Volume 10, No. 3May-June 2015

Local 1307’s Anne Menard, an LPN at Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center, is among hundreds of DHS workers and supporters who held demonstrations around the state on Workers’ Memorial Day. They wore bandages to protest the number of injuries at work. It’s part of the campaign by Council 5’s DHS locals for safe staffing at state mental-health facilities.

This spring, hundreds of AFSCME members and retirees volunteered for community service projects where they live and work. The activities honor our union’s legacy of improving our communities on and off the job. They also symbolize our continuing fight for workers’ rights and social and economic

justice. The “month of action, celebration, and service” concluded in a big way on April 25. That’s when 125 members, family, and friends walked through St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, cleaning up spring litter from boulevards, curbs, and sidewalks, in honor of the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers.

‘We Don’t Work to Get Hurt’

PAGE 7It was a Day on the Hill like no other. Construction shut down the Capitol Rotunda, dozens of legislators’ offices, and even most bathrooms. But those were speed bumps – not barriers – for 750 AFSCME members. Aminah Jabbar, of Hennepin County Medical Center Local 2474, was among members pushing legislators to invest in our jobs, our safety, and our state’s future.

Fighting to Keep Our State Moving Forward

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KeepinG OurLeGacy aLive PAGE 5

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Judy Wahlberg, president

Eliot Seide, executive Director

information and story ideas should be

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O F F I C E R S

President Judy Wahlberg, Local 66

Vice President mike Lindholt, Local 221

Secretary mary Falk, Local 4001

Treasurer nickson nyankabaria, Local 3532

E x E C u T I V E B O A R DSabrina Becker, Local 3688, State Sector

Carmen Brown, Local 977, District 6 (West metro)melanie Castellano-Swanson, Local 2474,

District 5 (east metro)Kevin Clark, Local 4001, State Sector

Jean Diederich, Local 34, District 6 (West metro)Destiny Dusosky, Local 753, District 4 (Central)Jody ebert, Local 3937, District 6 (West metro)gerry Firkus, Local 3887, District 1 (northeast)Sara Franck, Local 2474, District 6 (West metro)

Dennis Frazier, Local 66, County SectorDuane R. gatzke, Local 2829, State Sector

patrick guernsey, Local 552, District 5 (east metro)Jen guertin, Local 2508, District 5 (east metro)

eric Hesse, Local 404, District 3 (South)John Hillyard, Local 600, State Sectormartin Hoerth, Local 844, K-12 SectorJoann Holton, Local 607, State Sector

Cherrene Horazuk, Local 3800, U of m SectorRoger Janzig, Local 668, private/Special Sector

anna Koktan, Local 1988, State Sectortravis Lenander, Local 722, private/Special Sector

Christine main, Local 517, County Sectorangela marlow, Local 8, District 5 (east metro)

eric mattson, Local 2829, District 6 (West metro)Sarah maxwell, Local 9, District 6 (West metro)

Kevin Olson, Local 701, District 2 (West)travis Ottum, Local 600, District 5 (east metro)

patrick pearce, Local 638, District 3 (South)melinda pearson, Local 4001, District 5 (east metro)

Steve Reeves, Local 1935, County SectorJohn Ross, Local 1842, City Sector

Willie Snyder, Local 707, County SectorSarah Sosa, Local 2822, County Sector

Delphine Steiner, Local 735, State SectorDeb Strohm, Local 66, District 1 (northeast)Sue Urness, Local 66, District 1 (northeast)Bryce Wickstrom, Local 221, State Sector

sett iNg the pace

aFSCme Council 5 is a union of 43,000 workers who advocate for excellence in services for the

public, dignity in the workplace, and opportunity and prosperity for all working families.

Executive Board Members2014-2016

(elected September 2014)

Eliot Seide Executive director

Respect is essential in the labor movement and in life. it boils down to how we treat others and how we expect to be treated. as union

members, we respect ourselves and we demand respect from our employers.

the struggle for respect is nothing new for aFSCme members. it’s part of the legacy that we inherit from the workers who came before us.

in 1968, aFSCme sanitation workers were treated like trash. Supervisors told proud black men that they couldn’t use the restroom in their own workplace. they faced slave wages and deadly working conditions. But, still, these workers had a dream. they demanded respect and their human right to form a union and bargain collectively for a better life.

imagine the courage it took for them to peacefully stand up to tanks and racism with “i am a man” signs in their hands. We can find their courage within us as we struggle for the respect we deserve today.

