Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of the Twin Cities Labor Report! I hope everyone is working their way through the poor air quality and rain, especially those of you who work outside. It was a good week to spend my working hours in a 39 degree refrigerated box cutting meat. I am back in negotiations for one day each of these next three weeks, so maybe we will have some news to report soon. Otherwise, stay safe and sane, and see you out in the streets.
Twin Cities Labor Report is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
State worker unions- State of MN- The second to last set of negotiations before contract expiration wrapped up for state employees last week, and MMB is still demanding lots of givebacks. The latest news is that the state wants to jack up insurance premiums by thousands of dollars annually, and hollow out the paid parental leave that MAPE won a couple of contracts ago. The next set of negotiations are traditionally called “push week,” and all state unions are collaborating (a rare occurrence) on a rally on Monday, June 23, at the Delta Hotel in northeast Minneapolis.
AFGE Local 899- TSA- Federal workers secured a big win in court last week, with a District Court judge issuing an injunction restoring collective bargaining to TSA employees, while their case makes its way through the courts. We’ll see where the rest of this case goes but it is great to see any win against the onslaught of attacks facing federal workers.
CWA Local 7201- Lumen- Lumen (fka CenturyLink) has announced that they are splitting up their residential business, selling their fiber network to an AT&T subsidiary while keeping their copper business. CWA represents workers in both fields, and is sounding the alarm at the proposed deal, which involves selling part of the subsidiary to private equity.
MAPE- Macalester College - Almost 300 Mac staff are unionizing with MAPE in attempt to become the second private college staff in the state to unionize, and the college is responding with a nasty union-busting campaign. They have a website with all of the standard lies about unions, and employees are being bombarded with emails encouraging them to vote no. The election is on Tuesday. Here's hoping Mac staff pull it out, and shame on the college for engaging in this despicable behavior!
MNA- Twin Cities and Duluth hospitals- MNA picketed across the state on Wednesday, as negotiations continue for around 15,000 nurses with expiring contracts. The biggest issue in these negotiations are MNA’s long-standing proposal for staffing ratios. Out of all of the employers, Essentia seems to be taking the hardest tack, filing a ULP against the union for supposedly not bargaining frequently enough. Contracts expire soon, and I’m sure there will be more pickets to come.
Nurses picket at United Hospital, photo by St Paul RLF
Teamsters Local 638- UPS- UPS is closing two more rural delivery centers, one in Red Wing and one in Owatonna. A total of 61 workers will be affected. I wonder which locations are next- if I was a UPS worker at a smaller rural location this would not be a fun time.
UFCW Local 663- Jubilee Foods- 52 workers at Jubilee Foods, a small grocery store in Mound, voted to decertify their union by a big margin. The backstory here is that my union’s previous leadership made all sorts of backroom deals with the boss here that left these workers with a horrible contract, and from my understanding that left a ton of resentment. I’ve only heard bad things about this boss, and I’m sure he made all sorts of false promises about what he could deliver for these workers without a union.
Recent Public Sector Organizing
Public sector workers continue to organize under the new state card check law. Here are the most recent new units, all of which are fairly small:
