 organizer Geof Paquette speaks to the crowd of activists outside Signature’s terminal at MSP.

One day after the Trump administration announced it would target the local Somali community with immigration raids, two airport unions led a march on the company that operates Minneapolis-St. Paul International’s charter terminal, where local detainees are being flown in shackles to deportation hubs.

More than 200 activists from labor, community and faith groups gathered Dec. 3 at the Terminal 2 light-rail stop and marched together to the Signature Aviation terminal. There they rallied with speeches and chants, and later tied red ribbons of remembrance to the iron fence that separates the terminal from the public road.

Speakers called on local officials, including the Metropolitan Airports Commission, to find ways to stop the deportation flights.

“These deportations create terror in our neighborhoods and are ripping families apart,” said Geof Paquette, an organizer with UNITE HERE Local 17 who works with immigrant workers at MSP’s bars and restaurants. “They do nothing but sow fear and anxiety in our community. We’ve got to demand better.”

Another union speaker, retired airport janitor and Service Employees (SEIU) Local 26 member George Mullin, offered a firsthand account of the squalid, dehumanizing conditions detainees face in the privately owned holding centers to which they are flown from Signature’s terminal.

George Mullin, a retired SEIU member, traveled to deportation hubs in Louisiana earlier this year.

Mullin joined a delegation, sponsored by SEIU, that traveled to remote detention hubs in Louisiana earlier this year. Those sprawling private prisons, like Signature Aviation and the charter airlines that use its terminals to traffic ICE detainees, are “making money off of cruelty,” Mullin said.

“I’m here today because one of the bright spots of our trip to Louisiana was seeing detained women reacting to us for showing up where no one comes,” he said. “They waved like crazy the whole time.

We got to show them that they are not alone. We see them, and we are with them. Today we’re doing the same thing. To our neighbors who are being put on these planes in chains, likely with no idea where they are going, we see you.”

Labor’s leading role in the march on Signature Aviation illustrates how unions here – and across the U.S. – are showing solidarity with immigrant communities under attack, while also working in coalition to defend people’s rights and hold the Trump administration accountable.

Demonstrators tie ribbons to the iron gate outside the Signature terminal.

Local SEIU unions were among those that reacted swiftly after President Trump began spewing hateful rhetoric at Somali immigrants. In a Cabinet meeting, Trump called them “garbage” and said they “contribute nothing” – an insult belied by work local SEIU members do as school employees, health care workers and property-service workers.

“We could not be prouder or luckier to have many Somali Minnesotans as coworkers and courageous leaders in our struggle to end poverty wages for everyone,” Minnesota’s SEIU locals said in a statement. “As usual, Trump is saying things that aren’t true and claiming powers he doesn’t have. We will make sure all our members have the tools they need to protect their rights.”

To that end, the state’s labor movement has been helping stage training sessions in nonviolent, direct action, supporting immigrant-rights and progressive groups as they brace for an increased federal presence in the Twin Cities. The first session in November drew an overflow crowd, prompting the groups to schedule another for Dec. 7.

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham said that solidarity demands labor mobilize to meet the moment.

“Union members refuse to let anyone, even the President of the United States, divide us based on what we look like, where we were born, or how we pray,” she said. “President Trump and his cronies are hoping that working people will forget that immigrants aren’t standing between us and a better life – billionaires are. We refuse to let them break our solidarity.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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

Hotel workers in downtown St. Paul authorize strike, cite wage gap with Minneapolis

September 18, 2025 by

“One Job Should Be Enough” has become UNITE HERE’s rallying cry in contract campaigns.

Workers at two hotels in downtown St. Paul, the InterContinental and the DoubleTree, have voted to authorize a strike over wages that lag their peers’ in Minneapolis, according to UNITE HERE Local 17, the Twin Cities hospitality union.

“St. Paul shouldn’t be paid less than Minneapolis,” Local 17 President Christa Sarrack said in a press release announcing the strike vote. “By authorizing a strike, workers have shown they will stand together until they get what they all need.

“InterContinental and DoubleTree have more than enough money to do the right thing and settle a fair contract, but workers are prepared if they don’t.”

To show they are ready to strike if necessary, workers plan to hold informational picketing outside the InterContinental tomorrow, Sept. 19, at 4:30 p.m.