Quality work deserves more

today, workers of all races continue to struggle for a better life and a strong voice on the job. Decades of struggle have taught us that we must use our collective strength to win a fair deal for ourselves and our families.

We are aFSCme, and we do the work that makes minnesota function every day. We teach kids, heal the sick, care for the elderly,

protect communities, deliver justice, patch potholes, clean the water, and so much more. We proudly take care of minnesotans with one of the leanest government workforces in the United States.

this year, we’re recognized for delivering the highest

quality public services in the nation. We think that merits respect and a raise.

most of our bargaining units are negotiating this year for contracts that cover 34,000 workers. most union negotiators have a shared definition of respect. it means wages to thrive on, not just survive on. it means health insurance that we can afford to use. it means predictable scheduling that gives us time to enjoy life. it means a safe workplace and support for the work we do.

State has a surplus – why cut?

Our reasonable demands are often met with disrespect from politicians determined to drive down middle-class wages, benefits, and working conditions. they tell us that our compensation is too rich. they tell us that we no longer need unions. that’s disrespectful nonsense. Workers who bargain collectively for fair pay earn $207 more each week than non-union workers. no wonder cheap-labor conservatives fear our collective strength.

Rep. Sarah anderson is disrespect personified. as chair of the House State government Finance Committee, she says state agencies are “ripe for right-sizing.” She wants to cut $2 billion to give tax breaks to wealthy corporations. Her budget fails to pay for our pay raises, and it would put a permanent cap on the number of state employees. that’s especially disrespectful because the state has a $2 billion surplus. there’s no need to cut public services or lay off a single worker.

Short staffing is disrespectful to aFSCme members in nearly every workplace. it leads to no time off, excessive overtime, and increased workloads. We’re tired of doing two jobs for one paycheck. that’s unhealthy for us because it creates anxiety and burnout.

We can achieve more together

aFSCme was built by women and men who joined together in the darkest times. it’s time to pull together again. today, with overall union membership declining, working people are experiencing stagnant wages, eroding benefits, and increasing workloads, even as the rich get richer. We know that we are stronger together and that, united, we can raise living standards and improve working conditions for all americans.

in the past year, more than 135,000 workers across the nation have joined aFSCme. We have a plan and a vision to build on that success. Our plan is called aFSCme Strong. it’s about winning the respect and the raises we deserve. Union members are having one-on-one conversations with co-workers in homes and workplaces across america. in minnesota, we’re training an army of activists to sign-up, engage, and activate their co-workers.

We are stronger together. Our path to fair contracts is a journey from disrespect to respect.

Respect and a Raise: We’ve Earned It

We are stronger together. United,

we can raise living standards

and improve working

conditions for all Americans.

Mary Falk, of Statewide MnSCu Local 4001, is part of the master negotiating team from State of Minnesota Clerical unit 6.

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PArAdiNg oUr values

Members push legislators:

DOn’t taKe uS bacKWarDS

a t Day on the Hill, in committee hearings throughout the Legislative session, and in torrents of phone calls and emails, hundreds of AFSCME

members are fighting Republican attempts to take the state backwards. Citing a robust economy and the first budget surplus in a decade, members are pushing a vision for our state that invests in public services, invests in the next generation, and provides more opportunity for more people.

Republicans, on the other hand, passed tax giveaways for billionaires and big corporations – policies that could return the state to constant budget deficits. To pay for the giveaways, they’re targeting our jobs as they cut services for workers, for children, and for people with disabilities.

More for billionaires, less for us

On the state level, Republicans pushed wage freezes for state workers, a permanent cap on the number of state employees, cuts to retirement security, and cuts to state agencies, including a $1 billion cut to DHS.

On the local level, Republicans proposed cutting $85 million in Local Government Aid, but only for the AFSCME strongholds of Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth. Those reductions would force enormous cuts in city services and jobs, or enormous increases in local property taxes.

