More than three months into one of Minnesota’s longest public-sector strikes, a group of Chisago County employees is taking steps to remove the union representing them.
Employees represented by Teamsters Local 320 walked off the job May 1 after contract negotiations with Chisago County reached an impasse. The strike involves two bargaining units — Government Center Professional (GCP) employees and Health and Human Services employees.
Now, employees in the Government Center Professional unit are seeking to decertify Teamsters Local 320, meaning the union would no longer represent them in collective bargaining if workers vote against keeping it.
Under Minnesota law, employees can trigger a decertification election by petitioning the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services (BMS) and stating that the union no longer represents a majority of workers in their bargaining unit. At least 30% of employees must indicate they want to be unrepresented before an election can proceed.
The Chisago County employees cleared that hurdle.
BMS determined they submitted the required showing of interest and ordered an election for Aug. 17.
The state identified 50 employees as eligible to vote on whether Teamsters Local 320 should remain their exclusive bargaining representative, according to documents obtained by Alpha News.
The employees have just one question to answer: “Do you want Teamsters, Local 320 as your exclusive representative for the purpose of collective bargaining with the employer regarding terms and conditions of employment?”
They will have two choices: “Yes” or “No Representative.”
Teamsters expect to win vote
Teamsters Local 320 confirmed the decertification effort but said it expects employees to vote to retain the union.
Erik Skoog, secretary-treasurer and principal officer of Teamsters Local 320, told Alpha News the petition was filed by a non-dues-paying employee who works in the Chisago County administration office.
According to Skoog, 19 of the 50 employees in the bargaining unit do not pay union dues and have continued crossing the picket line during the strike, while the remaining 31 are participating in the strike.
“While I fully expect to win the vote, and recognize that these 19 individuals are exercising their legal rights, I do question whether County leadership prompted this filing given the employees’ close proximity to the administration office,” Skoog said.
Burnham flatly denied the allegation.
“County leadership did not encourage, suggest, or assist any employee in filing a decertification petition,” he said.
Burnham pointed to the number of GCP employees who have continued working during the strike as a possible explanation for the decertification effort.
“Since more than 30% of eligible GCP members are working, not striking, it seems pretty logical to me that those individuals may not want to be represented by Teamsters 320, especially since all of them are being forced to go to the Teamsters 320 health plan without a vote or say, and they deal with Teamsters 320’s harassment and bullying everyday coming and leaving work daily,” Burnham said.
Skoog also said the decertification proceeding has halted negotiations involving the GCP bargaining unit while the election remains pending.
“Because of this petition, the parties are legally barred from negotiating and must maintain the status quo until the election is certified,” Skoog said.
BMS issued a notice after the petition was filed that says wages, hours and existing conditions of employment cannot be changed and prohibits threats or promises regarding those conditions, questioning employees about union membership, or discrimination resulting from the filing of the petition.
The decertification proceeding does not affect the separate Health and Human Services bargaining unit, according to Skoog.
Skoog went on to accuse county leadership of having an “ultimate goal” of “bust[ing] the union in Chisago County.”
Burnham rejected that accusation as well.
“I would ask Mr. Skoog to provide specific examples of ‘union busting,’ beside making accusations,” Burnham said. “If there are specific examples, then I encourage him to file unfair labor practice claims with the Public Employment Relations Board versus making unfounded claims.”
Both sides dispute mediation efforts
The two sides also offered different accounts of recent attempts to resolve the strike.
Skoog said a commissioner with BMS recently discussed a potential agreement that the union believed could resolve the dispute.
“Recently, the Commissioner from the Bureau of Mediation Services discussed an offer that could work for both sides. We were amenable to those terms, but the County sat idle for nearly two weeks before rejecting the proposal,” Skoog said.
Burnham disputed that characterization, saying BMS Commissioner Johnny Villarreal presented two mediator proposals and that the county expressed reservations about both immediately.
According to Burnham, county officials told Villarreal they would review the proposals and bring them to the county board at its next scheduled meeting Aug. 5. Burnham said the county was told multiple times that they were mediator proposals, not offers, and said there was no indication given that the union would accept them.
Burnham also said the county presented Teamsters Local 320 with an offer during state-mandated mediation July 9 that the union has yet to counter.
“The County remains committed to negotiating in good faith and will participate in mediation in good faith when the Union would like to,” Burnham said.
Letter from DFL lawmakers
The decertification effort comes just weeks after several DFL state senators urged Chisago County officials to settle the strike.
Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy and Sens. Jen McEwen, Melissa Wiklund, Erin Maye Quade and Sandra Pappas signed a July 28 letter to county commissioners urging them to “work quickly toward a fair resolution” with the union.
“After more than 80 days on strike, this dispute has gone on far too long,” the lawmakers wrote at the time.
The senators said Teamsters members were seeking “fair wages, affordable healthcare, and safe working conditions” and urged commissioners to “end this strike” and “bring Local 320 members back to work.”
The union has been paying striking workers $1,200 per week in strike benefits.
Burnham previously told Alpha News that approximately 45% of striking employees were receiving more from the union’s weekly strike benefits than they would earn working.
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
