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Storm damage lingers amid Minneapolis park worker strike
Thousands of people across the metro still don't have power after storms swept through the area over the weekend. Many of the outages are caused by downed trees, a problem usually taken care of by park and rec workers, who remain on strike in Minneapolis.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Amid a stalemate in negotiations for park employees who remain on strike for better wages, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) has filed unfair labor practices against the union representing them, saying in part that they have been threatening those who remain at work.
MPRB says that LIUNA Local 363 violated state law that prohibits employee organizations, their representatives and employees from, "picketing which unreasonably interferes with the ingress and egress to facilities of the public employer" during a series of protests throughout the week.
On July 17, MPRB says Local 363 picketers blocked delivery trucks that were attempting to make deliveries at Sea Salt restaurant, while attempting to convince delivery drivers to leave without making their deliveries to the restaurant. MPRB owns and maintains Minnehaha Regional Park and the building that vendor Sea Salt restaurant leases.
During the confrontation, picketers were successfully able to get one driver to leave without delivering supplies, while another was "intimidated" by them, requiring Sea Salt staff – escorted by Minneapolis Park police – to unload a delivery a block away to avoid further interaction.
Later that day, MPRB alleges that picketers "harassed and blocked" essential truck deliveries at the Bread and Pickle restaurant at Lake Harriet - another park and building owned by MPRB.
The next day, MPRB says picketers blocked employees’ personal vehicles as they were arriving for work at its Southside Operations Center around 5:30 a.m. Picketers then also blocked employees in MPRB trucks from leaving the lot.
Around 6:20 a.m., an on-duty MPRB employee tried to leave the lot, and potentially struck a union representative who was sitting blocking the lot’s exit. A picketer then approached the driver’s door, and opened it "threateningly," MPRB says. Equipment remained at the operations center until police arrived around 7 a.m.
Resulting from the confrontations, MPRB says it has requested an order requiring Local 363 to "cease and desist from unfair labor practices."
MPRB says it also intends to petition a district court for "appropriate temporary relief or a restraining order."
First filing an intent to strike in late-June, negotiations between union members and MPRB leaders have seemingly stalled.
MPRB employs 340 workers total – 220 full-time, and 120 seasonal. Of that, roughly 60% of full-time workers remain on strike.
Park Superintendent Al Bangoura has previously said that MPRB has made its "final offer" to workers, which includes a 10.25% increase across three years.
Earlier in the week, the Minneapolis City Council approved a resolution of support for park workers.