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Organize Today |
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Learn
more about organizing your workplace!
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Labor Headlines |
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Important Links |
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Join us in telling holdout state legislators to stop the shenanigans and vote on legislation to finance a new Vikings stadium. A bill drafted by a bipartisan workgroup over the last several months is awaiting their action. Governor Dayton is ready to sign it into law. They must act now to keep NFL football and stadium jobs in Minnesota. Tell them not to let the Vikings end up like the Lakers and the North Stars.
Rally for Vikings & Jobs
Thursday, May 3rd at 11 a.m.
Front Steps of the Capitol Building
Lunch Will Be Provided to Building Trades Union Members
If you can't make it, call your legislators and demand an up-or-down vote on the Vikings bill put forward by the bipartisan workgroup. The House of Representatives can be reached at (651) 296-2146 and the Senate at (651) 296-0504.
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Critical battles over "right to work" and prevailing wage "reform" are taking place on Monday and Tuesday of this week.
So-Called “Right to Work”
Proposals to put a so-called “right to work” constitutional amendment on the ballot in November will be heard by the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on Monday, March 12th at 8 am in Room 15 of the Capitol Building. Members are urged to wear their Teamster colors, show up no later than 7:15 a.m. (overflow crowd expected) and get a front row seat. One of the committee members is a former Local 120 member who needs to know that we’ll stand with him if he stands with us. Anyone who is interested in carpooling should be at the union hall in Blaine no later than 6:15 a.m.
Prevailing Wage “Reform” (NOTE TIME CHANGE)
A “reform” bill that would redefine overtime calculations and lengthen the work week will be heard by the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee on Tuesday, March 13th at 11:15 a.m. in Room 123 of the Capitol Building. Members are urged to wear their Teamster colors, show up no later than 11:15 a.m. (overflow crowd expected) and get a front row seat. One of the committee members is a former Local 120 member who needs to know that we’ll stand with him if he stands with us. This is the same Senator who is hearing the “right to work” proposals in the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on Monday.
Making Your Voice Heard
Showing up on Monday and/or Tuesday is the strongest way to express your opposition to “right to work” and prevailing wage “reform.” If you’re unable to attend, please contact the legislators who sit on the committees that will be hearing these anti-labor bills.
Call and e-mail members of the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee. Tell them “right to work” proposals are unfair, unsafe and unnecessary in a successful, highly competitive state like Minnesota. Urge them to continue moving the economy forward instead of trying to push labor rights backwards.
Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee Members
***Senator Thompson is the chief author and biggest advocate of “right to work.”***
Call and e-mail members of the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee. Tell them that so-called prevailing wage “reform” is really just an attempt to slash the income and lengthen the work week of construction workers. Urge them to create jobs through a bonding bill rather than undercutting work standards.
Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee
*****Senator Dahms is the chief author of the prevailing wage “reform” bill*****
Your State Legislators
If the state legislators who represent you aren’t members of either of these committees, go to http://www.gis.leg.mn/OpenLayers/districts/ and get their contact information. Let them know that you’re opposed to “right to work” and prevailing wage “reform.” Urge them to focus on the real challenges confronting our state instead of getting distracted with proposals that would harm the hard working, middle class Minnesotans.
NOTE: If an e-mail is returned as undeliverable, it’s because some legislators prefer not to communicate by e-mail.
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Lester Bagley, Minnesota Vikings Vice President of Public Affairs and Stadium Development, is looking for some pow- erful players to take the field. But he’s not looking for help at the Metrodome. Instead, he wants support for replacing the aging facility with a new stadium. One that will improve the fans’ enjoyment and the team’s competitiveness. Better yet, it will be an economic engine that will create thousands of jobs.
Even Packer fans have to like that.
Bagley made presentations to the Teamsters Local 120 Politi- cal Action Committee (120PAC) and the General Member- ship meeting. According to him, a new stadium in Arden Hills would create 500 Teamster building trades jobs and 250,000 Teamster work hours during construction.
