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This week in labor news

www.upwiththeworkers.org

This week in labor news

Essential workers rally downtown, and healthcare workers call for an end to the staffing crisis. Also, why did the president visit Minnesota?

Amie Stager
Dec 3, 2021
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This week in labor news

www.upwiththeworkers.org
person in black hoodie standing in front of light rail station downtonw with a sign covering face reading "$$$$ bonuses for all essential workers"

“I’m tired of seeing and knowing that we have all this money...and they decide not to give it to the essential workers,” said Ignacia Ambriz, a worker at Sam’s Club who has been involved with CTUL since 2008. “Why are the big guys giving themselves a raise if they’re not doing what we’re doing? We’re here working 14...16 hour days, we’re doing the job of three people. Sick or not, we are there. Giving us essential pay or not, we are there.”

Underneath sparkling holiday tree lighting at the foot of downtown Minneapolis skyscrapers, essential workers rallied, demanding Minnesota decision-makers protect workers, get them their pandemic bonus pay. Governor Walz will most likely not call a special session to get money in the hands of workers before the regular legislative session starts at the end of January because the GOP threatened to remove Department of Health Commissioner Jan Malcolm.

🎥 Several cable news outlets covered the rally, check out KARE11’s segment. If you like our newsletter that centers all news from the worker’s perspective, please share with your friends and network!

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crowd of people march in front of tall glass building and tree with lights downtown
caption...

Shaun Laden, President of MFT 59 ESP (@MFT59), said they’re seeing a lot of staffing shortages. In their contract negotiations, they’ll be fighting for a liveable wage for ESPs, or education support professionals. “The opportunity we had to work together with decision-makers and workers has really been lost,” said Laden. “In our licensed teacher chapter, we’re seeing unprecedented resignations, retirements, people leaving in our ESP chapter. We have hundreds of openings.”

Twitter avatar for @CTUL_TC
CTUL @CTUL_TC
Henry Scott, CTUL member and essential temp worker calling out the CEO of Ameriprise who got a 283% bonus during the pandemic. “Did he stock our shelves? Did he take care of your children? Did he mop the floors? Did he risk getting sick just to pay the bills?” 👏🏾👏🏿👏🏼👏🏽
10:46 PM ∙ Dec 1, 2021
9Likes1Retweet
members of a crowd hold big red letters spelling "PAY" while a Black woman with red hair stands reading into a microphone
Tami Green, a child care worker with Kids Count on Us (@KCOU_MN) a coalition of child care providers in Minnesota, called for child care workers to be included in the bonus pay.
a line of people holding big red letters spelling "ESSENTIAL" stands behind a black man in a red coat and hat holding a "pay essential workers" sign
Eric Willis, a member of CTUL, address the crowd in front of Minneapolis’s city hall. “Money should be invested in our community.”
A few crowd members hold a blue sign reading “Join the food service workers’ movement!”
Restaurant Opportunities Center MN (@rocminnesota) was also at the rally. Food service workers are also essential!
COVID ICU nurse Mary Turner, the president of Minnesota Nurses Association (@mnnurses), described sitting at the bedside of dying essential workers.

📣 You and your friends can write to the Minneapolis and St. Paul city councils to demand worker protections be included in the city budgets.

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🏥 Healthcare workers request to bargain with executives

a black man sits in a hospital room on a zoom livestream with a white mask hanging from his ear, in white scrubs

Cliff Adams, a nursing station technician at UMN Fairview Riverside Masonic Children’s Hospital, navigates safe and unsafe working conditions every day.

“One example being, my unit within the hospital is a 24-bed unit. We are an oncology and hematology unit...we deal with cancer and certain transplants among other things,” said Adams. “Because we were so critically short staffed the other day, we could barely occupy 16 of those beds as the caregiver to patient ratio wasn’t adequate to safely provide care to a full unit. That meant that 8 beds—8 kids—did not have an opportunity to be properly cared for.”

On Tuesday, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota (@SEIUHCM) held a virtual press conference calling for better pay and working conditions to address the staffing crisis in the healthcare system. They’ve been told that there’s no money for raises. Fairview CEO James Hereford, who has been focused on cutting costs since before the pandemic, received a 91% raise and was compensated with a $3.6 million salary in 2020.

"Our short staffing crisis began before this pandemic,” said Adams. “Rather, the pandemic has simply highlighted this and many other issues within our healthcare system.”

a white woman with glasses sitting on top of her head and wearing a flannel shirt and purple lanyard speaks

Emilee Gresgowiak works at United Hospital in St. Paul as an oncology aide.

“Basically, all I can do is empty trashes and let nurses know when people are drowning…having codes and rapids and struggling to survive through their traumas,” said Gresgowiak.

Brenda Hilbrich, Executive Vice President of SEIU Healthcare MN, expressed her concerns for workers and patients. “At this point, there isn’t any action, and if there isn’t any action, I worry how much worse things will get,” said Hilbrich.


🇺🇸 Speaking of decision-makers…Biden spends first trip to MN as president praising infrastructure deal

Also on Tuesday, President Biden visited Dakota County Technical College, where he made remarks about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, calling it a “blue collar blueprint to rebuild America.” He praised programs like DCTC’s that train the country’s workforce. Sarah Riviere-Herzan, a student in the Heavy Construction Equipment Technology program, introduced the president and talked about her dream of owning a construction company and hiring all women employees.

screenshot of presidential livestream, blue background with one screen showing a blonde woman with black mask standing behind a podium, president biden wearing a blue suit and black mask standing beside her, in front of a semi truck with a poster reading bipartisan infrastructure law, another screen shows an ASL interpreter
You can watch Biden’s speech here. Quite the background! 🚚 If you’re interested in a construction career, check out this job fair on December 11.

In a statement about the visit, Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy said Minnesota’s labor movement stands with him and his deals. “It’s legislation that working people need right now.” 

The Building Trades Council President also released a statement: 

Twitter avatar for @MNBldgTrades
MN Building Trades @MNBldgTrades
Minnesota Building and Construction Trades President Joe Fowler's statement on President Joe Biden's visit to Rosemount, Minnesota #MnTrades #Infrastructure
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7:29 PM ∙ Dec 1, 2021
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🎵 Enjoy this workers’ rights themed #SpotifyWrapped.

Twitter avatar for @SEIULocal1
SEIU Local 1 @SEIULocal1
Local 1's #SpotifyWrapped just dropped.
Image
3:41 PM ∙ Dec 2, 2021
66Likes14Retweets

🎁 We’re making a list…

As we approach the end of the calendar year, we’re reflecting on the best labor moments of 2021. If you’d like to contribute to our list, let us know!

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Sending you warm wishes as the temperature drops. We are each other’s harvest.

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