Minneapolis parks board and union dig in for protracted strike — and other labor news • Minnesota Reformer

Take a seat in the Break Room, our weekly roundup of labor news in Minnesota and beyond. This week: Minneapolis parks workers strike enters second week; Anti-union group targets public sectors workers with opt-out campaign; Minnesota nurses notch another victory; National teachers union locks out staff; and renowned labor organizer Jane McAlevey dies. 

Minneapolis parks workers extend strike indefinitely

What was supposed to be a weeklong strike by Minneapolis parks workers entered its second week on Friday after union leaders with LIUNA Local 363 announced earlier this week the strike would go on indefinitely.

Negotiations have already dragged on for seven months and become increasingly antagonistic. Last week, park board leaders threatened to lock out striking workers until a deal was reached, prompting the union to file an unfair labor practices charge and the park board to reverse its position.

The strike has already disrupted events in the parks and could force the park board to further curtail services. The union represents roughly 300 parks workers who maintain the grounds and facilities across 185 park properties, which include 75 beaches and pools, miles of trails and seven golf courses. The park system has been ranked among the top three in the country for the past decade.

While the two sides appear close in their wage proposals, representatives for the union and the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board haven’t met since July 1 and have no plans to resume talks.

Minneapolis Parks Superintendent Al Bangoura said during Wednesday’s board meeting that negotiations would only resume after workers take a vote on their last offer. That prompted outcry from union members, who say managers have no power to dictate how the union conducts its business.

“A very fair offer has been proposed and (LIUNA Local) 363 leadership refuses to bring it to their members for vote. Why won’t they bring it for a vote instead of unilaterally holding their members to a strike?” Bangoura said.

Then on Friday, Bangoura released a statement saying negotiations could resume if the union provides a “substantial and meaningful counteroffer” by Monday.

Union members say the park board’s latest offer is worse than the one on the table when they voted to authorize the strike with 94% support last month.

The latest offer by the park board would cost $4.6 million over three years, while the union’s proposal would cost $6.7 million, according to the park board. The $2.1 million difference spread over three years represents less than half of one percent of the park board’s budget — $157.1 million for 2024.

The park board’s finance director said in a special board meeting on Monday that residents would see their taxes go up by 1.25% under the board’s proposal and 2.1% under the union proposal. Union members balked at the projections, pointing out the board is sitting on $25 million in reserves, has $50 million in open contracts and awarded parks Superintendent Al Bangoura a 10% raise this year.

“That’s another way for them to spin the public against us,” said Paul Holevas, a union steward who’s worked full-time for the parks for more than a decade. “I live in Minneapolis … My taxes have went up every single year, astronomically, and it’s going to happen next year and the year after regardless of whether they’re paying us or not.”

The latest offer by the park board includes 10.75% raises over three years plus small market adjustments of 50 cents per hour for certain workers annually in the final two years of the contract.

The offer would give parks workers the highest raises they’ve seen in years, but the union points out it would not make up for recent inflation. Workers have also seen other union workers make larger gains, like the city of Minneapolis’ public works employees, who won 30% raises over the next three years. And the city is considering giving police officers historic raises of nearly 22%, pushing their pay to among the highest in the nation.

Holevas says the larger sticking points remain over contract language that would weaken workers’ power, like limiting the number of union stewards and adding rules on the grievance procedure.

While the union authorized a strike with overwhelming support, many members have continued to work while their co-workers walk the picket line.

A spokeswoman for the parks system said 48% of union members are on strike by their count, while LIUNA Local 363 estimates nearly 60% are striking.

Holevas says workers are taking advantage of the opportunity to earn overtime pay, which hasn’t been offered in years, while others simply can’t afford to live on the union’s picket pay of $50 per day.

“They know most of the people that I work with live paycheck to paycheck, and aren’t going to be able to afford to strike without some help,” Holevas said. “So instead of trying to come back to the table and give us what we deserve, they would rather just wait it out, make us all broke.”

