American Federation of State, County and Municipal

Employees, AFL-CIO

One strOng, united vOice

fOr MinnesOta wOrkersvolume 7, no. 2

March-april 2012

Keeping an Eye on the

Legislature

Members of Local 915 at Oak Park Heights Correctional Facility monitor a pension committee hearing at the Capitol.

Challenging the Amendments of the 1%

Vanice Johnson, of Public Safety Local 3142 at the Plymouth drivers’ exam station, takes a lawn sign to start educating her neighbors.

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Members Help Us Make the Most of Winter

Darin Franckowiak, of Local 66, grooms the hill at Chester Bowl in Duluth.

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Mike Buesing, presidentEliot Seide, executive Director

information and story ideas should be submitted to: Michael Kuchta, editor

published by aFScme minnesota, aFl-ciO300 hardman ave. South, Suite 2South Saint paul, mn 55075-2469

six times yearly:January/February, march/april, may/June,

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Subscription price $1 per copy; $5 per yearpOStmaSter: Send address changes to:

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Design: triangle park creativeprinting: cooperative print Solutions

mailing: accurate mailing

O F F i C E r S President mike Buesing, local 221 Vice President Judy Wahlberg, local 66 Treasurer clifford poehler, local 2938 Secretary mary Falk, local 4001

E x E C u T i V E B OA r DJeff Birttnen, local 517, county Sector

paul Bissen, local 868, District 3 (South)carmen Brown, local 977, District 6 (West metro)

Kevin clark, local 4001, State Sector Jean Diederich, local 34, District 6 (West metro)Jody ebert, local 3937, District 6 (West metro)

gerald Firkus, local 3887, District 1 (northeast) Jenny Foster, local 3141, State Sector

Dennis Frazier, local 66, county SectorDuane gatzke, local 2829, State Sector

Jim gaylord, local 66, District 1 (northeast) pat guernsey, local 552, District 5 (east metro)Jen guertin, local 2508, District 5 (east metro)

Sebrina hegg, local 761, State Sector John hillyard, local 600, State SectorJoann holton, local 607, State Sector

roger Janzig, local 668, private/Special SectorKimberly Johnson, local 753, District 4 (central)

John Knobbe, local 404, District 3 (South)travis lenander, local 722, private/Special Sectormike lindholt, local 221, District 6 (West metro)

robin madsen, local 1842, city SectorJohn magnuson, local 1574, District 4 (central)

christine main, local 517, District 5 (east metro)molly malecki, local 2822, county Sector

mike nelson, local 2829, District 6 (West metro)nickson nyankabaria, local 3532, District 6 (West metro )

Kevin Olson, local 701, District 2 (West)melinda pearson, local 4001, District 5 (east metro)

mike rumppe, local 9, District 5 (east metro)monica Shockency, local 56, K-12 SectorWillie Snyder, local 707, county Sector

Dean Steiner, local 735, State SectorDeb Strohm, local 66, city Sector

Sue Urness, local 66, District 1 northeastWes Volkenant, local 34, county Sectorphyllis Walker, local 3800, U of m Sectortamera Weller, local 607, State Sector

Bryce Wickstrom, local 221, District 5 (east metro)

S ett ing the PacE

Legislating Under the Influence

“Corporations want less government for the same reason robbers

want fewer police.”

in a dozen words, that twitter message explains the continuing assault on public-sector unions. it is common knowledge that 30 minnesota

legislators are under the influence of the american legislative exchange council (alec), a corporate-bankrolled organization that feeds model legislation to right-wing lawmakers around the country. alec orchestrated the shameful campaign to curb the collective bargaining rights of public workers in Wisconsin and Ohio last year. this year, they’re gunning for us in minnesota.

