Voters back labor candidates, campaigns in local elections

November 12, 2019 by

Candidates carrying the unified labor endorsement performed well in local elections across the East Metro last week, and union members helped pass several school-funding measures as well.

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, endorsed 25 candidates on the ballot in 2019, and 23 won their races. All six school levy and bond referendums endorsed by the federation won voter approval, including a record-breaking, $326 million facilities investment in the White Bear Lake school district.

“It was great to see our communities support investments in our schools – in both learning and infrastructure,” said Kera Peterson, the St. Paul RLF’s political director. “Our communities also voted to elect school board candidates who support public education and the schools our students deserve.”

In St. Paul, all six labor-endorsed candidates for City Council won in their respective wards.

Incumbent council members Amy Brendmoen, Mitra Jalali Nelson, Rebecca Noecker, Jane Prince and Chris Tolbert took a majority of first-choice votes, tallied by officials on election night.

Three days later, after the city’s ranked-choice-voting process played out, Nelsie Yang emerged the winner in Ward 6. A member of the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild-CWA, Yang ran with the RLF’s endorsement.

Additionally, Council Member Dai Thao won reelection in Ward 1 with the support of several local unions. (The St. Paul RLF did not endorse a candidate in the race.)

All three unified labor-endorsed school board candidates in St. Paul won, as did Nicole Frethem, the labor-endorsed candidate in a special election for the District 1 seat on the Ramsey County Board.

Peterson said the election results confirm that most voters in east-metro communities share labor’s values, from fighting wage theft to lifting working families out of poverty.

“It’s exciting to know that union members helped re-elect the members of the St. Paul City Council who passed the city’s $15 municipal minimum wage and earned sick and safe time ordinances,” she said. “And it’s exciting to think about how we will work together to continue improving standards for workers in our community.”

Yang, meanwhile, was among several union members and retirees who won their campaigns for local office this year.

Tolbert, who won reelection in St. Paul’s third ward, is a member of Local 2938 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Allen, newly elected to the St. Paul school board, is a member of the St. Paul Federation of Educators. And Angela Thompson, a member of Office and Professional Employees Local 12, won reelection to the White Bear Lake school board.

Three union retirees, all former members of Education Minnesota, also won seats on local school boards: Louise Hinz in South Washington County, Jackie Magnuson in Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan and Margaret Newmaster in White Bear Lake.

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation unites more than 100 local unions in Ramsey, Dakota, Washington and Chisago counties. Together, they represent over 50,000 working people.

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Labor gets behind school bonds, levies in East Metro

October 25, 2019 by

Organized labor is boosting efforts to fund new investments in several East Metro public school districts, including a record-breaking building referendum in the White Bear Lake Area Schools.

Levy and bond referendums empower communities to invest in their schools’ programming, facilities and technology – investments that always pay off in the long run, St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper said.

“Great schools are the bedrock of every strong community,” Kasper said. “They educate our future workforce and attract good employers to our area.

“That’s why, as a labor movement, we usually support operating levy and bond referendums as down payments on our economic future.”

The St. Paul RLF, which unites local unions from Ramsey, Chisago, Dakota and Washington counties, has endorsed levy requests on the Nov. 5 ballot in the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage, Lakeville, Mounds View and Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan districts, as well as a separate bond request in Lakeville.

But the referendum in White Bear Lake is the biggest of the bunch.

District leaders have pitched a $326 million package of technological, facility and safety improvements that would touch every building and program in the school system.

It’s the largest school bond referendum ever to appear on a ballot in Minnesota, and it comes after months of strategic planning, which brought together residents with and without children, business owners, teachers and other district staff.

Even if it passes, property owners in the White Bear district would still be paying less toward school debt, about $275 per year, than their counterparts in neighboring districts, who average about $317 per year. And taxpayers who file for the state’s property tax refund would see their burden cut by as much as 80 percent.

Meanwhile, the building referendum provides an opportunity to address issues that have been bubbling to the surface within the community for over a decade, like concerns about school safety and changing technology, as well as an expanding student population.

Tiffany Dittrich, president of the White Bear Lake Teachers Association, said the district anticipates an influx of up to 2,000 students over the next 10 years.

“We’re currently at capacity,” Dittrich said. “So it’s critically important that we have additional classroom space to be able to support those students.”

