Minneapolis park workers picket outside the park board headquarters on July 24, 2024. Photo by Max Nesterak/Minnesota Reformer.
The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board and the union representing some 300 arborists, park keepers and other workers reached a tentative agreement Friday on a new labor contract that ends a three-week-long strike, the first in the park system’s 141-year history.
“We’re happy to get back to work … It’s been tiring, but I know it’s been worth it for the long haul,” said Mitchell Clendenen, a service area crew leader and union steward with LIUNA Local 363, during a news conference Friday afternoon.
The deal, which comes after more than seven months of negotiations, includes wage increases of about 10.25% over the next three years plus a $1.75 per hour increase for most workers spread over the final two years of the contract for a cost-of-living adjustment.
In a statement, the park board said it was optimistic that LIUNA Local 363 members would accept the deal when they vote on it next week.
The protracted negotiations and strike embittered workers with park leadership, with the union launching a petition of “no confidence” in the system’s management.
Workers’ frustrations with the standstill climaxed on Wednesday evening when they shut down the park board’s meeting with chants and a picket line after the elected commissioners voted against intervening in negotiations between the park system’s administrative staff and union leaders.
Union leaders also faced pressure to cut a deal, as the strike strained workers’ finances and put them at risk of losing health insurance if they went an entire month without working. The union also struggled to hold the strike together, with a half or more of workers crossing the picket line despite workers voting with 94% support to authorize the strike.
The two sides agreed to the wage increases days ago but remained hung up over new contract language proposals by park leaders that the union called anti-worker “poison pills.”
The park system’s proposals included making seniority pay increases contingent upon satisfactory performance reviews and limiting the number of workers who could serve as union stewards, helping their colleagues file grievances and respond to disciplinary action.
Neither proposal made it into the tentative agreement although the new contract does have updated language about stewards’ duties.
Retaining automatic step increases means new workers will see even larger raises as they move up the seniority ladder. For example, a new park keeper making about $20.67 per hour will see their pay increase to $25.89 per hour.
Most full-time park workers have reached the top of the seniority scale, according to LIUNA Local 363 Business Agent AJ Lange, which means they will only get the standard pay increases of 2.75% in the first year, 4.5% in the second and 3% in the third along with the $1.75 per hour cost of living adjustment.
Park leaders said the offer would cost $5.1 million, paid for through an increase in the tax levy that would raise property taxes by about 1.75%.
Union leaders, noting the superintendent received a 10% raise this year, say the park system can afford the raises and suggested park leaders could tap into their $25 million in reserves.
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