‘Untold Stories’ series to celebrate labor history with free public events

April 2, 2014 by

untold-stories-header12Untold Stories, the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library’s annual labor-history series, will focus this year on the struggles facing workers in the past and how they influence the issues of today.

The free, public programs begin April 22 and wrap up May 14. A full programming guide is available on the Friends’ website.

April events include:

• “Pete Daniel – Dispossession.” April 22, 7 p.m. Minnesota History Center, 345 W. Kellogg Blvd.

Pete Daniel, a past president of the Organization of American Historians and a retired curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, will speak about his recent book “Dispossession: Discrimination Against African American Farmers in the Age of Civil Rights.”

Between 1940 and 1974, the number of African American farmers fell from 681,790 to just 45,594 – a drop of 93 percent. Daniel analyzes this decline and chronicles black farmers’ fierce struggles to remain on the land in the face of discrimination.

After Daniel’s presentation, Pakou Hang of the Hmong American Farmers Association and Dale Wiehoff from the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy will talk about current struggles of small farmers to keep their land.

• “From Low Wage to Middle Class?” April 28, 7 p.m. St. Paul Labor Centre, 411 Main St.

Workers in retail, home care, warehousing, the restaurant industry and other parts of the modern economy are only the latest in a long line of employees rising up to claim that “working” and “poor” should never be in the same sentence. This program will examine how today’s workers are fighting to make a living in their service-sector jobs. It also will consider how fields such as nursing and teaching turned their professions from low-wage jobs into middle-class careers.

Panelists will include representatives from the Department of Employment and Economic Development, Working America, Child Care Providers Together, the St. Paul Federation of Teachers and the Minnesota Nurses Association.

• “Bdote Memory Map” April 30, 7 p.m. Rondo Community Outreach Library, 461 N. Dale St.

Mona Smith, a Sisseton Wahpeton Dakota storyteller and media artist, will discuss her creation of a “memory map” of the bdote area of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. This bdote, a place where two waters come together, is central to Dakota spirituality and history.

Her online map is viewable online. It contains a series of sites that have special meaning to the Dakota people.

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Coalition delivers 7,000 postcards to state senators urging action on minimum wage

March 18, 2014 by
Organizers of the Raise the Wage Coalition hold a press conference before delivering postcards to state senators.

Organizers of the Raise the Wage Coalition hold a press conference before delivering postcards to state senators.

Supporters of raising the state’s minimum wage – and indexing it to keep up with the cost of living – kept the pressure on state senators today, delivering more than 7,000 postcards from constituents demanding action.

The postcards are the product of conversations with Minnesotans that began, Raise the Wage Coalition spokesperson Jennifer Munt said, with a question: Should people who work full time have to live in poverty?

“Almost always the answer was ‘no,’” Munt said. “And it was an urgent ‘no’ for low-wage workers.”

web.minwage-postcardsOrganizers of the Raise the Wage Coalition, which includes unions, community organizations, religious groups and non-profits, have been starting those conversations at public events like the Minnesota State Fair and in conversations with Minnesotans on their doorsteps.

“We’ve been talking with our members at the doors each night since last May,” Working America statewide director Bree Halverson said.

Working America members are workers who do not have the benefit of a union contract on the job, and they “overwhelmingly support raising the minimum wage,” Halverson added. In fact, many would benefit directly from an increase to $9.50 per hour.

“Some of our members work two or three jobs because they can’t find one with an hourly wage that goes far enough, or they don’t get enough hours to make ends meet,” Halverson said.

While both the Senate and House have passed minimum-wage increases, a final bill remains stuck in conference committee at the Capitol. Coalition members support the House bill, which would raise the wage to $9.50 by 2015 and includes indexing so that the wage keeps its value as the cost of living increases.

Munt, communications director for Council 5 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said indexing “protects the purchasing power of the working poor, and it ensures their families won’t slip into poverty.”

“We don’t freeze the price of groceries, so why would we freeze the minimum wage?” she asked.

Indexing also makes sure coalition members won’t have to fire up the campaign again in years to come.

“Indexing keeps politics out of the minimum wage and ensures workers won’t have to wait another nine years for an increase,” Munt said.

The coalition also wants the minimum-wage bill to:

• Conform Minnesota’s definition of a large business to the federal threshold of $500,000 annual gross sales.

• Conform state law to reflect the federal 40-hour work week and twelve weeks of parental leave upon the birth or adoption of a child.