Republicans also passed legislation that would eliminate MinnesotaCare health insurance for 90,000 workers, cut wages for restaurant workers, and block local governments from enacting ordinances that give workers better protections than state law does.

Putting MnDOT in a hole

It’s the same with the House Republican plan for transportation, which relies on fake money that won’t fix real potholes, Council 5 president Judy Wahlberg told delegates at Day on the Hill.

Part of the Republican transportation plan requires MnDOT to find $1.2 billion in “efficiencies.” That directly threatens the jobs of AFSCME members who patch, plow, and maintain state highways.

The Republican transportation plan goes out of its way to avoid long-term, dedicated funding or a sustainable, comprehensive solution. Instead, Republican leaders proposed going into debt, relying on one-time shifts from the state surplus, and raiding other state programs to finance short-term projects.

But the House plan focuses only on selected roads and bridges. There is no financial support for more reliable and accessible transit, bicycle, or pedestrian networks anywhere in the state.

Correctional officer Rick Neyssen, president of St. Cloud Corrections Local 599, urges a Senate committee to support an AFSCME plan to add 84 front-line positions to make state prisons safer. Neyssen and members from other corrections locals gave the committee details of how the state keeps adding prisoners, but is not adding staff to oversee them. DOC is undertaking a staffing analysis of its own, commissioner Tom Roy says – prison by prison and shift by shift – and expects to have results in September.

Local 66’s Deb Strohm testifies against the House Republican tax bill, saying attempts to cut Local Government Aid to Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth are “devastating and unfair.”

Members of Senate District 8 in the Fergus Falls area meet with Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen during Day on the Hill.

Paul Bissen and Lloyd Carter, both of Rochester DOT Local 868, and Todd Jones, of MnSCu Local 4001, meet with Rep. Nels Pierson during Day on the Hill.

Don Anderson, Duluth DOT Local 695, is among hundreds who turned out at a Capitol rally to push for a comprehensive, sustainable, long-term transportation plan – this year.

Dhrti Walker, Metro DHS Local 2181, whoops it up during a Day on the Hill rally at the Crowne Plaza hotel.

WHere’S tHe r-e-S-p-e-c-t?you might think a $2 billion budget surplus would make bargaining easier. But that’s not the case as negotiations ratchet up for new contracts covering 17,500 aFSCme workers at the State of minnesota. Contracts expire June 30.

Contracts eventually have to get through the Legislature. But instead of investing in the work we do, Republicans who control the House are doing the opposite: they’re cutting state agency budgets – especially DHS and mnDOt. they’re mandating cuts in the state workforce

and putting a cap on state hiring. they’re still going after public employee pensions. and they’ve removed the salary supplement that would pay for our pay raises.

that attitude of disrespect is showing up at the bargaining table. So state locals

are digging in. they’re spreading Respect and Disrespect signs in workplaces. they’ve declared Wednesdays “green” days. and they’ve started a Facebook community to stay in touch. to keep up, you can go to www.facebook.com/mnrising

“We need 17,500 of you on the outside to send the same message,” says chief negotiator Jo pels.

Bargaining team member Crystal Kreklow, of DHS MinnesotaCare Local 2181, makes it clear that state workers are fed up with disrespect at work.

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iN the ir Footsteps

Over the past 50 years, AFSCME and other public-sector unions have transformed the American labor movement. We’ve lifted millions of

families into the middle class, especially women and workers of color. We’ve been a force behind some of the most significant social and economic movements of recent generations. We live many of our nation’s founding principles.

But if you read the American history books that most high school students open every day, you never would learn any of that. In fact, you would not learn much about labor unions at all.

What you did learn would lead you to believe that unions haven’t done much since the early 1900s; that we’ve relied on violence when we did accomplish something; and that unions play a minimal role (at best) in creating America’s middle class, increasing safety on the job, increasing leisure time, pushing for more equality for more workers, or achieving more security and dignity in retirement.

These are among the findings in a report from the Washington, D.C.-based Albert Shanker Institute. The report concludes that history books from the four largest high-school publishers misrepresent, downplay, and ignore most of labor unions’ contributions to society.

