Above photo: Rally of striking Minneapolis park workers. Staff/Fight Back! News.
Minneapolis, MN – On July 4, round 100 members of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 363 walked off their jobs and began what was intended to be a limited-duration strike set to end on Wednesday, July 10.
Right from the start the attitude was one of feisty resolve from these workers. This is the first time in the Minneapolis Park Board’s 141 year history that the workers went on strike, and the strike was authorized by a 94% majority.
During the first weeklong strike, they held planned pickets and actions all around Minneapolis, primarily at the parks. They also saw many solidarity actions popping off that week in support of the striking workers. The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers held a rally on Monday, July 8 in solidarity with the park workers, and has another solidarity rally set for Friday July 19.
The strike had been scheduled to end on Wednesday, July 10. However, the LIUNA members decided to extend the strike indefinitely after the latest proposal from management did not meet terms that they considered good enough to end the strike for. In fact, many in the union said on social media and in press releases that the new proposal from management was just as bad as the one that 94% of them voted to strike over.
LIUNA members say that they are fighting for a contract with real wage increases, and one that provides for safety and health of workers, as well as improvements to staffing and scheduling language. They also say they are fighting to beat back anti-union proposals from management. The strike comes after the workers spent seven months attempting in good faith to bargain a contract.
While the strike was initially scheduled to end July 10, the workers are holding strong more than two weeks in and continue to calendar out actions for the week ahead. They say they will keep fighting until they get the contract that they deserve.
According to a LIUNA study, the current top pay for parkkeepers is $30.99 per hour, compared to the suburban average of $38.02 for the same positions.