In ongoing negotiations with the two hotels, union members are demanding wage increases that keep up with the rising cost of living in the Twin Cities. UNITE HERE members have rallied around the slogan “One Job Should Be Enough,” calling out an economy that requires some to have more than one job to survive.

Local 17 represents housekeepers, attendants, cooks, dishwashers, servers, bartenders, bell persons and other workers who have been in bargaining with the hotels since February, working under an expired contract since the end of that month.

At a previous informational picketing session Sept. 12, St. Paul City Council President Rebecca Noecker joined workers and led a delegation to deliver a message to hotel management that she supports the union’s demands.

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

Labor groups applaud St. Paul’s move to allow administrative fines

February 6, 2025 by

New civil fines will allow the City of St. Paul to enforce labor standards more effectively. That includes the city’s $15 minimum wage, which workers fought to pass in 2018.

In a move praised by worker advocates, St. Paul City Council members voted unanimously Jan. 22 to allow the city to issue administrative citations.

The vote to amend the city charter, supporters said, will allow St. Paul to enforce its labor standards and other ordinances more effectively and equitably by issuing civil fines, rather than getting entangled in costly, sometimes lengthy legal battles.

It’s a tool other large cities in Minnesota have at their disposal – and for good reason, St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson told council members during a public hearing on the amendment Jan. 15.

“It would allow the city to avoid burdening people with criminal convictions, and it would absolutely make a difference for low wage workers who are not being paid fairly in our city,” Peterson said. “The City of St. Paul should add it to their toolkit.”

In recent years the city has passed an ordinance establishing its own minimum wage, as well as wage-theft and sick-time ordinances, with enforcement falling on the Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity (HREEO).

But until now, the only enforcement option available to HREEO staff who identified a violation was criminal charges.

With administrative citations, the process will play out without going to court.

“The current system rewards people who are wealthy and can afford to fight the city and drag things out,” SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa’s Rick Varco told council members.

That creates an incentive, SEIU member Tavona Johnson added, for “wealthy corporations to break the law and force low-wage workers to do something about it.”

“Under the current system, employers can threaten to clog the courts and run out the clock,” Johnson, who lives in St. Paul, added. “I have lived paycheck to paycheck, and these delays and lost wages hurt.”

“If you’re a low-wage worker, any delay in getting the wages that you’ve earned can be devastating,” UNITE HERE Local 17 Secretary-Treasurer Sheigh Freeberg said.

St. Paul renters, small business owners and community members joined labor activists at the public hearing, where the overwhelming majority of speakers voiced support for administrative citations.

The fines could also make it easier for the city to enforce its housing codes and compel owners of vacant or blighted properties to make improvements. Tonette Clardy, a homeowner in Ward 4, complained to council members about a vacant building in her neighborhood that was recently condemned.

“As a Black homeowner, I’m afraid this building will bring down my property values, which hurts my ability to build wealth for my family,” Clardy said. “I want to make sure the building owner is held accountable, and at the same time, I don’t think they should go to jail.”

Filed Under: Labor Voices Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Indeed Brewing union could be sign of things to come as cannabis law kicks in

April 23, 2024 by

Indeed Brewing has a union label.

Workers at the taproom and production facility in northeast Minneapolis successfully formed a union last month after over two years of organizing with the Twin Cities hospitality union, UNITE HERE Local 17.

The new bargaining unit brings together 31 workers, an overwhelming majority of whom not only signed union cards, but added their mugshots to a photo petition that organizers delivered to brewery management April 1.

Ten days later, Indeed formally agreed to recognize the union.

Indeed is the second craft brewery in the Twin Cities where workers have formed a union. Fair State Brewing Cooperative granted its workers’ request for representation by Local 17 in 2020, and they settled a first contract in August 2021. The union also represents workers at Brother Justus distillery.

More organizing gains could be ahead for craft beverage workers, thanks to a pro-worker provision in Minnesota’s new cannabis law, passed by DFL lawmakers last year. It includes a labor peace requirement for companies seeking a license to produce cannabis or THC products – like the seltzers that have popped up in so many local taprooms, including Indeed’s, in recent years.

Local 17 organizer Anders Bloomquist, a former Fair State worker, said craft beverage makers that want to continue making their own products with THC will likely need to work with unions like UNITE HERE to prove that they meet the licensing requirement.

