Strike in Minnesota draws attention of experts
Patricia Lopez Baden / Star Tribune 6oct01

The strike by 23,000 Minnesota state workers is now the second-largest public employee strike nationally in more than a decade.

And the five-day-old walkout is drawing interest from labor experts, mediators and academics across the country.

Aside from a one-day strike by 47,000 Los Angeles County employees last year, the Minnesota walkout is the largest in the public sector since 1989, said Michael Cimini, branch chief of the collective bargaining group for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That year, 27,000 Los Angeles teachers waged an 11-day strike.

"It's been a long, long time since we had a prolonged strike of this size," Cimini said.

The strike's size and scope, taking in hundreds of state occupations and affecting everything from nursing homes and state parks to crime labs and zookeepers, may make it a bellwether, experts say.

"There is a lot riding on this strike that goes beyond Minnesota," said Charles Craver, a labor law professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

"Minnesota has a very good reputation as a progressive state and a labor state," said Craver, a national expert who has written more than a dozen books on labor issues. "If they don't do well in Minnesota, it would bode ill for [public employee] unions in other states. It probably will set a pattern."

By the same token, he said, governors in other states will be watching and "hoping that your governor won't be too generous. Arbitrators in other states will be looking to see what the increases were in Minnesota."

"AFSCME [the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, one of the two unions on strike] will have to look carefully at what they do here, because it may limit what they get elsewhere," Craver said. "The stakes are very high on this one."

Large strikes rare

The strike is unusual in several respects, experts say.

In most states, public employees are prohibited from striking. Disputes are settled through binding arbitration, in which each side must agree to abide by the decision of a neutral party.

About 20 years ago, Craver said, several states began offering a limited right to strike -- primarily because they believed arbitrators were being overly generous to unions. Minnesota's public employees have had collective bargaining rights since 1971.

Of the 10 or so states where workers can strike, the actions typically have been limited to a single county or city or a handful of school districts.

Joseph Daly, an arbitrator for the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services, said he can't recall another public employee strike that encompassed so many occupations in so many locations.

Daly, a professor at Hamline University who has been involved in labor issues across the country since 1974, said that as a result, there are few guidelines for either side.

"What's happening here in Minnesota is so highly unusual," Daly said. "I've never seen anything quite like it. No governor has a whole lot of experience dealing with a widespread public-sector labor strike. There's no pattern for Governor [Jesse] Ventura to follow."

Daly said that Arne Carlson took an active part in labor negotiations when he was governor. "He was in much deeper communications with his people," Daly said. "Ventura seems to follow the Reagan model of leadership -- let your people who are mandated do it. We'll just have to see which works best."

Large-scale strikes in both the public and private sectors have dropped dramatically in number, Craver said, as has union membership. Only 9 percent of private-sector employees are unionized, he said. Among state workers the figure is 38 percent.

Another rarity: Professional and nonprofessional unions seldom link arms, as the two major unions here have. AFSCME represents clerical and blue-collar workers, while the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees handles higher-skilled workers.

"You don't often get those kinds of unions to act in concert," said David Larson, a law professor at Hamline University who tracks labor issues. "Usually, there's no real communion of interests." Additionally, management often finds ways to deal with unions separately, he said.

Craver said the basic problem confronting the unions is a longstanding one: "Everybody wants these services, but no one wants to pay for them." Between workers who think they're falling behind, he said, and an administration that is facing a recession, "this has become one tough labor dispute."

State's last offers 2oct01

Here are provisions of the state's last two-year contract offers to Council 6 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and to the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE).

Offer to MAPE

• One-time wage increase of 4 percent on Jan. 2, 2002 (union sought 4.5 percent each year).
• Shift differential increased from 55 cents per hour to 60 cents per hour.
• $3.8 million for a new retiree health care account.
• Lump sum payments of $500 to employees who have reached top of their pay range on July 1, 2002.

Offer to AFSCME

• Wage increases of 3 percent each year (union sought 5 percent each year; said figure was negotiable.)
• $2.9 million to increase highway workers' salaries and restructure pay grids.
• $660,000 to adjust salary ranges for other workers.
• Lump sum payments of $200 for workers eligible for health insurance to help defray the costs of the new program.
• Increased deferred compensation.
• Maximum vacation accrual increased from 260 hours to 275.

Offers to both unions

• Same-sex domestic partner benefits.
• Paid leave to take parents to health appointments.