With temperatures in single digits, Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) workers took up picket signs and began a strike in early morning darkness Tuesday. The walkout comes after eight months of negotiation and two months of mediation.
The contract for 76 service and maintenance employees, represented by the Construction and General Laborers Local 563, expired at the end of March.
Tim Mackey, financial secretary-treasurer for Laborers Local 563, said wages were the chief issue in the contract dispute. In particular, workers seek pay increases due after they completed required MPHA training courses.
?They?re entitled to a pay progression step,? Mackey said. ?They took the classes? and held up their end of the bargain and now MPHA doesn?t want to pay for it.?
?My members tell me, ?we learned it, we earned it,?? Mackey said. He said the workers voted 50-6 to strike.
About 75 picketers were on hand Tuesday morning, primarily MPHA workers in their blue hooded MPHA jackets, joined by workers from other unions.
?You probably couldn?t put our job description all on one piece of paper,? said striker Ken Hemsworth, in his 16th year as an MPHA employee. Hemsworth?s job involves responding to work orders at a variety of MPHA locations. He said his work brings everything from unclogging toilets to cleaning gutters to cement work. ?When they call you, you have to be able to do it all,? he said.
?I completed all the classes they wanted me to take,? added Hemsworth, who also has taken additional classes at his own expense and on his own time at Dunwoody.
Stepping out of the picket line, John Russell, a 20-year MPHA employee, recalled his first day on the job: April 9, 1984. Ever since then, he has been a live-in caretaker at the same MPHA high-rise in north Minneapolis. ?I try to give them as good as service as possible,? he said.
?I try to have stability,? he added. ?Thank goodness for the union.?
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Long-term employees like Ken Hemsworth (16 years) and Cindy Ellis (9 years) feel the sacrifices they've made are not appreciated by Housing Authority management. |
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The Laborers Union workers at MPHA, particularly the caretakers, are more than just a fix-it crew to the residents. "We get to know the people quite well," said Cindy Ellis, a nine-year MPHA employee and a live-in caretaker at a senior high-rise in south Minneapolis. "It's kind of like an extended family. I've got a 150-unit building. I pretty much know everybody in the building."
"They kind of develop a trust where they don't want anyone else in the apartment but me," she added.
After nine years at MPHA, ?I?m at the top of the progression now and have done all the training,? Ellis said.
After two hours picketing in front of MPHA?s office at 1001 Washington Ave. N. in Minneapolis, strikers prepared to disperse to maintain a presence at several MPHA buildings across the city. ?Go return your keys and your phones,? Mackey told strikers, reading lists of workers assigned to picketing locations. ?Take your signs with you.?
He asked workers to report back at the MPHA offices at 7 a.m. the next morning for another show of strength.
The MPHA operates 40 high-rise apartment buildings with 4,856 units and 915 single family homes or townhouse units maintained by the employees.
The Minneapolis Mayor and City Council appoint the MPHA?s nine-member board of commissioners.
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Tim Mackey (above, left), financial secretary-treasurer of Laborers Local 563, passes out information to strikers in the early morning light. They included John Russell (below), who has worked as a live-in caretaker at an MPHA high-rise since 1984. |
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With temperatures in single digits, Minneapolis Public Housing Authority (MPHA) workers took up picket signs and began a strike in early morning darkness Tuesday. The walkout comes after eight months of negotiation and two months of mediation.
The contract for 76 service and maintenance employees, represented by the Construction and General Laborers Local 563, expired at the end of March.
Tim Mackey, financial secretary-treasurer for Laborers Local 563, said wages were the chief issue in the contract dispute. In particular, workers seek pay increases due after they completed required MPHA training courses.
?They?re entitled to a pay progression step,? Mackey said. ?They took the classes? and held up their end of the bargain and now MPHA doesn?t want to pay for it.?
?My members tell me, ?we learned it, we earned it,?? Mackey said. He said the workers voted 50-6 to strike.
About 75 picketers were on hand Tuesday morning, primarily MPHA workers in their blue hooded MPHA jackets, joined by workers from other unions.
?You probably couldn?t put our job description all on one piece of paper,? said striker Ken Hemsworth, in his 16th year as an MPHA employee. Hemsworth?s job involves responding to work orders at a variety of MPHA locations. He said his work brings everything from unclogging toilets to cleaning gutters to cement work. ?When they call you, you have to be able to do it all,? he said.
?I completed all the classes they wanted me to take,? added Hemsworth, who also has taken additional classes at his own expense and on his own time at Dunwoody.
Stepping out of the picket line, John Russell, a 20-year MPHA employee, recalled his first day on the job: April 9, 1984. Ever since then, he has been a live-in caretaker at the same MPHA high-rise in north Minneapolis. ?I try to give them as good as service as possible,? he said.
?I try to have stability,? he added. ?Thank goodness for the union.?
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Long-term employees like Ken Hemsworth (16 years) and Cindy Ellis (9 years) feel the sacrifices they’ve made are not appreciated by Housing Authority management. |
|
The Laborers Union workers at MPHA, particularly the caretakers, are more than just a fix-it crew to the residents. “We get to know the people quite well,” said Cindy Ellis, a nine-year MPHA employee and a live-in caretaker at a senior high-rise in south Minneapolis. “It’s kind of like an extended family. I’ve got a 150-unit building. I pretty much know everybody in the building.”
“They kind of develop a trust where they don’t want anyone else in the apartment but me,” she added.
After nine years at MPHA, ?I?m at the top of the progression now and have done all the training,? Ellis said.
After two hours picketing in front of MPHA?s office at 1001 Washington Ave. N. in Minneapolis, strikers prepared to disperse to maintain a presence at several MPHA buildings across the city. ?Go return your keys and your phones,? Mackey told strikers, reading lists of workers assigned to picketing locations. ?Take your signs with you.?
He asked workers to report back at the MPHA offices at 7 a.m. the next morning for another show of strength.
The MPHA operates 40 high-rise apartment buildings with 4,856 units and 915 single family homes or townhouse units maintained by the employees.
The Minneapolis Mayor and City Council appoint the MPHA?s nine-member board of commissioners.
|
|
Tim Mackey (above, left), financial secretary-treasurer of Laborers Local 563, passes out information to strikers in the early morning light. They included John Russell (below), who has worked as a live-in caretaker at an MPHA high-rise since 1984. |
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