Twin Cities Labor Report 12/9

U of MN grads ratify first contract, strike in Deer River, strikes and contract fights year in review

Hello and welcome to another issue of the Twin Cities Labor Report! Thanks again for reading and for all of the feedback, it’s much appreciated. I have my second 2024 year in review piece included at the end of this, focusing on strikes and contract fights that happened over the last year. It includes a report on a heretofore completely unreported strike! Next week, I’ll be writing on big upcoming fights in 2025, so please send any on your radar over to me. It’s a group effort, as always. And without further ado…

Upcoming Labor Actions

• SEIU HCMNIA- Essentia - Workers at Essentia’s Deer River Hospital and Clinic are going on an open-ended ULP strike starting today. USW Local 9460, which represents a lot of Essentia workers at other hospitals and clinics, announced their support for the strike, and filed the paperwork to allow members to walk the picket line off of work hours (a requirement for healthcare unions). This comes after a five day strike in November, with outstanding issues being wages and a proposal by management to let non-union workers from other clinics float in “in a manner that would undermine long-time union workers in the community.” Open-ended strikes are increasingly uncommon in healthcare, so this is a big deal. If you’re fancying a road trip, the pickets will run from 8-2 every day. Otherwise, you can donate to their strike fund here.

• SEIU HCMNIA- Woodlake Nursing Home- Workers at Woodlake Nursing Home in New Hope announced a 5 day ULP strike starting on Friday, December 13. The main issues involve new management (which bought the home in a surprise sale) not honoring the previous contract, specifically withholding a $5 raise for new hires. They have a bargaining session scheduled today, in advance of the strike.

• AFSCME Local 151- Ramsey County- Ramsey County social services and financial workers will be having a rally at the County Board meeting next Tuesday, December 17th, at 8:45am. Their contract expires December 31st along with other Ramsey County locals, and I haven’t heard of any TAs yet.

Recent Labor Events

• AFSCME Local 2822- Hennepin County- Hennepin clerical workers protested and spoke up at the Hennepin County Commission meeting last Tuesday. Members gave great speeches about the disrespect and lack of pay that they suffer from at County jobs. The next session of mediation is on December 17th, we'll see if there's any movement by then.

• Starbucks Workers United- SBWU workers around Minnesota picketed this weekend as they approach the end of 2024 with a potential first contract still up in the air. I’m told there were actions in Moorhead, Duluth, St. Anthony, and St Paul. I was at the St. Paul location and there was lots of friendly honking by cars driving by on Snelling- always a good sign! SBWU nationally is asking for allies to flier outside of non-union Starbucks this coming week, you can sign up here if this interests you. If anyone wants to do this in Minneapolis, let me know and I’ll join in if I can.

• Teamsters Local 289- St. Croix Laundry- Nine maintenance technicians won their union here!

• UE Local 1105- U of MN- Grads at the U ratified their first contract! This is a huge win, and I’m super happy to all of my friends who have worked to make this happen. It’s been a long fight, I remember talking to people back in 2022 before this drive had gone public, a lot of whom have now graduated. This should also hopefully give some momentum towards organizing the adjuncts, faculty, and other unorganized staff across the university system.

Ongoing Contract Fights of Note

• UNITE HERE Local 17- Hilton- following their successful contract campaign at the Hilton-owned Lofton hotel, which involved the first strike vote ever at that hotel, Local 17 workers are fighting for the same standard at the Marquette, also owned by Hilton. They voted on Thursday by 91% to authorize a strike if necessary.

Upcoming NLRB Elections

• Minnesota Nurses Association- Hazelden Betty Ford- 51 Nurses and LPNs at the Hazelden Clinic in Center City. This is the second attempt after a petition was withdrawn last year. I’ve looked, and I think this might be the first union at Hazelden Betty Ford.

2024 Year In Review- Strikes and Contracts

The always-useful ILR Labor Action Tracker lists seven strikes as happening in Minnesota in 2024. I’ll start by mentioning the one that they didn’t know about, because there weren’t any pickets and it wasn’t reported anywhere (until now)- plumbers in UA Local 15 in Minneapolis and Local 34 in St Paul struck for around two weeks in May after members rejected a TA. It wasn’t reported because, according to my source, the union wanted to avoid “negative publicity.” Workers got a bigger raise than the rejected TA and I believe they did not concede to a waiver on Earned Sick and Safe Time, so overall a pretty good deal for a silent strike. For those who don’t know, there’s a loophole in the state Earned Sick and Safe Time (ESST) law that lets building trades contracts waive their rights to this benefit. This, along with the cost of living, led the IBEW Limited Energy contract workers to authorize a strike, and the Inside workers in Local 292 to reject a TA. Both contracts were settled, I think both with an increase in wages bigger than the first offer but with a waiver of ESS included.

Another interesting strike was the one done by freelance court interpreters. Acting without a union, they went on strike in early January and lasted for seven weeks before calling it off. They won a big raise, 15%, through legislative action. Other strikes included Virginia city workers on the Iron Range, which while small, included an incredible amount of drama. In March, Maple Grove REI workers in my union, UFCW 663, went on a two day strike as they continued to push for a first contract nationwide. I remember them pretty effectively shutting down the store, leading a panicking mall cop to call the actual cops and furiously vape in the car while he waited for them to come. Fun times!

The big event a lot of us had circled on our calendars was the traditional Week of Action, the traditional week in March where SEIU and other unions plan contract campaigns to escalate. 4,000 janitors in SEIU Local 26 did end up striking, as well as 1,000 nursing home workers across four companies and 12 locations with SEIU HCMN and UFCW 663. It could have been even bigger- many teacher contracts were expiring around the same time, and St Paul, Anoka-Hennepin, Minneapolis ESPs, and others came very close to walking off. Minneapolis public works employees in LiUNA Local 363 set a strike deadline as well during this week, before winning a huge raise. That directly led to the longest, nastiest, and toughest strike of the year, Local 363’s three week strike at the Minneapolis Regional Parks Board. MPRB management was determined to break the union, and many of the seasonal workers covered by the union contract crossed the line. This was the first strike in Local 363’s history, and a huge test for new leadership after taking over in 2022 what had been a super quiet union. A lot of the labor movement came out in support of these workers, and it was super inspiring to see them win and beat the terrible Parks Board.