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WHAT COULD WE WIN TOGETHER?

Today, Oct. 7th marks the public launch of a level of coordination between unions and community organizations not seen in The Twin Cities in recent memory. We gather today representing workers, renters, and community members in Minnesota. Our separate fights are all coming to a head in the next five months, with tens of thousands of union members' contracts expiring, at the same time as new organizing drives kick off and critical policy fights will be decided. Today we ask: What Could We Win Together?

WHAT WE ARE FACING

We know the issues that we are facing sometimes feel astronomical. In Minnesota we know too well that the racism, prejudice and indignities that BIPOC people face in their jobs, communities, by police and other institutions. In addition to the harm that this causes individuals or groups, the reality is that these divisions are used against us. A pandemic that has claimed over a million lives in this country alone, historic inflation that is pushing people out of our homes and out of our communities, women seeing their rights being stripped away, LGBTQ folks are having to flee some states that are enacting policies meant to harm them. Schools are facing huge challenges, all while our planet is burning. The structures that exist in our society are used by the corporate elite to continue exploiting our labor. Turning us against our neighbors and our coworkers, and leading us to believe that people different than you deserve less. That’s why we’re coming together. To stand in solidarity, to make our voices louder, but mostly we are coming together to win. Winning for ourselves, our families, each other, our communities, and those in our society who need it most.

DIGNIFIED WORK 

Together, we can win jobs that are worthy of our labor.

What does working with dignity mean to us?

• Wages we can live on and that keep up with inflation: Inflation from June of 2019 is around 20%.[1] In addition to inflation, prices of essential goods are rising faster than inflation, which means that our wages are worth less while many basic goods cost more.[2] 

• Right to retire with a pension: More and more people are retiring later and without ANY savings.[3] Additionally, workers of color “are significantly less likely than white workers” to have an employer sponsored retirement plan”.[4] After dedicating our lives and bodies to working, we believe everyone deserves to live their golden years in safety and comfort with a warm home and food on the table.

• Safe working conditions: Workplace safety encompasses many things: proper support, equipment, and reasonable workload expectations. A safe environment at work also means a workplace free of gender or racial discrimination from bosses, coworkers or clients. The time that working class people spend at their jobs means less time to care for themselves and simply enjoy life. Reasonable work/life balance, paid vacation time, and responsible scheduling are also a part of safe working conditions. In these times, our day-to-day jobs, our economic health doesn't feel secure- which is why we need policies not promises or platitudes- policies like Labor Standards Boards.

• Affordable and equitable healthcare: The pandemic is a continued reminder about just how important health is. After years of fighting, we have finally won guaranteed paid sick leave for every worker in the state of Minnesota.[5] Access to quality healthcare that is affordable is more imperative than ever.

• Reducing racial and gender pay gaps: Minnesota is consistently rated one of the worst states for wealth inequality. Industries and individual employers must do better. The fight for higher wages within industries and sectors that are majority Black and Brown, and standing in solidarity with them, is a clear first step to reducing the stark wealth gap in our state.

• Giving workers a voice: Policy to make it easier for workers to have a voice, and set standards in their industries, like Labor Standards Boards that are currently being debated in Minneapolis.

GOOD SCHOOLS

Together we can win an education system that provides what our students and educators need to thrive.

What do we think good schools look like?

Educator Pay

• Educators are severely underpaid and under-resourced. Even with new money from the state, our schools are still facing a staffing crisis and program cuts because of decades of underfunding and mismanagement. Education Support Professionals (ESPs) are majority people of color and women. We believe that children deserve teachers and ESPs that represent their communities, and they need salaries that support themselves and their families. It is time for the legislature to direct Minnesota's schools to meet minimum standards with new funds it provides our schools.

Full Service Community Schools

• Black and Brown communities have often not had their voices heard in what happens at schools. Working with community members, and black and brown students themselves, to identify needs and address them is key for schools to thrive. Full Service Community Schools are schools that intentionally work to meet a broad spectrum of community needs in addition to traditional education. Typically, they survey the school community to determine what sorts of resources could be placed at the school to help improve conditions for families who send their kids to the school. A school coordinator helps keep the programming responsive to community needs and builds support for the school. Minnesota just passed new money and requirements for these to be implemented.

Better Mental Health Support:

• Culturally competent schools and fully staffed supports for students are how we make sure our students have what they need to thrive in school. Not only to have enough support staff, but also systems in place like Full Service Community Schools, the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project, and restorative practices. This requires more resources, not less.

Commitment to Strong Schools/End Enrollment Decline

• Students deserve the chance to explore their interests and pursue their dreams. Whether that's in the arts, sciences, or civics, expensive private schools offer more than the basics. If our public schools are funded adequately, by doing things like ending corporate tax loopholes, they can offer all of these options and more

STABLE HOUSING

Together we can build a world where renters can live in safe and affordable housing, and where everyone has a place to call home.

What is our vision for stable housing?

• More community owned social housing: we can’t rely on corporate landlords to know what's best for our housing needs.

