Gov. Mark Dayton said Tuesday that GOP hearings around whether he has the authority to order a vote on union representation for home child-care workers were a “political ploy” from a part-time legislature that’s already drawn out the session.

“I’m well aware of the legal parameters that are available, but that doesn’t dictate policy. But I have a general counsel. I have the Attorney General. I don’t need a legislative show to trot this out,” Dayton told MPR.

Republican legislative leaders are planning hearings on the issue this week. Dayton told reporters that he’s still receiving legal advice regarding his authority to issue this sort of executive order, although governors of other states have ordered similar actions in the past.

Republican House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Majority Leader Matt Dean sent Dayton a letter last week questioning if the governor had authority in this area. “Any unionization of these independent businesses runs contrary to easing [Minnesota families' financial burdens]. Increased cost would lead to decreases availability, exactly the opposite of what we both want for Minnesota families.”

Rep. Mary Franson, R-Alexandria, t0ld the Star Tribune that she’s worried the unionization of child-care workers would mean “propaganda,” like craft projects using macaroni noodles to spell out “tax the rich.”

A report by non-partisan House staff last week said the issue of the governor’s authority was cloudy, but that it’s likely that the state’s Bureau of Mediation Services, which typically oversees unionization efforts, doesn’t have jurisdiction over the workers, who are independent contractors.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) say they’ve obtained signed cards supporting the union from close to a majority of the 11,000 home child-care workers since organizing began in 2005.

The unions initially requested that Dayton issue an order recognizing the union, which Dayton denied. He told the Star Tribune that he’d “rather there be an election than have [unionization] imposed on child-care workers and providers.”

Minnesotans for a Fair Economy plans to rally outside the downtown Minneapolis offices of Wells Fargo Wednesday, according to a notice the group released Tuesday. The “Piece of the Pie Rally” — to “dramatize the need for a ‘slice of the pie’ for ordinary citizens” and the unemployed — is scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m.

Officials hope to gather a crowd of “100-plus Minnesotans angry over the lack of good jobs, corporate political influence and continual budget cuts,” said the group, which describes itself as “a coalition of labor, community and faith organizations that are fighting for an economy that works for all of us.”

“Wells Fargo Political Action Committee and executives have funded politicians like U.S. Reps. Paulsen, Kline, and Bachmann who are pushing radical budget cuts that will kill the jobs of teachers, nurses, and others,” the release said. “While bankers enjoy taxpayer bailouts and record profits, Wells Fargo has cut jobs in Minnesota while funding the politicians who aren’t doing anything about our crummy economy.”

The march at South 6th St. and Marquette Ave. also will feature puppets, a march and a pie-eating contest.

The demonstration isn’t the first time Wells Fargo has been in hot water with a labor group. The Service Employees International Union Local 284 has, on multiple occasions, urged Wells Fargo and Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank to not charge interest on loans sought by Minnesota public schools forced to borrow as a result of the state’s nearly-monthlong government shutdown.

Brian Elliott, Executive Director of the SEIU Minnesota State Council, said the group has yet to receive a response from either group on its most recent request.

Well before last week’s request — and before the start of the state government shutdown — Service Employees International Union Local 284 urged Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank to not charge interest on loans sought by Minnesota public schools forced to borrow as a result of the shutdown, a letter dated June 15 shows.

SEIU Local 284 President Carol Nieters sent a letter, cosigned with other groups, to Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, telling officials, “You must know these schools can’t afford to pay your profits.”

“When our nation’s banks were in trouble it was working families who bailed them out,” Nieters wrote. “Now we need you to do the right thing and live up to your place as leaders in our financial community.”

On July 11, Nieters and the SEIU received a response from Wells Fargo Minnesota CEO Jon Campbell, which neither accepted nor denied the proposal. Instead, Campbell recognized Wells Fargo’s involvement in local communities and explained the bank’s political interests.

“With regard to your statement that organizations to which we belong support the Republican Budget, please note that Wells Fargo belongs to a number of trade groups across Minnesota, and we are members in order to further our interests and values as a financial institution,” Campbell said.

SEIU considers Wells Fargo’s letter “a non-response.” U.S. Bank never responded to the request.

Last week, the same SEIU chapter sent a similar letter to the banks, citing evidence that school districts will be forced to borrow. Brian Elliott, the executive director of the SEIU Minnesota State Council, said, as of July 22, neither bank had responded.

A number of Republicans on the education finance committee did not return the Minnesota Independent’s calls seeking comment, but at least one legislator said he thinks the union’s proposal “has merit.” Rep. Tom Anzelc (DFL-Balsam Township) said some banks would look upon the proposal and see it as their civic duties to help schools. Others, he said, will not.