• Protect tipped workers from having their wages cut by not allowing tip penalty language to be inserted into the bill.

[Click here for information on how you can support efforts to raise the wage!]

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For minimum-wage earners in Minnesota, ‘a constant juggling act’

April 11, 2013 by
Rep. Jason Metsa hears from minimum-wage earners (L to R) Robert Schiff, Janiece Watts and Avita Samuels.

Rep. Jason Metsa hears from minimum-wage earners (L to R) Robert Schiff, Janiece Watts and Avita Samuels.

The state legislator spending a week on minimum wage met today with three Minnesotans for whom the minimum-wage challenge is an everyday reality.

Four days into his five-day walk in the shoes of the state’s lowest-paid workers, Rep. Jason Metsa listened as three minimum-wage earners related the experiences Metsa wouldn’t have during his five-day experiment.

Things like health care, housing costs and the unpredictable nature of most low-wage jobs – those are the challenges Avita Samuels, Janiece Watts and Robert Schiff shared with Metsa, the DFLer from Virginia, Minn., who accepted Working America’s challenge to live a week on Minnesota’s minimum wage of $7.25.

A bill in the Minnesota House would boost that minimum wage to $9.95 per hour. Seeing it become law, Samuels said, would mean more than a bigger paycheck; it would mean respect for the work she does.

“I take pride in my job. I want to do the best I can,” the 23-year-old retail worker told Metsa. “I don’t want to have to ask for a higher minimum wage, but I have to.”

40-hour week no guarantee

Metsa’s minimum-wage budget of $290 assumes a 40-hour workweek, but that’s rarely a reality for retail workers like Samuels and Watts.

Samuels, a student at the University of Minnesota, juggles work with school. Watts, who works in a grocery store, found herself in a similar situation until she graduated last year.

Now she juggles work with trying to find another job. “Every so often I pick up some extra hours, but most of the time I work 24 hours per week,” the 24-year-old said.

Schiff, a 31-year-old security worker, supports four children, ranging in age from 8 months to 12 years old, with his minimum-wage job. Metsa asked how he juggles fixed costs like rent and food with unexpected expenses like medical care.

“Most of the time those medical expenses go on the back burner,” Schiff acknowledged. “When you’ve got four kids, you’ve got to pick and choose. There are times when your kids have to go without because you’ve got to pay rent.”

The rental squeeze

Metsa and Working America organizer Chase Brandau search online for rental housing that would be affordable for a minimum-wage earner.

Metsa and Working America organizer Chase Brandau search online for rental housing within a minimum-wage earner’s budget.

Trying to find rental housing is a steep challenge for minimum-wage workers – something Metsa learned firsthand a day earlier, when he tried finding apartments available for $359 per month. That’s the amount Metsa, using the JOBS NOW Coalition’s Family Budget Calculator, allowed himself for housing.

Using a search engine that collects data from several online apartment postings, Metsa found eight options in his initial search of the Twin Cities. Most were senior-living facilities or vacation units that rent by the week.

He tried calling the property manager of an apartment complex in Woodbury, but the number listed was no good. The only remaining choice was to sublet a room in a four-bedroom house for $325 per month.

Still, there was a catch. To inquire about the sublet, Metsa needed to pay a finder’s fee to the website.

“I’m finding a lot of these intermediaries,” Metsa said. “I think I’d rule out an apartment search online pretty quickly. It would be easier to network with friends and family to cut a deal, maybe stay on someone’s couch.”

That’s a fairly common strategy, according to Bree Halverson, statewide director of Working America. As the AFL-CIO‘s community affiliate, Working America represents 300,000 non-union Minnesotans, including many who work minimum-wage jobs.

“We know members who are living with family or friends while they try to find something else,” Halverson said, adding that Internet access, security deposits, utility costs and credit checks present more barriers to affordable housing for low-wage workers.

‘Swallow your pride’

“The bottom line is if you’re on this budget, you have to get help from somewhere, whether it’s family or friends or public assistance,” Chase Brandau, a Working America organizer based in Minnesota, said.

Schiff, Samuels and Watts, of course, know that better than most. Schiff said he’s gone to his mother for help with groceries. Samuels talked about pleading with supervisors for the flexibility to take another job. Watts admitted she’s “lucky” to be on her parents’ health insurance.

“You end up having to swallow your pride,” Schiff said.

