Minneapolis park workers extend strike indefinitely

Thursday could have marked the end of a week-long strike by unionized Minneapolis park workers — but instead, it marked another chapter of uncertainty.

Union leaders from LIUNA Local 363 announced Wednesday that the strike would not end as initially planned, and that workers are prepared to continue striking until the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board agrees to go back to contract negotiations.

“We asked repeatedly, every day, for them to come back to the table. But they refuse to meet with us,” said AJ Lange, the union’s business manager. “And we will fight until we get a fair contract and the respect that we deserve.”

Lange announced the continued strike as park board members arrived for a regularly scheduled meeting. After rallying, workers headed inside, packing a meeting room where Minneapolis Parks Superintendent Al Bangoura gave no indication that the news would change anything.

“A very fair offer has been proposed, and 363 leadership refuses to bring it to their members to vote. Why won’t they bring this … instead of unilaterally holding their members to a strike?” Bangoura said, maintaining he would only resume negotiations if the union voted on the current offer — what the park board termed as its “last, best and final” offer.

Workers yelled back, countering that the strike is their response as they seek better pay and improved safety measures. Union members have said the board’s final offer, which has been public for the past week, is worse than the one that pushed 94 percent to authorize a strike.

Some workers at Wednesday’s meeting got approved time at the mic when the floor opened for brief comments, but rules on comment length went out the window as tension built. At one point, parkkeeper Davion Evans spoke off the cuff for more than eight minutes.

“I love my family. I love this job, but you’re making it hard. My wife has to work two jobs. I should be working two jobs, but I got to come here,” Evans said. “How can we have a family? How can we unite? …

Evans continued: “The middle class is under attack. There is no more middle class. It’s slipping little by little by little, and you can help us hold on to what we got.”

The board listened as Evans continued to speak, but he was eventually cut off. Union leaders pushed for allowing more workers to speak, but park board President Meg Forney called a recess and left the room, followed by the superintendent and other commissioners. The workers stayed.

During the recess, commissioner Billy Menz and a couple of his colleagues stayed in the room to discuss bringing a motion forward, calling on Bangoura to return to the negotiating table and accept the strike as the union’s “no vote” to the park board’s “last, best and final” offer.

That idea didn’t get a discussion or vote after the meeting resumed — something Menz expressed frustration about afterward. He added it was uncertain if that motion would have passed, but he said he felt commissioners need to step in.

“What we have happening on the board is a disagreement of our role in this process. I believe that when negotiations reach a critical point and a stalemate is apparent that it is the board’s role to facilitate a resolution,” Menz said. “It is unfortunate that we could not have that discussion.”

Minneapolis City Council members Jason Chavez and Robin Wonsley were also at the meeting and said they showed up in solidarity with the workers. Wonsley said they are drafting a resolution formally standing behind them.

"You will fund what you care about and what you prioritize — and you should be prioritizing the workers who help the city function and thrive day to day,” Wonsley said.

Some on the park board have said they have prioritized worker compensation — and that the union’s proposed wage increase would push the tax levy increase higher than what they had directed negotiating staff to accept. They’ve said that what the union wants would cost at least $2 million more and raise property taxes. Wonsley fired back.

"And if there is concern around funding, impact on levies, in order to meet those needs, then … meet with the City Council who ultimately approves the park board's budget as well as the overall city budget,” Wonsley said.

“There are ways to move money around,” Chavez said. “The money should be there as long as they’re willing to pay the money.”

Some park board commissioners have proposed raising the tax levy request to include enough money to pay the union what they are asking for, but nothing was formally introduced at Wednesday night’s meeting.

Over the course of the meeting, there was buzz that something might happen, that the night might lead to some kind of action.

But that hope tapered off. The meeting adjourned, the impasse continued, and workers chanted on their way out, a sound that will continue to be heard as the strike continues.

The union has scheduled more picketing at parks around the city each day through Sunday.

• 2 teens remain hospitalized after Burnsville shooting that injured 5
• Park Tavern reopens after deadly crash, as driver makes first court appearance
• 3 teens wounded by gunfire along Snelling Avenue in St. Paul