• Rent stabilization: We continue to demand policies to address skyrocketing rent increases. We must win this policy in Minneapolis and make sure that we prioritize ensuring the policy in St Paul is strong.

• Closing the gap between Black and white housing ownership in the state with more affordable and safe options: In 2019 Minneapolis had the lowest Black housing ownership rate compared to white ownership in the country.[6] 

• An end to huge developers taking advantage of renters and taxpayers alike: Corporate developers make all types of housing, from what they deem “affordable” to “luxury”. A lack of publicly owned housing doesn't just hurt renters, who due to a lack of other options are at the mercy of these corporate developers and property managers, but through tax cuts taxpayers end up subsidizing them.

• Construction workers having a voice on the job: Some workers report facing “wage theft… sexual violence, and even labor trafficking.”[7] Developers have the power to set terms and conditions for their projects, and workers have been asking developers Yellowtree, United Properties and Solhem to sign the Building Dignity and Respect Code of Conduct[8], so that workers have a dignified wage and a workplace where their rights are respected. The same hands that build our cities deserve basic rights at work; a living wage, and to be able to report abuse without fear.

• Safe and affordable housing for all Minnesotans.

LIVABLE PLANET

Together we must push for strong legislation, commitments from corporate actors, and implementation of climate mitigation that helps the most impacted communities.

What is our vision for a livable planet?

• Clean air and water for all: Especially the communities most impacted! Low income and black and brown neighborhoods and workforces who often have to deal with the worst impacts of climate change and pollution.

• Corporations paying their fair share for climate impacts: No more getting away with destructive practices, and no more tax breaks for corporations paying lawsuits for havoc they have inflicted!

• Public infrastructure, transit, and greening our buildings: well funded and sustainable transit and infrastructure are climate mitigations that can be implemented TODAY. (Proper funding also means job retention and recruitment for these essential green jobs.)

WHO’S IN OUR WAY?

Just like we are organized- so are some of the wealthiest corporations in our state.

The Minnesota Business Partnership is an entity composed of the executives of Minnesota’s largest employers, representing the 109 biggest companies in the state.[9] There are several corporations in MNBP that are huge multinational conglomerates that happen to be headquartered right here in Minnesota. Here is some of what they have apparently advocated for throughout the years:

Education:

• increased standardized assessments for students

• Expanding education tax credits to reach more families

• Increasing funding for charter schools

• Increasing the power of school administrators to make staffing decisions based on teacher performance.

Fiscal:

• Reducing the state business property tax,

• Lowering the personal income tax,

• State preemption of local government workplace mandates,[10]

Ameriprise:

• Wealth manager which manages working people’s savings through pension funds and other retirement savings.[11] However after years of struggle, the workers who clean and protect their big corporate offices downtown dont have ANY retirement option of their own.

• The CEO of Ameriprise, James Cracchiolo, was the highest paid CEO in our entire state last year, receiving $22.85 million in total compensation in 2022.[12] We don’t think anyone should be making 22 million dollars a year, especially when the lowest paid workers are struggling with things as essential as food and housing access.

• Potentially receive up to a $38.5 million tax break in Minnesota.[13]

General Mills:

• General Mills Foundation gave over $2 million to individual charter schools, $1.2 million to Teach for America and provided funding to corporate education “reform” groups from 2009- 2020[14]

• A consistent leader of the Minnesota business partnership, who has had an entire committee focused on “education and workforce development”.

• Box Tops won’t cut it: General Mills prides themselves on supporting schools through their extremely popular “box top” program, and yet advocate for bad public education policies here at home. Additionally, General Mills’ box top program also helps their own bottom line - as it effectively lowers their taxable gross profit.[15]

• Potentially receive up to a $30 million tax break in Minnesota.[16]

US Bank:

• Engaged in practices that evidently were partially responsible for the housing crisis in 2008[17], which black and brown working people have never truly recovered from.[18] In 2023 as banks continue to fail and be bailed out, we are all asking ourselves if we can expect another 2008 housing crash.

• A longtime partner of for-profit affordable housing developer Dominium[19], which was a major funder opposing rent stabilization in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

• Potentially receive up to a $19.9 million tax break in Minnesota.[20]

3M:

• $850 million settlement with MN in 2018[21] and a likely $10.5 billion settlement nationally in 2023[22] for disposal of “forever chemicals,” despite knowing of harm to our water.

• These payouts also reduce their tax bills.

• Is consistently rated as one of the highest toxic water and air polluters in the world by the UMass Political Economy Research Institute.[23]

• Potentially receives up to a $24 million tax break in Minnesota.[24]

Corporate taxes are complex and cannot be estimated precisely by the general public. For the purposes of these estimates, we assume that a corporation’s tax liability is equivalent to the corporate franchise tax’s alternative minimum rate of 5.8%, applied to U.S. net income before taxes as reported to shareholders and then apportioned to Minnesota based on an apportionment formula (5.8% x U.S. Net Income before Taxes x MN Apportionment). The tax break is the difference between the tax liability when apportioned using 100% sales factor and the tax liability when apportioned using equal weights for sales, payroll and property factors, as is considered in the Tax Expenditure Budget. The factors are estimated for each company based on available information as described in the footnotes below.