Are you feeling overcompensated?

at our state capitol, tea party fanatics are preaching the gospel according to alec. alec’s fingerprints are all over bills that undermine collective bargaining and forbid public workers from negotiating pay or benefit increases. alec’s philosophy is to demonize,

starve or privatize us. their legislation would reduce the average aFScme member to food stamps and strip us of our retirement security.

rep. Keith Downey (r-edina) and rep. Steve Drazkowski (r-mazeppa)

are sponsoring bills that would go far beyond what Scott Walker did in Wisconsin. Downey told MinnPost: “We need to ask the question: are public employees overcompensated as compared to people in the private sector? ... We want to right-size employee compensation.”

maybe those code words explain why Downey supports Drazkowski’s “right to work (for less)” amendment. “We want to empower and free workers,” Downey says. in reality, their proposed amendment would give employers the right to hurt workers. the only winners would be corporations that will be able to pay their employees less, and reduce health coverage and workplace protections.

Destroying labor unions is part of the dream agenda of alec’s toxic donors, which include

the Koch brothers, Wal-mart, reynolds tobacco, pfizer pharmaceuticals, exxonmobil, Bp, and the corrections corporation of america. in their world, insurance companies repeal health-care reform, polluters draft environmental laws, and private corporations profit from human incarceration.

minnesotans don’t want their laws written by lobbyists from big corporations. that’s why a new investigative report from minnesota common cause is so alarming. it demonstrates how state legislators obediently try to turn alec’s corporate wish lists into law. the report spells out how pervasive alec’s influence is on 60 bills in St. paul that protect the rich, attack workers, promote privatization, harm consumers, and weaken citizens’ rights.

the most shocking revelation in the report is that alec’s corporate donors spent $40.3 million lobbying in minnesota between 2005 and 2010.

An environment where we all thrive

But buying influence isn’t enough for alec; they’re buying elections, too. in 2010, alec’s member corporations bankrolled the republican legislative sweep through minnesota with more than $150,000 in direct campaign contributions. now they’re trying to pass a constitutional amendment to protect tax breaks for corporate executives. that amendment would require a supermajority of votes in the legislature to eliminate special tax breaks or to pass tax increases when needed.

if legislators and corporations truly want government to work better, they should stop beating up on public workers. public workers create an environment in which the private sector can thrive. robust unions have helped minnesota become a high-wage, high-skill state where the profits of labor are fairly shared. those strong economic roots are why we enjoy a higher standard of living and stronger economic growth than most states. it’s why we’re healthier, better educated, and poised for a promising future.

eliot Seideexecutive Director

aFScme council 5 is a union of 43,000 workers who provide the vital services that make minnesota

happen. We advocate for excellence in public services, dignity in the workplace, and prosperity and

opportunity for all working families.

Executive Board Members 2010-2012

(elected September 2010)

read the common cause report, “legislating Under the influence,” at www. alecmatch.org

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Life savers!two mnDOt snowplow drivers in local 106 saved the life of a motorist trapped in his burning pickup truck near albert lea Feb. 13. a week earlier, firefighters in amalgamated local 2829 helped resuscitate a woman having a heart attack at the Duluth airport.

aFScme members in the 148th air national guard Fire Department treated the heart attack victim after a nurse restored her heartbeat using an external defibrillator. the firefighters stabilized and assisted the victim until she could be taken to the hospital. they declined to be named publicly. “We’re a team,” one said. “this is what we do.”

in albert lea, local 106 members curt Broughten and tom Johnson extinguished the pickup fire after the driver collided with Broughten’s plow on interstate 90. Broughten

and Johnson grabbed their fire extinguishers and put out the engine-compartment blaze. their actions were life-saving: the driver remained pinned in his truck for an hour, until rescue crews freed him.

The more things change...more than 40 aFScme members got a crash course in american labor history during a lunchtime brown-bag lecture in January. local 34 next

Wavers organized the event at the hennepin county government

center. the goal: help union members learn the labor history that america’s schools often overlook.

council 5 organizing director eric lehto gave an overview of the different tactics and structures preferred by the Wobblies, the ciO, the Knights of labor, and other labor organizations past and present. he also talked about the key roles cigar

makers, lumberjacks, and republican patronage workers played in building the movement.

