Twin Cities Labor Report 1/6
SEIU Homecare workers announce rally, Essentia workers strike longest in 40 years, Biden blocks US Steel merger
Hello everyone and welcome to the first Twin Cities Labor Report of 2025! I hope that everyone had a good New Year and a fun holiday season, for those of us working in retail I hope that all of your bodily functions were left intact. For obvious reasons, this is a shorter newsletter, but things will pick up soon, so don’t fear!!! And wish me and my UFCW 663 siblings the best of luck- we start bargaining for metro grocery contracts on Tuesday.
Upcoming Labor Events
SEIU HCMNIA- State of MN- SEIU Homecare workers are rallying on Wednesday at 10am at the Capitol as negotiations wrap up with the State on the new statewide Homecare contract, which covers something like 20,000 workers. I can’t make it, but I’m interested in seeing who shows up and their thoughts. SEIU’s big fight in this campaign is for some kind of retirement fund, since these contracts are funded by the government there’s a lot of backroom negotiating involved.
Recent Labor Events
IAM Local 1833- United Airlines- A United baggage handler was assaulted on the light rail getting to work last week. His eye is swollen up, but it sounds like he is okay besides that. His union is blaming the Metropolitan Airports Commission for making employees of United, American, and Spirit park in Terminal 2 and take the light rail to Terminal 1, which they say makes workers late to work and exposes them to these situations. Other employees are able to park at Terminal 1, and I’ve never had issues finding parking spaces in the garages, so I am not really sure why the airport does this.
Minimum Wage- January 1st brought minimum wage increases in Minnesota. The statewide wage will increase to $11.13/hr, and carveout for small businesses, youth workers, and J1-visa holders will be eliminated. The minimum wage in Minneapolis and for large businesses in St Paul will rise to $15.97/hr, small businesses in St Paul will pay $14/hr.
SEIU HCMNIA- Essentia- Around 70 striking workers at Essentia Deer River are now on Day 29 of their open-ended strike, which is SEIU’s longest in 40 years. It’ll be a low of -10F today, I have a lot of respect for these workers. The linked article mentions that SEIU, USW, and AFSCME are holding a rally in Duluth on January 15th to put pressure on Essentia. The company (which I should mention is a REGISTERED NONPROFIT) has responded to the strike by hiring temporary scabs to run the hospital- boo!!!
United Steelworkers- US Steel- Biden, in one of his last acts as president, blocked the acquisition of US Steel by Nippon Steel, a move backed by Trump, the USW, and Cleveland-Cliffs, a rival company. US Steel and Cleveland Cliffs still employ a lot of miners on the Iron Range (1,800 for US Steel), and Local 1938’s president was quoted celebrating the decision. Writer Aaron Brown makes a great point that a lot of steel in the US is now made by non-union Nucor at smaller and more efficient electric-arc mills. I would imagine that US Steel and potential suitors want to go in this direction. We’ll see how this affects the Range.
Upcoming NLRB Elections
Teamsters Local 346- Kals Motor Group- 21 Employees at this used car dealership in Wadena are unionizing with the Teamsters.