For example, the report says: “American labor was central to winning child labor protections, unemployment insurance, workers’ injury compensation, Social Security benefits, the minimum hourly wage, the eight-hour day and

other limits on working hours, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, Medicare, and Medicaid. Yet the textbooks are largely silent on labor’s role in these achievements.”

Instead, the report says, the textbooks often give the credit to other organizations, to elected officials who sign the advances into law – and sometimes even to corporate bosses themselves.

What about both sides?

Unions often are treated as an historical artifact – something that happened long ago and disappeared long ago. “The idea that they might be necessary for workers to have a voice in the workplace goes unstated,” the report says.

In a similar vein, the textbooks discuss all kinds of discrimination in American society, but do not discuss the discrimination American workers face if they try to organize a union or improve working conditions in other ways. The textbooks discuss human rights – but do not extend their discussion to violations of workers’ rights routinely committed by American businesses.

Further, the report says, by ignoring the growth of AFSCME, teachers unions, and other public-sector and white-collar unions, the textbooks “ignore how unionism has changed over time.”

While the textbooks downplay the role of unions in driving progress and achievement, they “tend to over-represent the role of conflict,” the report says. “Indeed, the books’ focus makes violence nearly synonymous with labor unions…. The

textbooks often describe strikes and labor disputes as harmful to the nation’s economic welfare – not as the actions of Americans who were standing up against a massively biased and unfair system in order to obtain justice.”

In addition, the textbooks typically blame unions “for strikes, unrest, and violence – no matter how indefensible the behavior of businesses, militias, Pinkerton agents, and strikebreakers in literally attacking striking workers.” Further, the report says, “employers’ retaliatory responses to union organizing are presented as the natural pursuit of economic interests, not as clear violations of First Amendment rights, lawbreaking by employers, or acts of oppression.”

Adding to the story

The report also argues that textbooks:

• Focus on the roles middle-class women played in fighting for gender equality, but ignore the successes of working-class women.

• Fail to portray labor’s role as a political force that counters the influence of corporations and wealth in American politics.

• Fail to point out that unions are one of the prime examples of democracy in action.

• Downplay the role of courts and other pro-business forces in breaking and curbing workers’ power.

• Fail to point out how poorly the United States defends workers’ rights compared with other Western democracies.

Textbooks ignore, distort union history

High school history books ignore how the rise of AFSCME and other public-sector unions have transformed the American labor movement.

In American history textbooks, labor unions are rarely included in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. But in reality:

• A. Philip Randolph, founder and president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, was a longtime adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders. The 1963 “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom” was Randolph’s idea.

• The United Auto Workers, the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, and other unions provided much of the financing, grassroots organizing, and logistics support that made the March on Washington and other civil rights tactics possible.

• When King and other civil rights protesters were jailed in Birmingham, Ala., in 1963, it was the AFL-CIO that paid the $160,000 to bail them out.

• Bayard Rustin was a master strategist for

the March on Washington and other key civil rights actions. While working for the national AFL-CIO, Rustin promoted organizing among African-Americans and worked visibly to integrate all-white unions.

• Craft unions often banned African-American workers from membership during the 19th and early 20th centuries. But other unions – especially the IWW and the unions of the CIO in the 1930s and 1940s – were among the first American organizations of any kind to intentionally integrate.

• History texts do point out that when King was assassinated in 1968, he was in Memphis to support a strike by black sanitation workers. But the texts ignore AFSCME’s role in the strike, and the reasons why the sanitation workers were striking. “Worse,” the study says, “not one mentions King’s strong belief that labor rights and civil rights were inextricably linked.”

WHat HiGH ScHOOL HiStOry DOeSn’t teacH abOut uniOnS, civiL riGHtS

Memphis sanitation workers struck in 1968 for basic recognition of their humanity and rights.

Phot

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Ric

hard

L. C

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oFF the CLoCK

This spring, hundreds of Council 5 members and retirees volunteered for community service projects where

we live and work. The activities were timed to honor AFSCME’s legacy with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike, and our ongoing fight for workers’ rights and social and economic justice.