The building referendum also would fund construction of a unified high school in the district, which currently splits students between north and south campuses. Dittrich, in her 23rd year as a language arts teacher at White Bear, said a single-site high school is “something the community has wanted for a long time.”

With improvements proposed at every school site, and a brand new elementary school in Hugo, the White Bear bond would create hundreds of construction jobs. It would also strengthen and support existing jobs in the district, which maintains 11 different collective bargaining agreements with local unions.

Dittrich said she isn’t taking anything for granted, but she remains hopeful the referendum will pass Nov. 5.

“In my experience, the residents of the White Bear community support their schools,” she said. “That support has contributed to an environment that empowers me to support students and allow them to thrive educationally.”

 

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This summer job is a crash course in construction careers

August 19, 2016 by
MN Trades Academy grads Romeo Guevara (L) of Harding Senior High and Austin Fink of Open World Learning Academy level scaffolding at the Laborers Training Center in Lino Lakes.

MN Trades Academy grads Romeo Guevara (L) of Harding Senior High and Austin Fink of Open World Learning Academy level scaffolding at the Laborers Training Center in Lino Lakes.

 

One by one Friday, graduates of the inaugural MN Trades Academy stepped up to the podium inside IBEW Local 110’s union hall and offered their three favorite construction crafts.

Welding was a popular choice – not surprisingly, given the teenage demographic – but there was something for every one of the 20 graduates, who spent nine weeks this summer working as paid interns, touring the apprenticeship centers of 16 local Building Trades unions.

At the IUPAT District Council 82 training center in Little Canada, apprenticeship instructor Kerry Gallagher offers tips on filling in the color wheel to Randy Cuate of Minneapolis Roosevelt.

At the IUPAT District Council 82 training center, apprenticeship instructor Kerry Gallagher offers tips on the color wheel to Randy Cuate of Minneapolis Roosevelt.

In other words, finding a construction craft they like was their summer job.

“Knowing all the trades gives them insight into all the opportunities available out there,” Como Park Senior High shop teacher Bob Prifrel said. “Now it’s up to them to take advantage of it.”

Prifrel led one of two crews of interns participating in the inaugural MN Trades Academy. His consisted of students from the St. Paul and White Bear Lake school districts; another included students from Minneapolis Public Schools.

Interns worked 30 to 35 hours per week and earned $9 per hour. On workdays they bused to local technical colleges and apprenticeship centers for crash courses in various crafts. They also completed the OSHA 10 training.

Although in its first year, MN Trades Academy has been more than a decade in the making. It grew out of forerunner programs like UnderConstruction, a summer program that provided urban youth with work experience on a construction job site.

Launching MN Trades Academy took a great deal of collaboration between the school districts and Building Trades unions, as well as contractors, public agencies and community groups like Greater Twin Cities United Way, all of which provided logistical or funding support.

Organizers say the program is in line for a funding boost that will enable it to increase enrollment next year, creating more summer jobs for young people that, down the road, might spark interest in a career.

So beyond welding, what crafts did the graduates enjoy most?

Laborers instructor Darrell Jones (R) works with Highland Park student Akshay Schneider.

Laborers instructor Darrell Jones (R) works with Highland Park student Akshay Schneider.

“My favorite was commercial painting,” Nicholas Eichrodt of Minneapolis said. “I just love how you’ve got to do it specifically right, or you’ve got to do it all over again.”

Austin Fink of St. Paul liked the trip to Operating Engineers Local 49 best. “We got to sit in all the big, heavy machinery that we wanted to, and we learned a little about each one,” he said.

“I like the hands-on experience we got at IBEW, the wiring we did,” Randy Cuate of Minneapolis said. “I also really like math, so it worked out.”

Como Park student Lah Htoo took to crafts like tiling and bricklaying. “You get to make stuff that people will actually see,” he said. “It’s like a work of art.”

Chris Sheffield of St. Paul isn’t afraid of heights. He was the only intern to put the visit to Ironworkers Local 512 at the top of the list.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do since I was little,” Sheffield said. “I want to be that guy standing 100 stories up on that high beam, getting to see the whole town.”

Da’Shawn Gordon
The Minneapolis crew works on color wheels.
Representatives of the White Bear Lake School District pose for a photo at graduation.
Romeo Guevara offers his top three trades during graduation.
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