While Local 120 President Brad Slawson, Jr. thought that was a good start, he wasn’t satisfied. His experience told him that Bagley’s presentation was actually the beginning of a negotia- tion. If the Vikings wanted Local 120 to use its political clout in support of a new stadium, the team was going to have to offer up more than construction jobs.
Slawson saw that over one million fans would go to football games and other events at the stadium. That would mean a lot of food and supplies going in and even more garbage and recycling coming out. He saw that the stadium site would include 21,000 parking spaces. That would mean a huge number of cashiers, valets and flaggers would be necessary to manage traffic.
Slawson drew upon the cutting edge work that he started at Local 120 to gain labor peace agreements. These agreements make organizing non-union companies faster and easier. They also protect the standards bargained by union companies.
Slawson offered the Vikings a deal they couldn’t refuse: Local 120’s political support for a new stadium in exchange for a labor peace agreement covering food service, grocery supply, parking, garbage hauling or recycling services in the Vikings new home. Also included would be any Teamster work that was previously performed at the Metrodome.
While Slawson and Bagley are hammering out the details of an agreement, Local 120 has agreed to help move the stadium forward by testifying in support of project financing. This is consistent with a motionunanimously passed at the General Membership meeting declaring that, “Local 120 supports the construction of a new Vikings Stadium that will create new jobs and keep Teamsters working.”
“Once again, Local 120 is using politics to protect contracts and gain an advantage in organizing,” said Slawson, “That is how we’ve continued to grow and strengthen our union.”
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Thirteen Teamsters Local 120 members joined Business Agents Brad Jenkins and Steve Sullivan at a training workshop presented by Rhys Ledger in Sioux Falls, SD. They learned the fundamentals of recruiting new members at their worksites and at non-union companies. “I came to the workshop because South Dakota needs a stronger labor presence,” said UPS Air Steward Kyle Solum, “Organizing is the best way I know of to protect the middle class and to make sure that our kids get a fair shot.”
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Business Agent Joe Battaglia led several bargaining updates for Sun Country flight attendants. Key remaining issues include wages, pension and health and welfare benefits. Also being discussed is aligning the per diem rates and flight benefits of pilots and flight attendants. “Sun Country is a good airline run by good people,” according to Battaglia, “But it has some bad policies that need to be addressed at the bargaining table.”
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Business Agent Bill Wedebrand met with First Student stewards to discuss effects bargaining made necessary by the closure of the Snelling bus yard. The company originally proposed mov- ing most of the jobs to non-union yards where members would lose their contract rights. Local 120 convinced First Student otherwise. After intense bargaining, all of the work remained union. “Without Local 120 representing us, we could have lost everything,” according to steward Scott Parham, “Instead, we stood together, fought back and won.” Political Director Rhys Ledger also updated the stewards about 120PAC’s push at the legislature to restore the eligibility of school bus drivers for seasonal unemployment benefits.
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Teamsters Local 120 was center stage at a press confer- ence held in front of a new distribution center being built for Medline Industries in Rogers, MN. Out-of-state work- ers were used in the construction of the $15 million proj- ect despite the fact that the Minnesota building trades were ready, able and willing to do the work. “We’re not going to just sit back and watch while contractors bring in construction workers from Ohio and New Jersey to do our jobs,” said Teamsters Local 120 Business Agent Dave Schrunk, “We’re going to fight to protect our contracts, uphold our standards and keep our work.”
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Local 120 Business Agent Brenda Emerson and Political Director Rhys Ledger led a delegation of members employed by AMPCO through a series of meetings with Minneapolis city council members. They updated council members on the status of negotiations with the company that the city contracts to manage its parking lots. The economic harm to the downtown area that would result from a strike was also discussed. Council members were urged to tell AMPCO that it was important to reach an agreement and avoid a work stoppage. The company must have received the message loud and clear. Shortly after the meetings, a contract was ratified that included wage increases, an additional personal holiday, stronger seniority language and contained healthcare costs. “We’re proud of our contract and proud of our union,” said Steward Aman Gebre, “We keep improving from contract to contract.”
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Member Login |
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Teamster Magazine |
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RtW_Posting.pdf
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