Twin Cities Labor Report 2/17
First Ave workers win first contract, nursing homes file for union election, layoff report
Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Twin Cities Labor Report! Thanks again to all of you for subscribing and reading, it gives me so much pleasure! I got to witness nursing home workers march on the boss and announce their union this past week which was a great pick-me-up. If anyone is looking for a put-me-down, though, I have a list of recent layoff announcements at the bottom of this (not including the federal layoffs). I’m sending my energy to Health Partners workers this week!
Upcoming Union Events
Farmer-Labor Solidarity Exhibit - The East Side Freedom Library is hosting an event on Thursday, February 20th at 7pm to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota. They’ll unveil a new “movable monument” by metal sculptor Gita Ghei.
Recent Union Events
IATSE Local 13- Children's Theatre Company- “Nearly 50” Front of house staff at the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis announced that they had ratified a first contract after a year of bargaining. This makes the whole city block in Whittier combining MCAD, the MIA, and the CTC wall-to-wall union, I believe?
OPEIU Local 12- Health Partners- After their massive vote authorizing a three day strike, Local 12 workers spent two days in bargaining with Health Partners, and it didn’t go well. Management didn’t even counter any union proposals! Local 12 has started a letter-writing campaign to Health Partners management, so please sign and spread this around.
Teamsters Local 346- Kal’s Motor Group- Workers at this used ATV and golf cart dealership in Wadena voted 6-11 against joining the Teamsters.
Teamsters Local 120- Quality Propane- Six propane drivers in Burnsville voted unanimously against joining the Teamsters.
Teamsters Local 320- Ramsey County Probation Officers- Local 320 did a strike capitan training for Ramsey probation officers, who have authorized a strike.
UFCW Local 663- Metro Grocery contract- We did a unified action across all of the grocers with contracts expiring this year on Valentine’s Day, and put union stickers on. This was the first time ever we did something like that across all of the companies!! Let’s hope it gives us some momentum coming into another bargaining session.
UNITE HERE Local 17- First Avenue- Over 200 workers at all seven of First Ave’s locations announced that they had unanimously ratified a first contract with Local 17! This is a huge win for workers in the entertainment industry, and exactly the type of organizing campaign that is needed- lots of militant actions, including getting First Ave to rehire a fired worker. I believe that this drive also spurred the creation of Twin Cities United Performers, the fledgling organizing effort by local musicians.
New NLRB Filings
SEIU Local 26- Cedar Management, Inc- Three desk attendants at Gallery Towers in Downtown St Paul have filed to join Local 26, as part of their long-running campaign to unionize condo workers.
SEIU HCMNIA- North Ridge Health and Rehab, Episcopal Church Homes- 130 nursing home workers at Episcopal Homes in St Paul and 107 nursing home workers at North Ridge in New Hope (the largest nursing home in the state) have filed to unionize with SEIU. They announced both drives with marches on the boss! I got to witness the march at New Hope, which was really cool. I am sure that these will both be nasty boss campaigns, so let’s all root for these workers!
Layoffs and Closures
Case New Holland- The CNH agricultural implements factory in Benson is closing, affecting 175 employees. They are not unionized, but a couple of other CNH facilities around the country are. John Deere and CNH have both gone through tons and tons of layoffs in recent years, following long strikes at both companies. Is this a boss counteroffensive?
Joann Fabrics- Joann is closing 12 stores in Minnesota as they plan to close 500 out of 800 stores across the country. Good news for Michaels, I guess.
Macy’s- Macy’s is closing its Burnsville and Maplewood locations as part of a nationwide consolidation. There are actually a fair amount of union Macy’s on the East and West Coasts, but none out here sadly.
Teamsters Local 638- UPS- UPS announced that it was laying off the Day Sort shift at its Northeast Minneapolis warehouse, affecting up to 140 workers. According to the local, the shift had only begun in early January, but if you get google news alerts for “union” like I stupidly do, you’ll see that UPS has been laying off lots of warehouse workers around the country as they automate more of their processes and look to boost their margins. Meanwhile, the IBT applauded President Trump for nominating former UPS and Amazon executive David Keeling to head OSHA, despite the agency fining UPS repeatedly while he was in charge.