The “month of action, celebration, and service” concluded April 25 when 125 members, family, and friends walked through St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, cleaning up spring litter. As retired AFSCME secretary-treasurer Bill Lucy said in his keynote video, “We are part of the life of the communities that we serve.”

‘Keeping the dream alive’Volunteer projects honor our union’s legacy, values

For more photos of aFSCme volunteers in action, go to www.flickr.com/photos/afscmemn. Click the albums tab, then click “a month of Volunteer action.” Or scan this QR code on your mobile device.

1. Jacquelyn Root, MnSCu Local 4001, helps clean up litter in St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood.

2. Child-care provider Amanda Sansness made this “diaper cake” to auction off as part of Local 3400’s diaper drive for the YWCA of St. Paul.

3. Tim Blase (center) joins co-workers from Local 8 and St. Paul Locals 1842 and 2508 in a charity hockey showdown between St. Paul and Ramsey County employees. The game raised $19,000 for the Domestic Abuse Intervention Program.

4. Local 66’s Laura Brandt, Liz Siebenaler, and other members from St. Louis County Children and Family Services serve lunch to more than 135 people at the union Gospel Mission in Duluth.

5. Jean Garvin, Statewide Amalgamated Local 2829, joins other state and Ramsey County workers in picking up litter in the Lafayette Park office complex in St. Paul.

6. Feed My Starving Children was a popular site for volunteers. Here, Tykesha Crouch, of Hennepin County Local 2822, and her 5-year-old daughter, Jalesha, fill a food packet.

7. Members from DHS Locals 390, 607, and 1307 also team up at Feed My Starving Children.

8. Cherrene Horazuk carries out food that university of Minnesota Locals 3800 and 3937 donated to Neighborhood House in St. Paul.

9. Lynne Freezy and Ryan Olson, both of Washington County Local 517, distribute rain barrels for the Recycling Association of Minnesota.

10. Laura Bachschneider and Jamie Olson are among members of Local 66 who donated more than 30 pints of blood at the Northland Office Center in Virginia. For the year, members gave 224 pints – an effort that earned Local 66’s Judy Thorson the “coordinator of the year” award from North Memorial Blood Centers.

11. Jeanette Burfeind joins other members of Retirees united in assembling boxes of fresh produce for Fare for All.

12. Cindy Calderon and Lorrie Adams are among members of Hennepin County Local 34 sorting, washing, and packing donated flatware for Bridging, which supplies furniture and household goods for people transitioning out of homelessness and poverty. Hennepin County 2822 collected pillows for Bridging.

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unions work to improve wages, benefits, and working conditions. Some

Hennepin County members are taking that “working conditions” part literally.

When the county started redesigning worksites – without talking to workers – AFSCME members led a push to make the final results better.

The county redesigned several buildings as part of a larger work reorganization project, says Local 2864’s Urban Landreman, a public health planner. For example, the county implemented ROE. That “results oriented environment” lets many social service workers work flexible schedules. They can even work from home if they want, as long as the work gets done.

Further, the county created decentralized hub buildings for these workers, so workers are closer to their clients. The county also closed some sites, which relocated other workers.

To accommodate all these changes,

the county changed the work spaces themselves. It created what it calls “open” or “flexible” floor plans. Instead of individual offices or cubicles, the county set up rows and clusters of work stations. Instead of going to an assigned desk, workers pick a spot, plug their laptop into a docking station, and get to work.

One solution does not fit all

A lot of that makes sense, especially for workers who are in the field more than they are in the office, Landreman says. But a flexible work space doesn’t necessarily make sense for every worker – especially workers who need to be in the office nearly every day.

Then there is the issue of how the work spaces look. “It’s a very impersonal work environment,” Landreman says. “Really sterile.”

Because workers didn’t have assigned desks, they weren’t allowed to personalize their work spaces. That meant no family photos. No posters or cartoons. In fact, the work spaces had no art on the walls at all. No plants.

“We needed to break up the whiteness, add some color,” says Joanna Przybilla, a public health nurse in Local 34.

“We needed to humanize the place,” says Local 2822’s Greg Sather, who does support work in public health.