Metsa pledged to pass along the workers’ stories to his colleagues – and do his part to “raise the amount in each of these columns,” he said, pointing to a chart with his $290-per-week budget broken down into basic needs.

“This budget would be a constant juggling act,” Metsa said. “What do I give up today to get what I gave up yesterday?”

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Five days on minimum wage: Rep. Metsa goes grocery shopping

April 9, 2013 by
Rep. Jason Metsa compares prices of peanut butter at the Midway Cub Foods.

Rep. Jason Metsa compares prices of peanut butter at the Midway Cub Foods.

Peanut butter or jelly? Juice or coffee? Dry spaghetti or ravioli in a can?

Those aren’t decisions Rep. Jason Metsa usually wrestles with in the grocery store, but the Iron Range DFLer is tightening his belt this week after signing a pledge to live on Minnesota’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for five days.

Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO, issued the minimum-wage challenge to state lawmakers in the hopes of drumming up support for a House bill that would raise Minnesota’s minimum wage to $9.95 per hour.

Metsa accepted the challenge, he said, “to better understand an economic situation many of us have never been exposed to.” In events later this week, Metsa will look for affordable housing, consider his transportation options and participate in a forum with actual minimum-wage workers, who earn $290 for working a 40-hour week.

Metsa and Working America's Bree Halverson track how much of his $28 budget the representative has spent.

Metsa and Working America’s Bree Halverson track how much of his $28 budget the representative has spent.

But first, the 32-year-old representative needed food.

Using the JOBS NOW Coalition’s Family Budget Calculator as a guide, Metsa allowed himself $35 for food and drink. After spending $7 on Monday, he arrived at the Cub Foods in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood this morning with $28 to spend and, after skipping breakfast, an empty stomach to fill.

“I’m already hungry,” he said, flipping through a stack of coupons he had clipped from the Cub circular.

His game plan, Metsa said, would be to stock up on the staples – bread, milk, eggs and pasta. Any leftover money might provide for a “splurge” item, and Metsa pocketed a coupon for Chef Boyardee ravioli just in case.

Store managers, media members and Working America staff trailed Metsa as he pushed his cart through the aisles, comparing prices and inspecting the in-store specials. It was more thought, Metsa admitted, than he had ever put into grocery shopping before.

“When I shop for groceries at home, I think more about what I’m hungry for or what’s good for me,” he said. “Today it was about how I can get full for $28 this week.”

Desserts and soda – items, Metsa acknowledged, that would usually end up in his shopping cart – were out. So too, Metsa discovered, were meats and other protein items, which proved “too expensive, even with a coupon.”

When he finally reached the checkout aisle, Metsa got more bad news: He’d gone over his budget. A loaf of bread, a container of frozen juice and, yes, a can of ravioli would have to go back on the shelves.

metsa-receipt-web

Click to view Rep. Jason Metsa’s grocery receipt.

What ended up in Metsa’s cart?

• Produce: One head of iceberg lettuce ($1.48), five bananas ($1.04) and three pounds of russet potatoes ($1.05).

• Meat and Dairy: One pack of salami ($1.99), one gallon of milk ($2.99), a dozen large eggs ($1.98) and a wedge of cheese ($2.99).

• Dry, Canned and Frozen Goods: One loaf of bread ($1.19), one jar of peanut butter ($4.35), one frozen container of juice ($1.59), one package of spaghetti (88 cents), one can of spaghetti sauce (88 cents), a case of instant-noodle cups ($2.49) and coffee ($3.74).

As he bagged his groceries, Metsa said he was confident the food he’d purchased would be enough to sustain him until this weekend. Bree Halverson, statewide director of Working America, asked how that might change if Metsa had a dependent child at home. According to the JOBS NOW Coalition, 35 percent of workers affected by raising the minimum wage to $10 per hour are married or are parents.

He’s single, but Metsa had no trouble putting himself in those shoes. “I think I’d drop my car insurance and make sure my kids could eat,” he said. “Otherwise, it would be impossible. You couldn’t do it without being on public assistance.”

For regular updates on Metsa’s minimum-wage challenge, follow on Twitter via #mnwage, or @workingamerica or @jasonmetsa. Updates also will be posted on Working America’s Main Street Blog and Working America’s Facebook page.

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Working America members target John Kline for blocking middle-class tax cuts

September 20, 2012 by

Working America member and 2nd District resident Mike Adair shows off the check mocking John Kline’s support for millionaire tax cuts.