“It comes down to a business decision. It comes down to the best interest of public and the best interest of the community,” said Anzelc, a member of the House Education Finance committee. “Once communities lose public schools, small communities in rural Minnesota tend to die. It’s to everyone’s advantage to have a sound community public school system. The Republican approach, I would argue, is not a philosophy that is in support of a system of public education. I think one could argue that this is yet another step in privatizing education. This yet another Republican approach to throwing in the towel on public schools.”

Might some organization — possibly one that has connections to the state’s public schools — files a lawsuit against the budget legislation?

“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Anzelc said.

Read SEIU’s letter:

Dear Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank:

Minnesota is on the verge of a government shutdown and many of our schools will turn to you for short term financing to help pay their bills.

You must know these schools can’t afford to pay your profits.

That’s why today we’re calling on you to commit that your banks will not charge interest on loans sought by schools during a government shutdown.

When our nation’s banks were in trouble it was working families who bailed them out. Now we need you to do the right thing and live up to your place as leaders in our financial community.

Sincerely,

Carol Nieters, SEIU Local 284

SEIU Local 26
ISAIAH
MN Neighborhoods Organizing for Change
SEIU Healthcare Minnesota
TakeAction Minnesota
Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha
Minnesotans for a Fair Economy

Read the response letter:
WellsFargoResponse20110711

Service Employees International Union Local 284 Executive Director Carol Nieters has called on banks like Wells Fargo and Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank to help Minnesota schools who will be forced to borrow money following this week’s budget deal to end the state government shutdown.

“As details of the state budget bills emerge, the real winners are becoming clear: corporate special interests – especially banks – and multi-millionaire CEOs,” Nieters said in the statement released Wednesday.

The statement sharply criticizes GOP legislators for choosing to “use irresponsible one-time borrowing that put the burden, literally, on our children, in monies borrowed from our schools and junk bonds borrowed against future tobacco settlement revenues” rather than increasing taxes on the state’s multimillionaires.

Nieters said St. Paul Public Schools will now be forced to borrow $30 million, which could end up costing the district at least $450,000 in interest and fees.

So the SEIU has asked Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank to offer to waive interest and fees on “borrowing forced on our schools by these GOP budget gimmicks.”

“To do otherwise would be shameful,” Nieters wrote. “We bailed out the banks – now it’s time they recognize their role in helping the communities they serve.”

SEIU members rallied in the rotunda of the state Capitol Thursday to speak out against the budget deal.

Wells Fargo did not comment on whether it would consider waiving interest and fees on the loans.

“For all Wells Fargo lending, we work directly with our customers and follow all rules and regulations that ensure fair and responsible lending,” Wells Fargo spokeswoman Peggy Gunn said in an email to the Minnesota Independent.

U.S. Bank has not responsed to requests for comment.

The Service Employees International Union’s Healthcare Minnesota and Minnesota State Council came out against the budget deal Gov. Mark Dayton and GOP legislative leaders reached Thursday.

As Dayton and the Legislature work to complete the budget and call a special session Monday to end the shutdown, SEIU released a statement decrying the compromise.

SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and SEIU Minnesota State Council President Julie Schnell said the union does not believe Dayton should have given ”in to the demands of the GOP leadership, who have refused to negotiate in good faith, and who would use the state’s children, middle class and working families as a human shield to protect 7,700 multi-millionaires from having to share any of the burden of the state’s fiscal problems, resulting from the past eight years of shifts and gimmicks under Tim Pawlenty.”

SEIU Local 284 Executive Director Carol Nieters said it’s “irresponsible” for the state to put its budget difficulties on its children.

“In these tough economic times, borrowing from our schools is just a cut by another name,” Nieters said in a statement. “What this means for our children is simple: class sizes will rise, programs will be cut, achievement will suffer, and more districts will look to raise property tax levies just to keep the doors open – taxes borne disproportionately by all of us so that multi-millionaires can avoid paying their fair share.”

The union has more than 30,000 workers around the state.

Another union, AFSCME Minnesota Council 5, said in a press release that the budget is “not a deal until it’s done.”

“Until [the Legislature passes the bills without changes], we continue our work to make sure we help achieve the best deal possible,” a statement on AFSCME’s website said. “Our phone banks continue, our rallies continue, our shutdown actions continue. Until we see the details of the actual budget bills, there is nothing solid to comment on, so we will have no comment.”

According to the Memorandum of Understanding between the state, AFSCME and other state employee unions, laid-off employees will be called back to the same job they held before the shutdown, the site said. Employees will receive a written, oral or electronic recall notice and, once they receive the notice, they must report back to work within three working days of the recall date.