“We are anticipating that a fairly large number of employers who are producing THC beverages will be signing labor peace agreements to get their licensing,” Bloomquist said. “This will be a process that we’re excited for – to have those labor peace agreements and begin talking with the workers there about why they might want to join a union.

“We’re ready to help anyone in this industry who decides it’s time to make a real change.”

The victory at Indeed is the latest in a string of successful organizing campaigns for Local 17. Workers at seven Twin Cities venues operated by First Avenue formed a union last November, and workers in the Macalester College dining facility joined UNITE HERE in April.

“When workers see other workers stand up and make a real change in their life, it tells them it’s possible to make a change in their lives too,” Bloomquist said. “Lots of workers are deciding it’s time for something different.”

Indeed Brewing is located at 711 15th Ave. NE in Minneapolis. The venue offers a tap room, to-go sales, event spaces and an outdoor patio.

See a full list of union bars, restaurants, clubs, hotels and craft beverage spots at uniteherelocal17.org.

Filed Under: Organizing Tagged With: , , ,

St. Paul lawmaker vows to act on health care for MSP workers if MAC won’t

January 29, 2024 by

State Sen. Erin Murphy spoke during a press conference held by unions at MSP Airport in December.

Airport workers are dialing up the pressure on employers at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport and the airport’s governing body to do something to make their health insurance more affordable.

Health benefits have been a sticking point in separate negotiations covering two groups of workers at MSP Airport, about 450 airline catering workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 17 and over 1,000 wheelchair agents, cabin cleaners, cart drivers and others represented by Service Employees (SEIU) Local 26.

Membership surveys have shown the overwhelming majority of low-wage airport workers do not access their employer-sponsored health insurance, instead relying on government programs for coverage.

Their unions have been fiercely lobbying the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) in recent years to pass a minimum standard for affordable health insurance that all MSP-based employers would be required to offer.

In a press conference the week before Christmas, union members announced they had gained a powerful ally in the campaign, Assistant Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (D-St. Paul). If airport leaders and employers fail to act, Murphy said, she will introduce a bill mandating that MSP employers offer affordable health coverage.

“We don’t have the benefit of travel without the people who staff our airports,” Murphy said. “These are physical jobs, where they can be injured in the workplace. They are working in close proximity to other people where they could easily catch something. They need meaningful health care coverage to protect themselves and to protect their families.”

Determining health benefits “is rightfully done at the bargaining table,” Murphy added. But if she and other lawmakers don’t see workers and management reach a negotiated solution, they will look for a legislative fix.

Sheigh Freeberg, secretary-treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 17, said most of the union’s members who work in airline catering cannot afford to access employer-provided health insurance.

Sheigh Freeberg, secretary-treasurer of UNITE HERE Local 17, welcomed Murphy’s support.

“We’ve pushed employers for affordable health care, and they’ve said no,” Freeberg said. “We’ve pushed the airport council … for affordable health care, and they’ve said no. We are continuing those fights, but we are excited to have state Sen. Erin Murphy … to fix this problem at the state level if those who have the direct power will not.”

MSP Airport workers have succeeded in lobbying the MAC for higher standards in recent years, including a minimum wage above $15 per hour and a mandate requiring employers to offer paid sick days. But union leaders say workers’ lack of access to health coverage remains a stain on MSP Airport’s reputation.

In a recent survey of nearly 300 airport workers from 17 different employers, just 15.2% of workers who reported having health insurance said they access the benefit from their employer.

“The workers who make this an award-winning airport continue to show up day after day, and they will step up and make sure that the (passenger) experience is great, that the spaces are clean and that the food is delivered on time,” Freeberg said. “It is time for those in power to do the same and step up to make sure that these workers have affordable health care. We are not going to stop fighting until they do.”

SEIU Local 26, whose members are employed by MSP subcontractors, remain in contract negotiations. Their contracts were scheduled to expire Jan. 31.

About 450 catering workers based at MSP Airport are covered by nationwide talks between UNITE HERE and SkyChefs that have dragged on for over two years. The talks fall under the jurisdiction of the Railway Labor Act, which severely limits union members’ ability to exert pressure on their employers through a strike.

“Federal law has failed these workers,” Freeberg said. “We’re looking for the MAC to step up and set a minimum standard of health care that is affordable.”

Filed Under: Labor Voices, Organizing, Politics, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
Next Page»