Minneapolis City Council passes resolution supporting park workers as strike enters 3rd week
MINNEAPOLIS — As the Minneapolis park worker strike enters its 15th day with no clear end in sight, the City Council is voted on a resolution of support on Thursday.
Workers began picketing at around 5:30 a.m. at the Minneapolis Park and Recreation's Southside Operations Center. Park workers told WCCO they're hoping to be brought back to the bargaining table by the park board to continue negotiating.
"We want not just a good wage, but we want language that respects us and that protects us," Chelsea Akin, a seasonal garden, said. "I miss my job so much I can't wait to get my hands back in the dirt and make it look pretty around here."
Workers have been calling for better pay and benefits. The workers are tasked with maintaining the city's parks, which are consistently ranked among the top in the nation. The union represents a little more than a third of the city's full-time and seasonal labor staff.
On Monday, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board met with striking workers to resume contract negotiations. The park board has said it presented its last, best and final offer. It includes a 10.25% wage increase over three years, plus two market adjustments for 13 positions.
Confrontation during morning picket
At the morning picket, WCCO cameras captured a confrontation between a picketing park worker and a driver of a park truck.
Just before 6:20 a.m., a worker could be seen falling as the truck driver moved forward at a very low speed.
Responders in a fire truck and ambulance arrived at the scene and evaluated the worker. The ambulance left without the worker.
The park board released a statement to WCCO, saying the picketer stayed on site after declining medical transport. According to MPRB, the unharmed truck driver and other MPRB trucks and equipment were blocked until Minneapolis Park Police arrived at 7 a.m. The case is being reviewed by police.
MPRB files unfair labor practice charge
The park board on Thursday afternoon filed an unfair labor practice charge against the union for allegedly violating a law which prohibits employee organizations, representatives and employees from "picketing which unreasonably interfered with the ingress and egress to facilities of the public employer."
The MPRB in their statement listed instances on Wednesday in which picketers "blocked" trucks that were trying to make deliveries to Sea Salt restaurant. The board said that union picketers convinced one delivery truck driver to leave without making a delivery, and another driver asked Sea Salt staff to unload the truck to avoid interacting with the crowd.
The statement the park board released also referenced the confrontation on Thursday morning in which a worker fell while a truck moved forward at a low speed. The MPRB says it is requesting an order requiring the union to "cease and desist from the unfair labor practice to post a cease-and-desist notice in the workplace."
City Council vote
On Wednesday, Minneapolis City Council members passed a resolution expressing their support for park board workers.
The MPRB said they received a letter from several City Council members, stating that workers have agreed to the board's wage offer and requesting that the board consider "fair pay, guaranteed step increases and the same level of union stewards."
Several hours later, MPRB Superintendent Alfred Banoura sent a response, saying there is no such agreement on a wage package and that there is a $1.4 million gap between the board and union's proposals.