WalK ing OUr taLK

On the surface, it’s a nice little story. When members in the Proctor public schools

went into contract negotiations in December, the school district hit them with a shopping list of concessions. Two of the big proposals threatened the ability of workers to get jobs they could actually live on. One plan made it harder for workers to qualify for health insurance. The other plan eroded job security by eliminating district-wide seniority and, instead, scattering workers into independent job classifications.

AFSCME members – who are part of Local 66 – drew the line. When the district trotted out its concessions, the workers said “no,” then made sure the district understood “no.”

Long story short

The bargaining unit has 58 members. As a show of solidarity, 36 of them pledged to send a letter to each and every school board member. In the end, 47 members actually sent those letters. Grand total: 329 letters in all.

Members mailed the letters on a Wednesday. Two days later, at

the next bargaining session, district negotiators carried piles of the letters with them. Negotiators backed off their demands for

concessions that day.

“I think we had a direct effect,” says Ellen Junger, a special education paraprofessional on the bargaining team. “I think they went, ‘Oh, that’s not going to pass’.”

After only a few more hours of talking, the bargaining teams reached a deal on a new contract.

Members get across-the-board pay raises totaling 2.25 percent by July 1; a two-step range increase for educational assistants; and a $100 increase in the district’s deferred compensation match.

There you have it: An uplifting story of how union workers pulled together when it counted.

But behind the scenes, it gets even better. The real story is what union members did before negotiations started. It’s what they did to make sure that, when the time came, they could stop the district’s ideas cold.

The Proctor workers were frustrated and fed up. Yes, they had issues with the school district. But they

also had issues of their own.

“We used to be an active group,” says Carla Hollingsworth, a special education paraprofessional. “Then, kind of slowly, things got settled, and people had what they wanted, and got comfortable with it and felt secure. We had a couple of real lean years as far as members participating.”

So activists took simple but deliberate steps to re-energize co-workers. Leading up to negotiations, they held meetings twice a month to give members a chance to talk over issues. Turnout was good, Junger says. Still, most members were not showing up.

So, union leaders went to members directly. They set up communication teams in all four district buildings where AFSCME has members. “We now have people who are directly responsible for talking with members,” Hollingsworth says. “Each contact person talks to members of their group on an individual basis to let them know what is going on.”

Bargaining unit steps up

Those one-on-one connections meant members were ready when their bargaining team needed to turn up the heat. “When we decided we were going to contact the board members, we all got together with our people and asked them if they would write these letters,” says custodian Carol Hanson. “And they said ‘yes’.”

“There was no arm twisting,” says Steve Parendo, a maintenance worker on the bargaining team. “In all honesty, I didn’t think it was doable. But I’ve seen that change.”

Quality of jobs remains an issue

Bargaining unit leaders don’t think they’re done. New contract or not, they still have problems with district administrators. More and more often, workers who retire or leave are replaced with part-time staff, a process the union calls stacking. Usually, new workers are hired without enough hours to qualify for insurance.

“Health insurance is a big issue. That’s why a lot of us are working,” says Cheryl Hill, a special education paraprofessional

“They point blank said they will not be hiring more full-time employees with benefits,” says Boni McIntosh, a special ed paraprofessional

“I don’t know how much the community knows to what extent this is going on,” Parendo says.

Stay tuned. ■

Proctor school activists: (front row from left): Ellen Junger, Boni Mcintosh, and Liz McLaughlin. (Back row from left): Carla Hollingsworth, Cheryl Hill, Steve Parendo, Carol Hanson.

Proctor school workers plug in, revive member involvement

BriEFS

Georgette Christensen and Miguel Salazar, both Local 34 (Hennepin County Human Services), were among members learning the roots of the u.S. labor movement.

Above: Sadie Facion, Local 552 (Hennepin County Probation and Parole). Top: Sarah Sosa, Local 2822 (Hennepin County Clerical and related). For more photos, see www.flickr.com/photos/afscmemn

Plow drivers Curt Broughten (left) and Tom Johnson. photo courtesy of tim engstrom/albert lea tribune.