BURNSVILLE – If millionaires don’t get a tax cut, then no one gets a tax cut.

That’s 2nd District Congressman John Kline’s stance, and it was the target of workers protesting outside Kline’s Burnsville offices Sept. 12 during a national day of action for tax fairness sponsored by Working America, the AFL-CIO’s community affiliate.

“John Kline voted against extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the 98 percent of Americans in the middle and working classes because those tax breaks for the richest 2 percent would have ended. He would not agree to that,” said Chase Brandau, a Minnesota organizer for Working America.

To drive the message home, Working America member Mike Adair, one of Kline’s constituents, delivered a three-foot-long check from Kline payable to “Millionaires.” The amount payable – $160,000 – represents the average annual tax cut people making over $1 million will receive if Kline’s efforts to extend the Bush tax cuts are successful, according to the National Economic Council.

“We’re here to deliver this check to Rep. Kline as a symbol of what he’s given (to millionaires) at the expense of working people in his district,” Brandau said.

Working America members from the 2nd District said tax fairness and a balanced budget are among their top concerns in this election year.

Ending the Bush tax cuts for the richest 2 percent would raise nearly $1 trillion in revenues over 10 years, helping to balance the federal budget. Extending the tax cuts for 25 million working Americans, meanwhile, would ensure consumers have the spending money necessary to keep the fragile economic recovery on track.

“Money at the top stays at the top,” said Adair, a small business owner and graduate student who lives in Eagan. “You can’t create jobs when money stagnates at the top.”

Elizabeth Huffman of Cottage Grove said she usually tunes out politics, but got involved in the Working America protest because she is fed up with politicians who attack the middle class.

“I’m tired of seeing the top 2 percent making all the rules. I would have loved to have heard John Kline’s justification for all of this,” Huffman said. “Enough is enough. Seeing what’s happening in this country, it’s ridiculous.”

Working America members said Kline’s refusal to take a balanced approach to budget and tax policy not only protects millionaires at the expense of working families, but it also puts funding for Medicare and education – programs that protect the middle class – at risk.

“Money is being wasted in contributing it to millionaires and being denied to people in the middle and lower income groups, where it would actually do the most good,” said Paul Hoffinger of Eagan. “It’s part of the reason we’re experiencing a recession.”

Workers staged similar protests in more than 30 cities across the U.S.

Working America has organized more than 3 million members, workers without the benefit of a union on the job, to fight for a just economy. For more information on the organization, go to www.workingamerica.org.

Working America members protest outside John Kline’s Burnsville offices.

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Dakota County legislators dodge community meeting on school funding

May 16, 2012 by

Working America member Mike Adair addresses a community meeting on school funding in Burnsville.

A group of Dakota County residents convened a community meeting in Burnsville May 12, hoping to give people an opportunity to ask their legislators questions about things like school funding and property taxes.

Unfortunately, not one of the area’s legislators acted on the invitation to attend, leaving the roomful of concerned parents, school district employees and other community members with more questions than answers.

“Why are our schools suffering? Why are property taxes on the middle class skyrocketing while our schools are giving kids less and less each year?” asked Mike Adair, an Eagan resident and father of four students in the Eagan school district.

“It’s not the district’s fault that they are squeezed dry every year. This mess comes directly from the state, and our representatives need to be held accountable for making choices that hurt our kids and their schools.”

The meeting underscores the task at hand for Minnesota’s union members and their community allies in this election year. The 2011-12 legislative sessions produced unprecedented attacks on workers from newly elected Republican majorities in the House and Senate, including a so-called “Right to Work” constitutional amendment.

Electing pro-worker majorities to the Legislature this November will require unions, through their Labor 2012 campaign, to make gains in places like Burnsville and Eagan, communities that have suffered from the state’s failure to fund local schools and public services adequately.

Residents like Adair, a member of the AFL-CIO community group Working America, are ready to work for candidates committed to raising revenue fairly to balance the budget in 2013.

“This is not the Minnesota I envisioned my kids growing up in,” said Adair. “Simply putting band-aids on the wounds every school year is not going to help. We need to think long-term.”

Metro-area unions will kick off in the Labor 2012 campaign with a rally May 17 in Minneapolis, where union leaders and volunteers plan to “celebrate our victories – and talk about what’s next, so these attacks don’t come back in 2013.”

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