Still, Holevas says he believes more of his colleagues are joining the strike and an outpouring of public support has doubled the union’s strike fund, allowing the union to increase its picket pay to $100 per day.

“We’re united. We’re winning. We have management on their heels,” Holevas said.

Anti-union group targets Minnesota state workers

State employees and other public workers have been receiving emails from the anti-union Freedom Foundation encouraging them to cancel their union membership. Workers received emails twice from OptOutToday.com since April, promising workers “financial freedom” by halting their union dues payments, according to copies shared with the Reformer. 

The emails direct workers to a website that will generate a form for workers to send to their union and employer canceling their membership. While workers say they didn’t sign up for the emails, a link provided in the email says their contact information was obtained through a public data request.

Public sector employees can’t be required to pay union dues under the 2018 Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME. Even if public workers opt out of paying dues, however, their unions will continue to represent them in negotiating wage increases and benefits.

In the private sector in Minnesota, workers who are represented by a union can opt out of membership but often must pay “fair share” dues to cover the costs of representation. That’s different than in so-called right-to-work states, where unions cannot compel workers to pay dues even if they benefit from union representation.

Labor advocates worried the Supreme Court decision would deal a deadly blow to public sector unions, which represent teachers, transit workers, public works employees, personal care attendants, state bureaucrats and others. But the vast majority of workers continue to voluntarily pay dues to fund their unions’ operations negotiating contracts and lobbying on their behalf.

In Minnesota, for example, roughly 94% of all workers covered by union contracts are also union members, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Minnesota nurses union notches another victory

Nurses at Essentia Health-Duluth Clinic 3rd Street and Patient Flow hospital voted to unionize with the Minnesota Nurses Association, marking another victory for the nurses union in its campaign to organize more workers in the north country.

Nearly 250 Essentia workers have voted to unionize with the nurses union this year, while even more are scheduled to vote on unionizing this month at St. Mary’s-Superior Wisconsin Clinic. Votes will also be tallied later this month by advanced care providers — including nurse practitioners and physician assistants — at 70 Essentia Health hospitals and clinics across northern Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin.

National teachers union locks out its staff

The National Education Association, the largest labor union in the country, deployed one of the most aggressive tactics available to employers against its own unionized employees on Sunday and locked them out amid stalled negotiations. That means the union’s nearly 300 staff members will not be allowed to work or get paid until the two sides reach a deal on a new contract, Education Week reported.

The lockout comes after the staff union, the National Education Association Staff Organization, launched a three-day strike on July 5 that halted the NEA’s annual representative assembly that brings together thousands of union delegates. The assembly couldn’t continue in person because the union would not cross its staff’s picket line. The strike also led President Biden to cancel his appearance at the assembly meeting in Philadelphia.

In a statement to Education Week, a NEA spokesperson criticized staff members for “abandoning” members and “depriving them of the opportunity to convene and deliberate the business of the union.”

The staff union, which has filed three unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, called the lockout “a dangerous, reckless, and reactionary move that undermines the rights of every union worker in this country.”

Labor organizer and writer Jane McAlevey dies at 59

Renowned labor organizer and writer Jane McAlevey died Sunday at 59 years old from cancer. McAlevey was a charismatic figure in the labor movement who practiced — and later taught — zealous bottom-up organizing that sought to put rank-and-file workers at the helm of union campaigns and negotiations.

She authored four books that became well-worn handbooks to many union activists and trained thousands of organizers in her theory of change at the U.C. Berkeley Labor Center and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

McAlevey was also a brash and polarizing figure, earning the nickname “Hurricane Jane” and a reputation for being hard to work with. She was a frequent critic of union leaders, especially after failed campaigns, and admonished those she believed were too timid, complacent or close to management.

McAlevey publicly disclosed her cancer in a profile in the New Yorker last fall after keeping her diagnosis largely private for two years. It was her second bout with cancer, which also claimed her mother, brother and sister. She entered hospice care in April, writing to her followers, “No matter how much I love the challenge of a good fight, this was never one I could win.”