Dakota County unions hold informational picket

Posted 9/28/22

Tuesday Morning, Sept. 20, more than 150 American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 306 assembled on the sidewalks on the west end of the Dakota County Service Center in …

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Dakota County unions hold informational picket

Posted

Tuesday Morning, Sept. 20, more than 150 American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 306 assembled on the sidewalks on the west end of the Dakota County Service Center in Hastings. These men and women were there to bring attention to the contract negotiations with Dakota County for three unions. Local 306, 450 and 693.

The primary concern is a lack of negotiation time according to Local 306 President Rebekah Rediske.

“We have offered our full proposal. We finished that process on August 15 and when we continue to ask for dates, we were given October 28. We have had no counter proposals, no discussion about our proposals. We just gave them our proposals and they were done. So, they're not willing to engage in that process with us right now,” she said.

As of that morning, the Local 306 had not heard any formal proposals from the county. Dakota County is a bit of an anomaly amongst the three biggest counties in the metro area. Dakota does not have their HR team negotiate the contracts with the local unions. That is handled by an outside labor attorney, according to the people on the picket line. They say that process slows down negotiations.

What is an informational picket and what are the rules? An informational picket is simple: It is there to bring attention to a situation that workers do not agree with. The picketers are there to support each other and communicate with the community. They are not allowed to block access to the work areas, and the pickets are held outside of work hours so that no time is lost. Employees that wish to go to work during the time of the picket are allowed to with no negatives attached.

“We are here today to bring some information to the Board of Commissioners, to let them know that the employer has been engaging in stalling tactics since this past spring,” explained Rediske. “We have been trying to enter into bargaining with them since March/April of this year, and they've struggled to give us dates and when they give us dates, it's two hours here, an hour there, two hours there. We really don't have enough time to sit at the table and bargain. Our contract for 306 specifically dictates that we start bargaining by August 1. They did honor that, for two hours. It's been a challenge ever since. We have asked for dates, they don't give us any. They are silent for two months, and then they hear we're here today and all of a sudden, we start getting dates. So, it's just challenging. It's a challenging bargaining year.”

With it being a picket and not a strike, it was only going for about an hour and then everyone went their separate ways to start their workday.

“We are not here to be confrontational. We are here to be a partnership with them. That's our goal. We want to be at the table together with them. We don't want to be butting heads. We don't want to be adversarial,” added Rediske.

“The biggest thing is we are here to bring awareness to the issues. We want fair wages, fair benefits. We want to make sure our workers stay safe. Our locals cover some of the most essential services for Dakota County. 306 is social services and our employment and economic assistance 450 is community corrections or probation officers and libraries. They've been on the front line of this for years, and they need to be safe as well. So that is the bottom line of what we are asking. Initially, we'd like to partner with them on safety issues, be able to have regular communication about what we are hearing and what we are seeing from our membership and come to the table together and find solutions. That's what we want,” said Rediske.

Since the County Board of Commissioners is removed from the process, the picket took place the morning of the board meeting which means the commissioners needed to drive past them. Joe Atkins, Commissioner of District 4 which currently includes Coates, Rosemount, Inver Grove Heights and the southeast portion of Eagan, walked through the picket line to talk to people, to find out what was on their minds.

Commissioner Mike Slavik released the following statement: “Dakota County values our employees and the great work they do on behalf of our 440,000 residents. We have confidence in the bargaining team representing the county — that they are negotiating in good faith to fairly balance the needs of our employees and the means of county taxpayers. The county has been diligent in their efforts to schedule negotiations and we fully expect to reach fair agreements with all 11 of our bargaining units.”


Picketers from the Local 306 walked the sidewalk from the intersection of North Frontage Road across from Walmart to Highway 55 then up to the Administration building to bring attention to their dissatisfaction with the county’s lack of contract negotiations. Photo by Bruce Karnick