Thousands of Twin Cities janitors and nursing home workers launch strikes

More than 4,000 janitors who clean Twin Cities highrises housing Minnesota’s biggest corporations began a three-day unfair labor practices strike across 100 buildings on Monday, with airport janitors set to join on Tuesday as they seek higher wages and retirement benefits.

Meanwhile, nearly 1,000 nursing home workers at 12 facilities will strike for 24 hours starting Tuesday morning as they seek a $25 an hour minimum wage.

The strikes are part of coordinated threats of work stoppages across industries that have already yielded deals in the past week guaranteeing significant pay raises for union security guards, janitors in big box stores and public works employees for the city of Minneapolis.

Around 3,700 St. Paul public school teachers and hourly workers have said they’ll strike starting March 11. Passenger service workers at the airport are also negotiating a new contract but are largely barred from striking under the Railway Labor Act.

Along with several unions, nonprofit organizations representing workers and renters are also leading demonstrations this week as part of a campaign called “What could we win together?” They are focused on four priorities: dignified work, good schools, stable housing and a livable planet.

Union workers have seen organized labor win big raises at UPS and the Big Three automakers in the  past year. With allies in Democratic-controlled local and state government, they’re looking to win significant wage and benefit increases that would outpace the inflation spike that reduced the standard of living of some workers.

The commercial janitors, who are unionized with SEIU Local 26, say they want pensions and raises of more than 25%. That would bring starting wages to around $23 an hour by the end of a four-year labor contract.

“With rising costs and gasoline at over $3 a gallon … it’s not enough. They got to keep up so people can live,” said janitor Timothy Weum at a picket line outside the Ameriprise headquarters in downtown Minneapolis on Monday. “I can’t see working as hard as I do and not getting paid a wage increase.”

Weum said he left his job in the Prescott public schools to be a janitor at the Pine Bend oil refinery in Rosemount — part of the petrochemical giant Koch Industries — because it was a union job, with the promise of annual pay raises.

The janitors are employed by about 20 contract service cleaners, ranging from small local businesses like Mid-City Cleaning Contractors to massive corporations like ABM Industries, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

The companies and the union negotiate a master contract, meaning workers receive roughly the same pay and benefits whether they’re cleaning the corporate offices for Ameriprise, U.S. Bank or Target.

Requests for comment from employers were not immediately returned.

SEIU Local 26 also represents janitors who clean the inside of big box stores like Best Buy and Target, and about 2,000 security guards. Those workers reached tentative agreements with about 20% pay raises but did not secure pensions. Greg Nammacher, president of SEIU Local 26, said both groups have fairly new contracts, and they were working on bringing workers’ wages up above minimum wage.

Block by Block workers, who serve as ambassadors in downtown Minneapolis, settled their contract about a month ago, which included a pension and a pay raise to $21.84 an hour after a year of seniority. That’s the standard the union has set for commercial janitors, Nammacher said.

Nursing home workers, including nurses, nursing assistants, dietary aides and other workers, will begin their unfair labor practices strike at 8 a.m. Tuesday, which threatens to disrupt care for hundreds of elderly residents amid an already dire shortage of care workers. The workers, unionized with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa and UFCW Local 663, want a $25 an hour minimum wage, which would nearly double the wages for some workers.

Nursing homes say they support increased pay for workers but called the demands unreasonable given that their revenue is tied to Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates set by the state Legislature.

Following the strike announcement, Saint Therese CEO Craig Abbott issued a statement detailing the improvements the organization has made to its benefits and wages, including $3 million to increase wages at its New Hope nursing home. Nursing assistants there make $24.26 an hour on average, according to Abbott.

“Unfortunately, and in spite of the countless hours devoted to enhancing our employee experience and the significant financial investments that Saint Therese has made, a strike action may occur,” Abbott said. “We have developed detailed plans to ensure the care of our residents is not affected by a strike.”

Last year, the Minnesota Legislature directed $300 million in grants to nursing homes to shore up their finances and increase worker retention. The Legislature also created a nation-leading labor standards board, which will have the power to set pay for nursing home workers across the state.

But nursing home leaders complain the one-time infusion of cash doesn’t support sizable, on-going wage increases.

Union leaders say they believe nursing homes can afford the raises because reimbursement rates have increased faster than wages in recent years.