“in all honesty, i didn’t think it was doable. But i’ve seen that change.”

– Steve parendo

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paraDing OUr vaLuEs

Nothing makes the impact that AFSCME makes during Day on the Hill. That’s when 1,200 Council 5 members swarm

the Capitol and legislators’ offices. “Day on the Hill shows there’s this massive power,” says Jeff Reed, of MnDOT Local 753 in Willmar.

But AFSCME members don’t disappear during the rest of the legislative session. They are an unavoidable presence, week in, week out.

They’re in smaller groups – often only two or three at a time. But they’re wearing colors, they still get

attention, and they still make an impact. They just do it more quietly.

“We don’t have to say a word,” says Delphine Steiner, of DHS Local 735 in Fergus Falls. “You can see from just walking around with our green shirts on, the looks we get. You just get that feeling. They notice us.”

This constant AFSCME presence in hearings, hallways, and offices happens because locals decide that issues are too important not to have front-line workers keep an eye on legislators. “It’s tough and frustrating,” says Daryl Arola, of DNR Local 718 in Grand Rapids. “There’s a lot of bad ideas that are being introduced.”

Locals coordinate coverage

By coordinating through Council 5 policy committees, locals from the largest state agencies adopt weeks during which members volunteer to monitor the Legislature. In St. Paul, these members touch base with Council 5’s full-time lobbyists. They get updates on legislation, on which hearings are important to attend that day, and on issues to talk about with elected officials.

If reinforcements are needed, Council 5 sends Action Alerts to other locals and to individual members who can flood hearing rooms in a sea of green on short notice.

“You sit in committee, and they know we’re there,” says Local 718’s Connie Andrews. “And they know we go back and talk to our membership.”

Sometimes, members even testify at committee hearings. “It’s a little nerve-wracking to be sitting up there and having them ask me questions, and then trying to answer them,” says Local 753’s Reed, “And be polite, also. That’s the hard part.”

Making legislators face the facts

The one-on-one, eye-to-eye contact with legislators pays off in three ways. First, members provide a real face and a real story. They help legislators understand the real-life impact of their decisions.

“You get to know who they are, and they get to know who you are,” says Local 753’s Tony Skare, who made his first lobbying trip this year.

“They need to see that we’re real people,” Local

718’s Andrews says. “That’s part of this whole coming down here.”

That’s important when members are fighting constitutional amendments and other nonstop attacks on AFSCME pay, insurance, pension, jobs,

and bargaining rights.

“We have legislators who are trying to take them away with just the stroke of a pen, because they think they’ve got the votes to do it,” Arola says. “It makes me angry. So, at least

we can come down here and make ourselves visible and let them know we’re the ones that they’re impacting with the ideas they’re putting out there.”

Getting a firsthand look at that legislation, and of the people behind it, also gives members a deeper understanding of the threats they face. “It’s been a learning process,” Skare says.

“I thought I was pretty well informed about

Green eyes are EvErywhErE

At the Legislature, AFSCME members are on the front lines, defending democracy and the middle class

AFSCME members sit in on a legislative pension hearing. “This is important to everyone,” says Local 1539 member Billie Borchardt.

Contact your legislatorstell them to keep the “supermajority,” “right to work (for less)” and “voter suppression” amendments off the ballot. to find your legislator, go to www.gis.leg.mn/Openlayers/districts

Tony Skare (left) and Jeff reed, of Willmar MnDOT Local 592, talk about language in a transportation bill during a House hearing.

Connie Andrews and Sharon Morcom, from Grand rapids DNr Local 718, observe a Senate hearing on a plan to merge state agencies and functions.

Sara Chamberlain, of Faribault DHS Local 607, and Patrick regan, of Hennepin County Social Services Local 34, listen to House testimony.

