Walker Methodist workers finally vote on first contract

AFSCME Local 3532, which represents the Walker workers, includes two groups of workers who voted on two different contracts, explained Tom Burke, field  representative for AFSCME Council 5.

The larger unit, comprised of about 340 workers, voted to approve their contract by a margin of two to one, he announced Monday. Burke said the vote by the smaller LPN unit, comprised of 50 workers, is "still in progress."

Members of the Local 3532 negotiating team, along with AFSCME Council 5 staff, were on hand to answer questions about the contract while voting took place in a cafeteria at Walker on Friday. As a reporter visited the voting site, one woman asked questions of a Council 5 staff member while another woman sat quietly at a table nearby studying the contract.

The negotiating committee recommended a "yes" vote on the contract, which extends through September 30, 2009.

"We\’ve got to make changes around here," said Rosalyn Byers, L.P.N., a six-year Walker employee and a member of the negotiating committee. She said "job security" was the main achievement of the contract.

"We\’ve got to make changes around here," said Rosalyn Byers, LPN, a member of the AFSCME Local 3532 negotiating committee. Labor Review photo

"Most of the contract is job security," agreed Nickson Nyankabaria, also a negotiating team member. "Before, you could be fired for no reason." With the contract, he said, "you\’re guaranteed a grievance process."

Nyankabaria is one of the Walker employees who first began the organizing effort five years ago. "It\’s been a long struggle," he said.

Workers first voted to organize with AFSCME in May 2003 but employer protests to the National Labor Relations Board delayed union recognition until April 2007. Negotiations on a first contract began in May 2007.

The final negotiating session ran until 3 a.m. March 27, Nyankabaria said, when a tentative agreement finally was reached.

Nyankabaria was beaming as workers came in to cast their vote on the contract. "I\’m so excited," he said. "We wanted to have a voice."

Nearly 400 workers were eligible to vote on the contract, Burke said.

Steve Share edits the Labor Review, the official publication of the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council. Visit the CLUC website, www.minneapolisunions.org