Twin Cities Labor Report 2/3
Our Super Bowl? The Meaning of 1/23
Hello and welcome to another edition of the Twin Cities Labor Report! I apologize for the delay in getting this one out, it’s been a busy week. I really appreciate all of you who talked to me this week about your workplaces’ participation in the 1/23 Day of Action. It was really fascinating and encouraging- everyone I talked to had a number of folks at their jobs call in, and a few workers forced full shutdowns of their businesses. While I want to be clear that most folks I talked to did not report full closures, there was a general trend that the workplaces that had bigger stewards networks and organization beforehand had higher participation. There is also a basically ongoing silent strike among many workers who feel vulnerable to ICE, with tons of people sheltering at home and not going out to work.
I’ve heard a lot of divergent thoughts about the industry that did basically shut down, restaurants. A lot of these businesses had owners that were sympathetic to the call, so how much of the closures were driven by the workers themselves? It can be hard to totally figure this out, but from talking to folks in the industry, there is clearly a ton of organizing going around! It is pretty common for restaurants to have arrangements for carpools and mutual aid for vulnerable workers, and lots of workers are actively participating. One worker told me that, despite all of the many horrors, due to all the work him and his coworkers were putting in, it felt like his own personal Super Bowl!
I gave some what’s next ideas in my last report, so I figured that I would give my personal analysis for this one. I think that questions over definition (was this a general strike?) are less useful than asking ourselves what this reveals. To me, I would say that this showed a real militant minority in formation in the Twin Cities. There is a baseline of workers out here who are ready to participate in attempts at political strikes, and in well-organized workplaces, this can come close to effecting a full shut down. Growing this layer and giving it some structure should be our big challenge going forward.
Upcoming Labor Events
Target- I’m not really sure how exactly to describe this, but there is an ongoing campaign now to get Target to stop collaborating with ICE. It’s being led by Unidos, a non-profit out here that has long been in a collaborative relationship with SEIU. There are also other groups and community members joining in. I believe that more actions are coming that will be posted to the website linked above, iceoutnowmn.com. I went to two actions this past weekend, a picket held Friday outside of the Dinkytown Target by the left group Socialist Alternative, and a big protest inside of the Richfield Target on Saturday, led by Unidos. Both were pretty well-attended and raucous events, and the workers inside mostly had bemused faces. Target is a huge business out here and extremely anti-union, this struck me as something that labor should fully hop on to.
Recent Labor Events
AFGE Local 3669- Federal Government- On Sunday, AFGE Local 3669, the union for nurses at the Minneapolis VA, held a vigil for their fallen brother Alex Pretti. It was a really emotional event, with lots of families and kids around. I’ve heard that the whole hospital has been in mourning, I can only imagine what the working environment is like. As many speakers noted, Trump has ripped away their CBA along with those of nearly every other federal worker. The AFGE also held vigils at VA hospitals all over the country. Of note, Teamsters Local 120 brought their food truck to the event, which I think was the first statement or action of any sort by that local on all of this.
AFSCME Council 5- Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity- Last Friday, Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity workers announced that they were unionizing with Council 5! This is a pretty big non-profit, with both a construction side and a retail storefront.
CWA Local 7250- AT&T- CWA announced that it had reached a TA with AT&T on one of its contracts with the communications giant. Local 7250 is a big part of the unit and will be voting soon on the deal. Highlights are available here, the wage numbers look generally impressive.
CWA Local 7250- Prime Communications- In other news, five workers at the West St Paul franchised AT&T store voted against joining Local 7250.
IBEW Local 160- Xcel Energy- 18 Control Room Supervisors at the Monticello Nuclear plant voted to decertify Local 160, by the narrowest of margins, 8-9.
MNA- Hats off to the brave anonymous nurses at HCMC who helped defend Alberto Castaneda Mondragon, a local construction worker who was brought to the hospital by ICE with multiple broken bones in his face and skull. They told the story to the AP, and a judge has since ordered his release.
SEIU HCMNIA- Health Partners- Health Partners workers had one last bargaining session on the calendar after their strike vote, and didn’t come to a deal, but felt like they had made enough progress to put off setting an official strike date. They have one more session on the books now, scheduled for tomorrow.
Teamsters Local 638- Bachman’s- Most of the workers at the Bachman’s floral empire have long been Teamsters, but the retail and design staff have long been excluded. Local 638 made a big step in fixing that by winning an election to bring in 14 designers into their existing unit!
New NLRB Petitions
SEIU HCMNIA- Aicota Health Care- 60 nursing home workers in Aitkin in Northern MN have filed a decertification petition.
SPFPA- Essentia Health- The security guard union SPFPA has filed a petition to unionize 40 guards at Essentia’s Duluth properties. Fun fact: security guards are prohibited under labor law from being in the same union as the rest of the workers at a workplace.