“You learn on the fly, and you speak from the heart,”

– Delphine Steiner, local 735

Daryl Arola, of Grand rapids DNr Local 718, talks with rep. Carol McElfatrick. “This gives us a chance to come down and either have a say, give testimony if we need to, and sometimes just let them know that we’re watching, that we’re public employees and that we are not going to be taken lightly,” Arola says.

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what’s going on here,” says Billie Borchardt. The corrections officer in Local 1539 at the Rush City prison made her first lobbying visit this session and quickly learned, “I am not as informed as I should be. There’s so much more going on. There’s a bigger picture, and I have not been aware of it.”

Observing hearings firsthand, Borchardt says, confirms that the attacks on public workers, which union leaders talk about constantly, “are real. This is what’s really happening.”

Speaking up for co-workers, clients

Members say their lobbying also lets them go beyond union-wide issues to talk with legislators about topics that are specific to them, their co-workers, and the public they serve. “They’re a little more open to you in a smaller group,” Reed says. “They’ll talk with you a little more.”

MnDOT members, for example, push for more infrastructure investment, better front-line staffing, and less contracting out of work. “We know we can do it better, cheaper and faster than anyplace else,” Reed says, “but they keep trying to consult out our jobs.”

In Corrections, any cuts in programming or staffing directly affect safety, says Local 1539’s Paul Gammel. “We make sure we speak loudly about the safety needs we have, the staffing needs we have.”

“I’m here to speak for the seasonal employees,” says Sharon Morcom, a member of Local 718 who works at the Soudan underground mine state park. Last year’s state shutdown, combined with a fire that shut down the mine even longer, was brutal, Morcom says. “Some of my co-workers lost as much as $8,000. When you only work six months a year, it’s a major impact.”

“A lot of us are doing the work that nobody else wants to do, and I don’t think some of these legislators have figured that out,” says DHS Local 735’s Steiner. “We keep fighting for all the

employees back in our local, and for the clients.”

“They’re vulnerable adults,” says Della Hulter, another member of Local 735. “Many of them can’t speak for themselves. We’re speaking for them.”

Fighting back – and winning

Finally, members say, they know these visits make a difference – especially when other AFSCME members back them up with phone calls, emails, and notes to the same legislators.

Despite all the downsizing and upheaval in Human Services, for example, members successfully fought attempts to close dental clinics and shut the Willmar Regional Treatment Center.

Corrections officers have persuaded the state not to undermine its own system by sending inmates to the private prison in Appleton. As a result, the private prison – run by Corrections Corporation of America – remains closed.

MnDOT members got legislation that restricts outsourcing of their work.

DNR members continue to fight outsourcing, too, including attempts to privatize the state’s tree nurseries and fish hatcheries. “That’s what I do in the fall,” Arola says, “harvesting walleye fingerlings to stock lakes. They were attempting to completely take that job away from us. We were able to beat that back.”

“This is such an investment in your own future,” Andrews says, “in your own livelihood, your family. Right now, it’s life or death.”

“If people came down here and saw what’s actually happening in these rooms, I think it would open their eyes,” Local 1539’s Gammel says. “You need to vote your job. That’s what it comes down to.” ■

Della Hulter (left) and Delphine Steiner, both of Fergus Falls DHS Local 735, during a House Health and Human Services Committee meeting.

Wrong for workers, wrong for MinnesotaThe tea party fanatics who control the Legislature are pushing amendments that permanently cement extreme ideas into the Minnesota constitution. These amendments protect the power and privilege of the 1 percent while dividing Minnesota.

Council 5 opposes these amendments:

“Right to work (for less),” which dismantles unions, hurts workers who play by the rules, and tilts even more power to corporations

“Supermajority,” which locks in tax breaks for millionaires, increases gridlock at the Capitol, and restricts revenue for public services (see more details on Page 8)

“Voter suppression,” which erects barriers to democracy for seniors, students, renters and others

“Anti-marriage,” which enshrines discrimination in the state constitution

AFSCME opposes these and all amendments that restrict rights or restrict revenue. The easiest thing to remember: Vote no!