Meanwhile Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Tony Sutton said in a statement that “it is those most disappointed with the governor who will benefit most from his decision to accept Republican terms for a budget framework.”

Sutton added Dayton’s plan to increase taxes on the rich would “hurt most the people he wants to help by killing jobs and opportunities.”

“It’s a good day for Minnesota with the promise of better days ahead,” Sutton said at the end of the statement.

The Minnesota Service Employees International Union today announced plans to “dramatically increase” its donations to the Alliance for a Better Minnesota in order to run advertisements criticizing the state’s GOP-controlled legislature over the budget impasse that led to the government shutdown.

The ads will highlight Republicans’ “choice” to “shut down our government in support of draconian cuts to education and increased property taxes, rather than asking the richest 2 percent of Minnesotans to pay their fair share,” according to an SEIU statement.

The union has also released its own video, which addresses the impact of budget cuts on the state’s educational system.

“I know every time I hear on the news they have to cut something, the government, the school district…it makes me cringe because I know my son will be affected,” Melissa Demers, a South St. Paul mother of a child with special needs, said in the video, which also features Sen. Al Franken and Roseville Rep. Mindy Greiling, among others.

SEIU will promote the video through advertisements and ask viewers to urge their legislators in order “to compromise with Governor Dayton on a balanced approach to our budget.”

SEIU’s increased contribution will support a new set of online, radio and print advertising, aimed at driving people to a new website, ShutdownShame.com, which will share stories about how the shutdown is affecting Minnesotans, an SEIU press release states.

Watch the SEIU video:

Photo details: Flickr/Eric Richardson, DU.com/Kadie

Americans’ anger over AIG’s publicly funded executive bonuses may make this the last “Why are we not rioting?” post. First, one more observer remarks on the stateside calm, blaming low levels of unionization while seeing sparks of resistance in hundreds of homeowners picketing a mortgage financier’s Connecticut home. But there’s union help in spreading the word about anti-AIG-themed economic protests planned for Thursday at sites across the country. They’ll have to draw the advertised 10,000 to the streets without us: The Minneapolis protest is set for “500 Griswold St, Detroit, MI,” time TBA.

As usual, California is ahead of the curve, with a lightly attended anti-AIG demonstration yesterday, documented here. Another protest at Wall Street will take place April 3-4.

None of it will likely reach the heights Fox’s Sean Hannity hoped for late last month with an online poll asking which sort of revolution (right wing, natch) viewers prefer:

Atmosphere at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

Allison Moorer and Steve Earle at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

Billy Bragg at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

Onstage performers invoked the names of Woody Guthrie, the Clash, and James Brown, among others, with Morello embodying the lineup’s unusual nexus of hip-hop and folk leftism as he took the stage with an acoustic guitar scrawled with the words “Whatever it takes” (a nod to Guthrie, who wrote “This machine kills fascists” on his). Covering Rage and bringing members of Iraq Veterans Against the War to the stage behind him, he somehow persuaded a sea of tattooed under-30-year-olds to sing and clap along to Guthrie’s clunky national anthem “This Land Is Your Land.” Bragg (who could later be seen head-bobbing to Atmosphere) had already told the crowd that the event reminded him of London’s Rock Against Racism show in 1978, where he first saw the Clash.

“Labor doesn’t belong to any country, any party,” he said.

Tom Morello at Take Back Labor Day with Iraq Veterans against the War (photo: Tony Nelson)

The Pharcyde at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

Crowd at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

Showtime and Myth, two b-boys on the grass near the stage, had never heard of Bragg or Steve Earle–they were here for Mos Def–but popped and locked to Earle’s DJ-accompanied rendition of the theme from HBO’s The Wire. (On that show, Earle plays the most iconic AA sponsor this side of Morgan Freeman in Clean and Sober.) Allison Moorer sang Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.” And Mos Def (with his acting mentor Giancarlo Esposito in the wings) covered Brigadier Jerry’s “Jamaica Jamaica.” Atmosphere’s Slug dedicated “Yesterday,” a song for his late father, to George Carlin. Like the guitar says, whatever it takes.

Postscript: Not so peaceful. Most of us there didn’t know that arrests were taking place near the Wabasha Bridge down by the river within earshot of Atmosphere’s set–it was all over by the time I biked over. The irony is that the song, “Always Coming Back Home to You,” is partly about how relatively peaceful this city is. Watch the footage from theuptake above.

Here are some more photos from the show by Tony Nelson:

Steve Earle at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

Atmosphere at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)

The Pharcyde at Take Back Labor Day (photo: Tony Nelson)