Workers bring own ideas

So AFSCME members and their co-workers pushed the county to figure out what really works for workers who actually use the space.

“People were very creative, had great ideas,” Przybilla says. “I think we’re moving in the right direction.”

Most changes “are little things,”

Landreman says, “but they’ve made the environment – which was totally awful – somewhat pleasant.”

For example, workers now can select rotating displays of art. The county loosened its ban on plants. Noise issues are being addressed. There are fewer lockers – which “made the place look like high school,” in Sather’s words – and more group work areas. Co-workers now have tables and common spaces where they actually can meet and collaborate. There are white boards on which to share ideas.

“It’s more livable,” Sather says, “and more conducive for good work.”

StanDinG up FOr LOW-WaGe WOrKerSUniversity of Minnesota locals and community groups led a boisterous march and rally April 15.

The march – part of a national day of action in support of low-wage workers – called for a $15 wage floor, earned sick leave, fair scheduling, union rights, and an end to wage theft by employers.

MOre WOrKerS cHOOSe aFScMeCongratulations to 77 workers of At Home Living in Duluth, who won a private-sector election to join Council 5. The members actually won their vote in January – but had to wait three months while ownership of the mental-health facilities challenged the election. The National Labor Relations Board rejected the challenge and made the union victory official in April.

Meanwhile, other locals are expanding their ranks by adding workers who should be in the bargaining unit, but are not.

Local 66 at Spirit Mountain in Duluth, for example, added 43 members through this “unit clarification” process. Locals 977 and 2474 at Hennepin County Medical Center added 20, and Local 9 at the City of Minneapolis added 19.

Minneapolis Public Schools Local 56 is

seeking to add as many as 200 members under new state laws that allow more clerical and information technology workers to have union representation. The state’s Bureau of Mediation Services is making final eligibility rulings, a process that will take at least until fall.

WALKING oUr tALK

5 Win ScHOLarSHipS FrOM neLLie StOne JOHnSOn FOunDatiOnTwo AFSCME members and three students in AFSCME families received college scholarships from the Nellie Stone Johnson Foundation this year. They are among 29 winners of the annual scholarships, which are available to union members of color (or family members) who attend college in the MnSCU system.

The AFSCME winners:

• Lorrhonda Byrd, of Hennepin County Medical Center Local 977

• Huynh Mai Nt Koenig, of Hennepin County Human Services Local 34

• Reijuana Harley, daughter of Ronald Harley,

of Hennepin County Adult Corrections Local 1719

• Marinda Rodriquez, daughter of Loralee Prescott, of Ramsey County Human Services Local 151

• Sean Thomez, son of Curtis Thomez, of Local 638 at Minnesota State University-Mankato

Local president Jessica Burton plans strategies for adding more co-workers to the bargaining unit of Minneapolis Public Schools Local 56.

We taKe care OF Our OWn“Pass the hat” collections among delegates to state employee meetings raised more than $13,500 to help four Council 5 families:

• Jerry Firkus, of Moose Lake Corrections Local 1092, whose home was destroyed by fire in January.

• Mark Baker, of Rush City Corrections Local 1539, who is still recovering from an auto accident last November.

• Eric Weise, of Faribault Corrections Local 3607, who was injured in an accident in Colorado in March.

• Macy Kujava, of DHS MinnesotaCare Local 2181. Kujava and her 4-year-old daughter, Sophia, were severely injured when a pickup hit their car head-on north of Brainerd this winter. (Monetary

donations can still be made to the “Kujava Family Benefit” account at any Affinity Plus Credit Union in Minnesota.)

Since his auto accident, Mark Baker has advanced from a using a wheelchair to a walker to a cane.

Stefanie York, university of Minnesota Local 3800, joined the “Fight for 15” march on campus and in Dinkytown.

Local 977’s Lorrhonda Byrd is a Nellie Stone Johnson scholarship winner.

Greg Sather, Local 2822, and urban Landreman, Local 2864, are working to improve Hennepin County’s newly designed work spaces.

Hennepin members undertake their own ‘space project’

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aFSCME members in state-run mental-health facilities – fed up with management

giving them lip service instead of the staffing and safety they need – are escalating their campaign for safer jobs.