Hitting where it hurtsHere’s how “right to work (for less)” hurts the paychecks of Minnesota workers:

$9,852/year pay cut minnesota workers would take if we matched the lower wages of “right to work (for less)” states

$56,090 median household income in minnesota, 2009

$46,238 median household income in the 22 “right to work (for less)” states, 2009

Source: www.startribune.com/opinion/commentaries/ 139313423.html

Stay alertto sign up for council 5’s action alerts, email your non-work email address to: council5@afscmemn.org

Melanie Steinman (left) and Andy Carhart, both from university of Minnesota Clerical Local 3800, listen to House testimony on a bill attacking collective bargaining rights.

Dave List, of DHS MinnesotaCare Local 2181, listens to testimony on a bill to weaken state labor law.

Mike Keapproth, Oak Park Heights Corrections Local 915, listens to testimony during a legislative pension committee hearing.

Paul Gammel and Billie Borchardt, both from rush City DOC Local 1539, check their schedule before meeting with another legislator.

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We DO the wOrK

If Minnesota is indeed The State of Hockey,™ thank people like Local 2454’s Terry

Byron, Mike Nielsen and Todd Nelson. In an imitation winter like this one – when snowmobile and cross-country ski trails often were nonexistent, and when ice fishing remained risky for weeks – park maintenance workers like them went all out to make sure we at least had ice rinks to salvage the season.

“I love putting down ice, making first ice,” Byron says. It has been a major part of his job every winter since the City of Ramsey hired him seven years ago.

Layered look works for ice, too

Once the weather gets cold enough and the ground freezes, Byron, Nielsen and Nelson kick into high gear. That’s normally right after Thanksgiving. They split up shifts in a round-the-clock operation: spraying water, layer after layer, on the city’s four outdoor hockey rinks and two pleasure rinks.

Some cities still flood and maintain rinks with firehouses, but Ramsey uses a 2,000-gallon tank truck. The truck is more comfortable for workers, safer, and quicker.

A tanker truck also creates better ice, according to Byron and Wendy Wohlwend, who helps maintain six park district rinks in Duluth.

“How you flood is a big deal,” Byron says, “so you don’t get ridges in your ice. You have to be able to put that nice smooth coat out and get off. We have really strong ice because we build in slow layers.”

“You don’t want to put too much down,” Wohlwend says, “because when you’re driving through with the next load, it will crack. You’re better off putting multiple thin layers down than one thick layer.”

In Ramsey, drivers make as many as 16 round-trips each shift to each park. “You come back, fill up, go to the other facility, do the exact same thing, come back, and just keep going,” Byron says. “We run our truck 24 hours. That thing’s nonstop for two weeks straight.

“I really enjoy it. It’s fast-paced. You’re going nonstop, yet kind of like your own boss at the same time.”

Ramsey tries to build 8 inches of ice before it opens its rinks to the public. In an ideal year, once the ice is good, workers spend a few hours each morning cleaning the

rinks, then laying down a fresh coat of water to replace what skaters

scraped away. There’s another reason to keep adding water.

especially this year, aFScme members helped

MAKE THE MOST OF

WiNTEr

Terry Byron works second shift when building ice. “i’m a night person anyways, so for me, it’s kind of fun.”

When workers show up to clear the rinks for skaters, “they’re happy to see us,” says Local 66 member Wendy Wohlwend. “You get to be a hero that day.”

carla Hagen has been a public defender, a prosecutor, and a senior attorney for Hennepin County. But

that experience is important for her next novel.

Her new novel – Hagen’s first – is a different kind of crime story. It’s a look at the controversial resettlement of “rural slums” during the 1930s. The novel, “Hand Me Down My Walking Cane,” tells the story through the relationships (professional and personal) of four fictional characters in a village that existed near Baudette, where Hagen grew up.

The longtime member of Local 2938 started the novel more than 10 years ago. She’s always been a writer, she says, and has rows of journals to prove it. While living in Mexico in her 20s, then in Texas, she wrote poetry, did freelance reporting, and wrote speeches, grant proposals and “anything I could think of.”