WHO’S WITH US?

SEIU 26

SEIU local 26 is a local of over 8000 janitors, security officers, and airport workers in Minnesota. Our members are primarily people of color and immigrants. We have a long track record of creating progressive coalitions with de]ep connections in our communities that win groundbreaking pilot projects and policies. In 2024 our members are bargaining new contracts and demanding wa]ge increases of up to $5 per hour and a dignified retirement plan.

CTUL

CTUL is a worker-led, multi-racial organization where workers organize, educate, and empower each other to fight for a voice in their workplaces and in their communities. We partner with other organizations and leaders to build a movement to win racial, gender, and economic justice. We identify the root causes of injustice and work to shift the balance of power between those who have it and those who don’t to improve the lives of our communities for present and future generations. In 2024 we are fighting for improved standards for Downtown Minneapolis service workers and fighting to bring residential developers into the Building Dignity and Respect Standards Program to ensure fair treatment of non-union construction workers

Inquilinxs Unidxs Por Justicia

Founded in 2014, Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia / United Renters For Justice (IX) brings renters together to build a community where everyone has a safe home. We utilize community organizing to build wealth and power for low-income, BIPOC, and immigrant tenants as well as envision a world where tenants have the power to create a housing system that works for everyone.

SEIU 284

SEIU Local 284 is a union of 10,00 Education Support Professionals (ESP) across Minnesota. Our members fight to ensure they have the resources and stability in schools so Minnesota’s students have the best environment possible for learning. In 2024, our members will fight for an education support professional’s bill of rights, including a $25 minimum wage, affordable health insurance, and paid training for all ESPs.

MFT 59

The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers and Educational Support Professionals represents nearly 4,500 licensed educators, related service professionals and Educational Support Professionals who work in Minneapolis Public Schools. MFT59 was founded in 1919 and waged a courageous strike in 1970 that helped establish collective bargaining for educators in Minnesota. In March 2022 we struck again for the first time in over 50 years, resulting in substantial wage increases for Educational Support Professionals (ESP), the biggest salary increase for licensed staff in 20 years, and new protections for educators of color. Our contract campaign this round will focus on the compensation and respect that will be required for educators to stay in MPS, as well as the investments needed to reverse the student enrollment decline.

SPFE

The Saint Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) is a union made up of over 3,600 School and Community Service Professionals, Educational Assistants, Teachers and other Licensed Staff who work at over 65 sites in Saint Paul Public Schools. We believe that educators must stand with parents, students, community allies, and our labor partners to fight for fully funded, racially equitable public education. We believe public schools are where we shape our future. In 2024 we continue our fight for the schools that our students deserve.

SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa

SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa unites more than 50,000 healthcare and long-term care workers in hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, and home care throughout Minnesota and Iowa. Our union seeks to secure the American Dream for all working people and have led the fight in workplaces, at the Capitol and in the streets to build a Minnesota where every person – no matter our job, zip code, race or wealth – has what we need to thrive. In 2024, we are bringing together thousands of nursing home workers from across the state to lift standards for workers and residents by pushing for a $25 minimum wage to address the staff shortages that are hurting workers, residents and our whole community.

Laborers Local 363

LIUNA Local 363 is a union of over 1000 public sector workers across the Twin Cities Metro and Greater Minnesota. We're a diverse group of frontline workers providing and maintaining the core public services and infrastructure we all rely on. Like servicing Minneapolis' and Saint Paul's water, sewer, trash and recycling, streets, bridges, traffic signs, lights, and beyond. We've faced unprecedented challenges and dangerous working conditions in recent years while being forced to endure pay cuts, higher work loads. We are fighting for dignity and equity in our contracts in 2024 with wage increases and health and safety protections that reflect value of the work we do.

ATU Local 1005

ATU Local 1005 is the union that represents over 2,000 front line transit workers in Minnesota, including all Metro Transit workers. ATU 1005 is demanding COLA+1 (cost of living adjustment plus 1%) for our members in this next contract. Inflation has been a huge burden on our members and working people. We need wage increases that make up for what we lost to inflation.

Organizations standing in solidarity:

• AFLCIO Minnesota

• Minneapolis Uber and Lyft Association

• Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation

• UniteHere Local 17

• Wildcat Cabaret

• AFSCME Local 3800

• CWA 7250

WHAT WILL IT TAKE?

WE ARE SETTING A DEADLINE - Today marks the public launch of coordination between our unions and community organizations. Whether it is legislative initiatives at the state level to close tax loopholes and fully fund schools, or city policy to create labor standards boards and rent stabilization, or the direct negotiations in contract bargaining for unions across the cities. We will bring these demands together because we know all of our struggles are linked. We are the ones that make the Twin Cities work, and we expect major breakthroughs on these issues by March of 2024. Without us, there can be no business as usual.

TOGETHER, We will unite our fights because we know we can win more when we fight together for each other.