They claimed one early victory at Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center, which has 20 vacant positions. That inadequate staffing contributes to the fact that workers are attacked an average of twice a week. It also means that, during a single weekend in April, 35 employees were forced to work an average of 27 hours of forced overtime each. That was the highest level of mandated overtime ever, according to Local 1307.

The local’s leaders went straight to the top of DHS. Four days later, commissioner Lucinda Jesson capped admissions, so understaffed workers don’t have to handle an even bigger workload.

The safe staffing campaign also took to the streets on Workers’ Memorial Day. Hundreds of members demonstrated in Anoka, St. Peter, Willmar, Brainerd, Duluth, and Moose Lake.

Jan Gasper, Jackie Spanjers, and Susan Mabera, all of Anoka DHS Local 1307, enlist the help of Sen. John Hoffman in seeking safe staffing in state mental-health facilities.

Safety at work was on the minds – and faces – of many Council 5 members during Day on the Hill, including Jesse Marble, of St. Peter DHS Local 404.

LPN Lawrence Johnson joins other Local 1307 members in demonstrating outside Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center on Workers’ Memorial Day.

Michelle Rodning, of DHS Local 404 at the Minnesota Security Hospital, joins the Workers’ Memorial Day demonstration in St. Peter.

Like many demonstrators on Workers’ Memorial Day, Stacey Mueller, of St. Peter DHS Local 404, carries a sign that includes a photo of the battered face of Renetta Engelson. Engelson, a former member of Local 404, no longer can work because of injuries she received after being beaten by a patient.

Lisa Pehlke, an LPN at Anoka Metro Regional Treatment Center, joined other Local 1307 members in demonstrations on Workers’ Memorial Day. She, like many others, wore a bandage to protest the number of injuries at work.

Retiree Carol Rose joins demonstrators in Moose Lake. Rose worked at treatment centers in Brainerd, Faribault, Fergus Falls, and Moose Lake during her 30 years with DHS.

DHS workers are taking an old labor slogan literally. For them, says David Ruth, of Cambridge DHS Local 390, “an injury to one is an injury to all.”

Above: Tim Headlee and Chuck Hottinger, of St. Peter DHS Local

404, confer with Sen. Kathy Sheran about a bill that makes it a felony to attack workers in state mental-

health facilities. The bill is a victory for AFSCME members; Gov. Dayton signed it into law on May 11. Right: 5-year-old

Jozie Lecuyer joins a demonstration outside Anoka Metro Regional

Treatment Center. Her grandmother, Nancy Lecuyer of Local 1307, is a

human service technician at the facility.

PArAdiNg oUr values

‘We DOn’t WOrK tO Get Hurt’

aFSCme members have created a Facebook community to share their stories and unite their efforts to improve safety at work. to read stories, watch videos, or join the community and the campaign, go to www.facebook.com/safestaffingmn. Or, use your mobile device to scan this QR Code.

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ANy WAy you MeAsure It

eVerydAy herOes

More than 30 years after it started, the Duluth Abuse Intervention Program has

received an international award as one of the world’s most innovative and effective programs to address violence against women and girls.

“The Duluth model” launched in 1981. It pioneered a coordinated, community-wide response to protect victims of domestic abuse and to hold abusers accountable. It requires that police, shelters, the legal system, and social workers take a consistent and coordinated – rather than fragmented – approach.

Since the beginning, AFSCME members were involved in making the revolutionary approach work. They still are.

Safety is the priority

Making a woman’s safety the top priority is one standard that sets the Duluth model apart. Places like Safe Haven Shelter put that standard into practice daily.

For example, Local 3558’s Margo Colomb, a legal advocate at Safe Haven, first helps women obtain the legal protection they and their children need. She then escorts women through the court process until their abuser is sentenced.

At the shelter itself, staff such as Local 3558’s Angie Wynn help victims find the safety and support to escape an abusive relationship, to heal, and to start their lives over. That can mean finding a new

place to live, finding clothing and furniture if necessary, enrolling children in a new school – “the whole big picture,” Wynn says.

Safe Haven also sponsors support groups for any member of the community, through its downtown Resource Center. “That’s part of coordinating the community response,” Colomb says.

