Workers at Twin City Tanning in South St. Paul, Minn., have been on unfair labor practice strike for a week and are demanding better wages. Photo by Amie Stager.
Carlos Vaños works at Twin City Tanning in South St. Paul where he prepares chemicals for cleaning animal hides and runs 40,000 gallon mixing drums. “The wages that we are getting paid do not value our hard work,” he says in Spanish through an interpreter. “The chemicals are very dangerous.”
Workers at Twin City Tanning have been on a historic unfair labor practice (ULP) strike since Thursday, October 9, after their union contract expired the night before. According to the union, this is the first time these workers have gone on strike at this facility, located next to the Mississippi River. The union, Chicago Midwest Regional Joint Board (CMRJB), Workers United Local 150, is affiliated with SEIU and represents 67 employees at the facility, where a largely immigrant workforce processes animal hides into leather and fat products. These are then bought by companies, such as Red Wing Shoes, for boots, clothes, upholstery, and foods.
The union is demanding wage increases that keep up with inflation and is charging the employer with bad-faith bargaining. After the first mediation session on Wednesday, October 15, the union says the employer is not budging. According to union representative Esau Chavez, the employer delayed bargaining meetings multiple times. Chavez says the employer first offered a 25 cent increase in the first year of the contract and 10 cents in the second and third years. Their next offer was $1 in the first year and 70 cents in the second and third years. The union is now asking for an increase of at least $1.50 the first year, then 4% or 50 cents in the second and third year. They are also asking for two more personal days for a total of four, and a weekly attendance bonus of $40.
Tanning workers face hazardous conditions and exposure to harsh chemicals such as hydrogen sulfide, sulfuric acid, and hydrochloric acid. They operate heavy machinery to clean hides, and they use machines and their own hands to split them into pieces. The workers at Twin City Tanning work eight to 12 hours a day, and often on weekends, wearing heavy rubber uniforms and aprons.
“The company has underestimated the solidarity of workers,” says Mark Aufderhar, who has been a maintenance worker for eight years at Twin City Tanning and is a steward with the union who has serious concerns about the exposure to chemicals.
“The masks they give us are not protective enough,” says Kyaw Oo, who has been working at Twin City Tanning for seven months operating a mixer that cleans hides. He says he had to buy his own respirator mask, and many workers say they have to buy their own personal protective equipment.
A spokesperson from Twin City Tanning declined to comment, saying “we’re not at liberty to say anything.”
Twin City Tanning partners with Twin City Hide, S.B. Foot Tanning Company, and Red Wing Shoes to supply leather for footwear made for workers. Employees who work for Twin City Hide, which does similar work and shares facility space with Twin City Tanning, are represented by UFCW Local 1189 and are not on strike. Miguel Gutierrez, a union representative with UFCW Local 1189, says Twin City Hide workers were asked by management to fill in for the striking workers at Twin City Tanning, but with the help of the union were able to refuse crossing the picket line.
“Those of us who work here are often immigrants,” said Gutierrez in Spanish through an interpreter at a rally on Tuesday in support of the workers. “This is the hard work we do that will feed our families.”
The rally on Tuesday showed how workers have built solidarity across language, translating between Spanish and English and English and Karen. Several union leaders and elected officials also gave remarks in support of the strike. “South St. Paul is a workers town, workers have built this community,” said Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation president Kera Peterson. “Folks connected to the stockyards, refineries, and tanneries have brought their families to build a life here.”
Amie Stager
Community members rally and march alongside workers on strike at Twin City Tanning Company.Minnesota State House Representative Rick Hansen, who represents South St. Paul, said he came to the rally straight from his farm and pointed out the important labor that Twin City Tanning workers perform in the agricultural system. “Some may call it a trade, some may call it a craft, some may call it an art, but whatever it is called, there is dignity in your labor,” he said.
South St. Paul Public School District board member Paul Cumings said he saw a video of the tanning process that showed bugs and worms being cleaned off of the flesh. “It is no wonder replacement workers walk in and walk out right away,” he said. “If we’re being asked to choose between millionaires and people trying to put food on the table for their families, we will always choose the people trying to feed their families.”
Vaños, who is also a union steward and has been on the bargaining committee, says this is his first strike. “I am proud to fight for justice.”
UPDATE: On Friday, October 17, Twin City Tanning workers represented by CMRJB Workers United Local 150 reached a tentative agreement with their employer that they ratified over the weekend.
Chavez says workers won wages of over $24.50 per hour on average with 70 cent raises in the second and third years as well as a ratification bonus.
“We look forward to continue pushing the labor movement forward and fighting for better working conditions for all workers.”