“I always wanted to earn a living as a writer. But, after I finally moved back here, I thought, I’m from a poor family. I don’t think I have the courage to be a full-time writer.”

So she got her law degree and started a career in criminal law. That choice worked

well, she says. But ... “I got to a point when I was a public defender, I was so burned out. I’d be up at dawn getting ready for my trials, be in court all day, jail after work, then in my office.” She felt she had to take her writing seriously again. “I started taking classes at The Loft, because I just wanted to get back that part of myself.”

One step led to the next. She jumped to the county attorney’s office, working part-time while taking classes at Hamline University to earn a master’s degree in fine arts. “It felt like I needed an apprenticeship,” she says. She started the novel at Hamline. “I graduated in 2002 and I had just finished the first draft, a very rough draft. I don’t think it was really done until 2008.”

Having a union job actually made it possible for Hagen to get this far as an author, she says. “One thing I find that really, really helps me: I’ve been able to go off for a month every year, to a writing colony or someplace else, where I can just be alone and write. And this is all due to having a really good employer, frankly.”

Capturing a forgotten episode

Hagen grounds “Hand Me Down My Walking Cane” in historical reality: stories

First novel won’t be her last, Hennepin Co. attorney says

Carla Hagen signs books after a presentation at Magers and Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis.

Hand Me Down My Walking Caneby carla hagen (north Star press, $14.95)

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in a normal winter, Darin Franckowiak grooms more than 90 kilometers of cross-country ski trails in Duluth’s park system and at Spirit mountain. this year, he spent most of his winter pruning trees.

But the local 66 member still climbed into the city’s Bombardier groomer several times a week to keep snowboarders and skiers happy at chester Bowl. the ski hill and terrain park can make its own snow, which became an absolute necessity most of this season. chester Bowl remains a collaborative project between the city and the nonprofit chester Bowl improvement

club, which took over operations in 2008.

city crews supply the electricity and water lines, set up the snow gun, then turn responsibility over to club volunteers, who make sure nothing goes wrong. “if the breaker goes or the fan stops, but the water keeps pumping and turns into a big ice dam, they’re there to call for help,” Franckowiak says. “then we can come in to fix it.”

city crews also maintain the hill’s chair lift and groom the snow. Overall, Franckowiak figures, he spent only about one-fourth as many hours in the groomer as usual. But when it costs more than $200 in gas to fill up the machine, that’s not the worst thing in the world. Darin Franckowiak latches the groomer to a

trailer after another day on the slopes.

“It keeps evaporating off,” Wohlwend says. “It goes away. It’s amazing. It keeps shrinking, even when it’s cold out.”

Adjusting to the weather

The outdoor rinks in Ramsey and Duluth are not refrigerated, “so it’s 100 percent Mother Nature,” Byron says. Each type of winter brings different challenges.

“It looks pretty cut and dried, but there’s other stuff to it,” he says.

Mild winters, of course, make it harder to create ice and keep it in good shape. “People think 32 degrees is freezing. Yup, it is. But even at 28 degrees, you can’t put down water. It’s not going to freeze in time; it’s going to be soft.”

Snowy winters pull workers off the rinks to handle snow removal and other duties. That gives them less time to spend with the ice, and also means they’ve got more work to do

to keep the ice in shape. “You can get machines to do only so much, then you’ve got to hand-shovel,” Byron says.

Even cold winters can be a problem. “It’s a Catch 22,” Wohlwend says. “You don’t want it super, super cold, because the hose will freeze and the sprayers will freeze. But you don’t want it too warm, because then your water won’t freeze.”

“You get nights where it’s 1 or 2 degrees out, and if you don’t get off that rink fast enough, you’re going to leave marks from your tires,” Byron says.

“It’s harder than a lot of people think it is,” Byron says. “There’s so many variables that you don’t see unless you’re doing it.”