Part of a familiar pattern

Another ground-breaking trait of the Duluth model is that it treats domestic assault as a pattern of abusive behavior, not as a single incident or a “heat of the moment” criminal act, says Melanie Shepard, a retired professor of social work at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

“A lot of the women we work with have been in an abusive relationship for a long time,” Wynn says, “and if they don’t have the money or the funds, they stay out of fear. They feel really trapped.”

The Duluth model uses a visual tool – the “power and control wheel” – that illustrates tactics abusers use to maintain control.

It’s similar to the “power wheel” that union organizers use, Wynn and Colomb point out, because intimidation, isolation, and other tactics of control often are the same ones supervisors use on workers.

Most visibly, the Duluth model sets a new expectation by mandating arrest of the abuser.

“Previously, the officer had discretion,” Shepard says. “A lot of times, they didn’t arrest. They didn’t prosecute. And, typically, the women were too frightened to press charges themselves.”

Mandatory arrest, combined with firm prosecution guidelines, means the city no longer takes a “wishy washy” approach to domestic violence, she says. That approach has spread nationwide and beyond.

Always trying to do better

Finally, the Duluth model tracks results and constantly tweaks tactics. That’s evident at the 911 call center, where Local 66 members such as Ryan Stauber and Stefanie Peterson often are the first ones to

respond to a domestic assault.

Dispatchers take part in “quality assurance” trainings where they team with police, attorneys, case managers, and others to assess how actual cases are handled – and how everyone’s response can improve.

Dispatchers, for example, learn which questions to ask and how to ask them, depending on what they hear and perceive on the phone call. “Can I go in-depth vs. yes-and-no questions?” Peterson explains.

“The level of intensity just varies,” Stauber says.

The Duluth program received the Future Policy Award from the Inter-Parliamentary Union, UN Women, and the World Future Council.

International award honors achievements of Duluth

domestic violence program

Above: “We develop a rapport with people,” says 911 dispatcher Ryan

Stauber. “There’s an emotional side to it, that you do have a stranger pulling

for you.” Right: The relationship between police and shelter providers

has improved tremendously under the Duluth framework, says shelter

worker Angie Wynn. “They go out of their way, I think. I don’t know what we would do without their support.”

Bread and Roses Artist: Paul Davis

in 1912, a multi-national mix of more than 20,000 mill workers – the vast majority of them women – went on strike in Lawrence, mass. the landmark event became known as the Bread and Roses Strike.

in 1979, the new york-based national Union of Hospital and Health Care employees paid tribute by launching the Bread and Roses Cultural project. it was an effort to display the artistic talents of working women and men.

Davis’ painting draws on the long “Bread and Roses” tradition in labor: Workers deserve more than being able to survive – the “bread.” they also deserve to enjoy the finer things that life offers – the “roses.”

L A B o r H I s t o r y

We’re nOt tHe prObLeM

State Rep. Sarah anderson is the latest Republican to lead the parade of disrespect for state workers.

anderson wants to cap how many workers the state can hire. that will keep us doing the work of more than one person for a long time.

“there’s a whole host of areas that are ripe for right-sizing,” she says. anderson obviously isn’t paying attention to these facts.

Minnesota has the fourth-lowest number of government employees (per capita) in the nation.3

Minnesota has fewer government employees overall

DOinG MOre WitH LeSS, part 1 4tH LeaneSt

Sources:

1. minnesota management and Budget: Fte Report Q4-2015 2. minnesota Legislature, 89th Session, HF844, HF848 3. U.S. Census “State government and employment Data”; gallup “State of the States” series 4. analysis of minnesota management and Budget data

House Republicans give $15 in business tax breaks for every new dollar they invest in education.2

State General Fund is paying for 1,000 fewer FTEs

GiveaWayS tO biLLiOnaireS

The per capita cost of the state’s General Fund, adjusted for inflation, is 11.4 percent lower today than in 2002, during the Pawlenty administration. 4

Cost of state government is downDOinG MOre WitH LeSS, part 2

Who’s really the GOP’s priority?

71PER 10,000 RESIDENTS

16,1462008 15,1132015

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