Minneapolis park workers extend strike as board wants current offer brought to vote

MINNEAPOLIS — Hundreds of Minneapolis parks workers will be staying off the job longer than originally planned.

Their weeklong strike was supposed to end Thursday, but LiUNA Local 363 says there's no end in sight because the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board won't come back to the bargaining table.

The park board says it will not return to the bargaining table until the union allows members to vote on its latest offer.

"A very fair offer has been proposed and 363 leadership refuses to bring it to their members for vote," said Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and Superintendent Al Bangoura. "Why won't they bring it for a vote instead of unilaterally holding their members to a strike?"

The park board said it presented its last, best and final offer, which includes a 10.25% wage increase over three years, plus two market adjustments for 13 positions.

On Monday, the board held a special meeting where a commissioner asked Bangoura what comes next.

"We need to come back to the table and we are willing to do that," Bangoura said. "I would continue to work with not only our team, but the union, to get back to the table and that's what we want to do."

That was in spite of an assistant superintendent saying minutes before that returning to the table would be "negotiating against ourselves."

The workers are tasked with maintaining the city's parks, which are consistently ranked among the top in the nation . The union represents a little more than a third of the city's full-time and seasonal staff labor staff.

While the quality of the city's parks hasn't completely deteriorated in a week, things like Wednesday's severe storm don't help.

"Parks and your neighborhood, the boulevard is the park board's trees, so anything that falls from the boulevard, we come out, we get it," said parks employee Lanel Lane. "All the debris that you normally do have that fall in your yard and whatever, you put it on the curb and we normally come and get it. So with that storm happening, I was in the car like, 'Oh my God, this is going to be bad for them,' and it's something that we do that they're taking advantage of."

Earlier this week, the union filed an unfair labor practice complaint against Bangoura for what they call illegal and anti-worker behavior, including threatening their job security.

Afterward, the board changed course, saying striking employees would be welcomed back.

Park workers plan to picket on Thursday at Lyndale Farmstead Park from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Friday at Pimento on the Lake from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday at Minnehaha Falls from noon to 4 p.m.; and Sunday at the Lake Harriet Bandshell from noon to 4 p.m.