Striking park workers file unfair labor charge over threats of lockout; Park Board quickly reverses

Striking Minneapolis park workers will likely return to work as planned Thursday, after the Park Board reverses its lockout stance and agrees to bring workers back even if a contract is not reached by then.

Officials rescinded their threat to prevent workers from returning to their jobs on Monday afternoon, hours after the workers union filed an unfair labor practices charge.

The workers, who comb needles out of Minneapolis parks, clean bathrooms, empty trash bins, clear paths of downed tree limbs and monitor pool chemistry per health codes, have been on a 7-day strike since July 4 after months of contract negotiations stalled. They’ve been picketing at some of the city’s most popular locations, including Minnehaha Falls Park and the Lake Harriet Bandshell, where concerts including one scheduled for Monday evening have been canceled.

Park Board managers and workers have not gone back to the table since contract negotiations broke down around midnight on July 1. The workers’ Laborers International Union of North America Local 363 filed an unfair labor practices charge against the Park Board, after managers threatened in a July 2 email an indefinite lockout of striking workers.

“This behavior raises serious questions about the Park Board’s integrity and true intentions in contract negotiations,” Local 363 business manager AJ Lange, an arborist, had said.

In its “last, best and final” offer on July 1, the Park Board proposed a 10.25% wage increase for most full-time laborer positions, which would cost $4.6 million, according to a Park Board statement. In contrast, the union’s latest proposal would cost approximately $6.7 million over three years.

“Park leadership is confident that the plans the MPRB has in place, including adjusting both work priorities and staffing locations, will help the MPRB continue to deliver core services and minimize impacts to the public,” during the strike, according to the statement. “The MPRB has been negotiating in good faith for more than seven months.”

On the picket line Friday, much of the talk concerned the Park Board’s request for contract concessions. These include extending the new hire probation period — the length of time someone could be fired for any reason without notice — from six months to one year, and making annual wage step increases discretionary, allowing management to withhold automatic raises for individuals at will.

“No other bargaining unit that we represent in this labor-friendly state puts that in contracts,” said Keith Glenn of Local 363, who has been bargaining on behalf of workers. “That means we can say you do a great job but I don’t like you, you don’t get a raise.”

Striking workers also said they were disrupted by a July 2 email from the Park Board’s human resources department stating, “If a Local 363 employee chooses not to report to work, they must remain out on strike for the duration of the strike,” and, “A strike is considered to have ended when an agreement is ratified by Local 363 membership.”

The email indicates that at the conclusion of the 7-day strike for which the union has given notice, the Park Board intended to lock out the workers who participated in the strike until the union accepts the contract offered.

“It’s scary,” said Anthony Smith, a park worker of 10 years and a union steward. “We decided to do a one-week strike after talking to members because the vast majority of members agreed that the longer it goes on, the more it’s going to impact their families. And then on top of all of this uncertainty, it’s compounded with fear tactics and threats. We’re talking about people losing their vehicles, their homes, their labor, no income coming in for who knows how long.”

Local 363 is accusing Superintendent Al Bangoura and the Park Board of violating federal labor protections for workers on strike. It is the second unfair labor charge that the union has filed during the course of ongoing contract negotiations. In December Local 363 accused management of infringing on workers’ freedom of speech by imposing work rules prohibiting them from being critical of the Park Board.

The Park Board reversed course on Monday afternoon, acknowledging that it cannot legally lock out striking workers without locking out all Local 363 members. The board issued a statement assuring the agency will not prevent striking workers from returning to work at the conclusion of their strike on Thursday because it “is not in MPRB’s value set.”

A special Park Board meeting has been scheduled for Monday night to discuss contract negotiations.

The Park Board is a semi-autonomous governing body of the city of Minneapolis. Park arborists also take care of all public trees. City Council President Elliott Payne and members Jason Chavez and Aurin Chowdhury addressed workers’ picket line on Friday.

“Minnehaha Falls Park, which we’re in right now, is a gem in our community and one of the few places in the city of Minneapolis where you can have a waterfall in your backyard, which is pretty incredible,” said Chowdhury, whose ward includes Minnehaha Falls Park. “Minneapolis feels the work that you do every single day to make these parks the best in the nation. If we’re gonna claim that and say that, we better treat our workers the best we can.”