Rally in St. Paul, Minnesota, kicks off strike by state workers demanding a pay raise. Governor Jesse Ventura mobilized 1,000 National Guardsmen against the walkout.

Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura responded by mobilizing 1,000 members of the National Guard, hiring replacement workers, and organizing supervisors and some workers who crossed the picket line to carry out struck work. The National Guardsmen are replacing striking state workers at state-run veterans hospitals, nursing care facilities, and mental hospitals. The National Guardsmen received a few days of training in caring for patients in these hospitals prior to the strike. The big-business press has joined in the attack on the strike, saying the walkout is "at the wrong time," because of the declining economy and the need to back the U.S. war drive.

The strikers, however, are firm in their sentiment that now is the time to strike, organizing picketing of state facilities.

The strikers are members of two unions, District Council 6 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE). They represent 28,000 workers, over half of all the employees of the state of Minnesota. The state workers perform a very wide variety of jobs and the strike had an immediate impact. Applications for drivers licenses and birth certificates were delayed. Spokespeople for the state government have admitted that most state services have slowed down.  
 
A defining moment
Many of the strikers state that they have sacrificed in the past. "There is still a surplus in the state treasury," said Wayne Matson, a snow plow operator for many years. "In the past we have taken a wage freeze when it was requested by a previous governor. We were promised increases later on. Well, that later on never came. In my department we are doing the same work with 18 people as we did with 24 before," he said. "Our job is more complicated and more dangerous. This is a defining moment. This is the time when we should fight for ourselves. We want at least not to fall behind inflation."

"The timing of the strike was imposed on us by the state of Minnesota," stated striker Glen Kruize, a road planner with 34 years of service. "Ventura is the one who has power over the whole thing. We've had raises below the rate of inflation recently, and the state has been running surpluses. 'Now is not the time'--I've heard it from a few people. The terrible tragedy doesn't take away from what I haven't been getting. Both unions going out together is good for us."

The previous union contracts expired on July 1 of this year. Union members say that the state of Minnesota refused to begin serious negotiations until after that date. On Sunday, September 30, negotiations broke down when the state refused to budge from its previous bargaining positions.

The negotiators offered to the AFSCME workers a raise of 3 percent for each of the first two years of the proposed contract. They offered to the MAPE workers a 4 percent raise the first year and a lump sum of $500 to those who have reached the top of their pay scale in their job category for the second year of the proposed contract. Striking workers in both unions cite the yearly rate of inflation to be above 4 percent.

Strikers also point out that health care is a bigger issue for them than the wage increase. Negotiators for the state are demanding workers accept a big jump in medical co-payments. For example, a leaflet put out by AFSCME explains that the state wants their members to pay increases of $20 per visit to a hospital emergency room, up to $400 for each inpatient admission, up to $150 outpatient admission per surgery, and a $400 maximum drug out-of-pocket limit for their families.

One striker, Melinda Begin, an accountant for the state, said that she could lose as much as $6,800 in medical expenses under the proposed new contract. "It is degrading what the state is offering," she said.

The timing of the strike has been put into question by the capitalist media and Governor Ventura. The strike, originally set to start on September 17, was postponed for two weeks after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. "This strike comes at a most unfortunate time," Ventura said in a written statement on the eve of the strike. "Our citizens are still hurting from the devastating attack on September 11, we are coping with the possibility of a long and difficult war, and we are facing the prospect of an economy that is on the brink of recession."

The same sentiments were echoed in an October 2 editorial of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, entitled, "Timing of 28,000 workers' walkout unfortunate for all." The editorial stated, "The timing of the Minnesota state employees' strike could not be less fortunate--for the citizens of Minnesota, state government or the employees themselves... The strike comes as the state is feeling the effects of a prolonged economic slowdown, a problem made worse by the aftershock of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The inevitable result is that more Minnesotans will be appearing at state offices seeking unemployment compensation, job training and placement services, public assistance, health care benefits and other help."  
 
Workers defend strike's timing
Workers this reporter talked to on the picket line said that the timing of their strike was not being called into question by friends and other people they know. "It is coming from Ventura and from the media," said one. This reporter heard a news report from Minnesota Public Radio that stated, "Some people are questioning the timing of the strike." However, the news report never specified who these people were.

Speaking at the strike rally here, Peter Benner, the executive director of AFSCME, which represents 19,000 state workers, struck a chord when he stated, "Now is the time to strike. We postponed it for two weeks, out of respect. However, this strike has been posed for many months. The negotiators for the state have been given instructions by the governor to tell us, 'We've done the best we can.' They are asking us to sacrifice, like we have been for some years in the past. However, Jesse is not going to the landlords or the grocery stores and saying, 'Hold your price increases to 3 percent.' We don't have to apologize. Our cause is just." This brought a huge applause.

One striker at the rally said that many of the AFSCME workers make little money, working as secretaries, janitors, and health care workers. "Nobody has told me that this was not the right time to strike. Except my brother told me that I was unpatriotic. I told him it was my right."

More confirmation of how Governor Ventura is using Washington's war drive to try to force workers to give up their fight can be seen in a story told to the Minneapolis Star Tribune by MAPE striker Jim Andersen. Andersen was picketing outside the governor's mansion when he saw Ventura arrive and get out of his vehicle. Andersen yelled, "Remember where you come from, remember what you learned about fairness growing up in south Minneapolis [as the son of a city government worker]." Andersen and another striker on the sidewalk said Ventura yelled back, "We're at war."

Ventura was elected Governor of Minnesota as the candidate of the Reform Party. His political stance is a combination of demagogic appeals "to the little man" against big business and big government and the threat to use strong-arm methods to get things working again. One of his demagogic appeals in the current strike is to claim that he has a commitment to the working people in Minnesota to contain the costs of the state government.

On September 23 the state of Minnesota organized a "memorial service" for those killed in the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. The event, in reality a pro-war rally, was attended by 35,000 on the steps of the capitol building. Ventura, dressed in his Navy SEAL shirt, gave a rousing speech in support of the war drive. He concluded by shouting the SEAL greeting, "Hooyah."

Tom Fiske is a meat packer in St. Paul and the Socialist Workers Party candidate for Mayor of St. Paul. Karen Ray also contributed to this article.
 
 
Related article:
Standing up for our class interests  
 
 
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