It’s not all work, however. “Every once in a while after work, we’ll meet up and go skate for a little bit,” Byron says. “It’s kind of nice to enjoy your own ice.” ■

Duluth crews keep Chester Bowl going

Terry Byron sprays another layer of ice in ramsey. Working nights brings its own adventures, he says. A couple of years ago, two deer stepped in front of Byron’s tanker. “Got both of them,” he says. “There was no stopping the truck.” Another time, a coupler broke while he was refilling the tanker at 3 a.m. “The hose is just ‘pfffewww,’ all over the place, and i had to belly crawl through the water, back to the fire hydrant, reach up with one hand, shut the hydrant down. If I’d gotten cracked in the head, no one would have found me until morning.”

she heard growing up, conversations with her parents and others who went through the relocation, and basic research about the era and area. Instead of straight history, she calls the novel “a fictional biography of a certain time and place.”

Her village – Faunce Ridge – is a hard-scrabble place of proud, independent people who know how to get by. There is no mayor or police force. Even though people got fair prices to sell their property and move on, most of them were not happy about being separated and scattered, she says. A few held out for years.

“Unlike places in the Dust Bowl that were truly devastated, this was a place that was viable,” she says. “What you couldn’t grow, you could shoot. People were really proud of themselves. They really liked being left alone.”

Next novel is closer to home

Hagen already is well into her next novel – a modern-day murder mystery, she says, that takes place in the same remote, border country, but relies much more on her work experience in the criminal justice system. “I have all this experience, all these stories, but I’m still ambivalent about it. I’m not sure I’m sneaky enough to write a crime novel.”

The main character is a prosecutor, “but she’s a lot younger than I am. I think I still have to divorce myself from her a bit. I’m not sure how that’s going to work yet.” If it all works, she says, the novel will become the first in a series.

■

the uprising in Wisconsin last year didn’t just happen. it happened, author John nichols says, because the citizens in Wisconsin knew their legacy, knew their neighbors, and knew how gov. Scott Walker’s attack on collective bargaining was screwing the entire middle class. Ultimately, nichols argues, it happened because workers, students, farmers, and so many others knew what real democracy requires.

nichols, a writer for The Nation, is based in madison. that gave him a first-hand (and often inside) look at the massive protests, which still simmer with the campaign to recall Walker.

nichols’ writing and stories are vivid – even fist-pumping inspirational, at times. the book profiles key moments, ordinary people, and some of the funniest placards that made it happen.

he looks at how union members and their bloodlines formed the Dna of the protest, but how the public workers who were under attack found more allies than they ever imagined. nichols finds optimism in how union leaders abandoned many of their traditional top-down

approaches, rediscovered the meaning of solidarity, and learned there is value in something other than politics as usual. they now are working to convert the madison moment into a larger movement against the alec-fueled, corporate agenda that is mutating in states nationwide.

nichols sees Wisconsin’s uprising as a revival of the democratic vision of thomas Jefferson and James madison. it’s a democracy rooted in “First amendment remedies” in which people directly confront abuse of power. the seeds of Wisconsin’s uprising exist in other states, too, he points out – including the Farmer-labor tradition in minnesota and the nonpartisan league of north Dakota.

nichols doesn’t claim victory, but he does see hope. near the end, he quotes thomas paine about the ongoing struggle: “tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

uprising: How Wisconsin renewed the Politics of Protest, from Madison to Wall Streetby John nichols (nation Books, $15.99)

Wisconsin’s ‘Uprising’ – Just the start?

8 • S t e p p i n g U p • m a r c h - a p r i l 2 0 12 • www.afscmemn.org

The supermajority idea is getting a widespread “thumbs down.”

Albert Lee Tribune: “any lawmakers with common sense should know to vote against such oddball restrictions.”

Crookston Daily Times: “local government would be forced to bear the brunt of the shortfall in tax revenue, with more fees tacked on to everything from marriage licenses to speeding tickets to property taxes increasing.”

Fargo-Moorhead Forum: “lawmakers are poised to enshrine the tyranny of the minority in the state constitution. it’s a bad idea on several levels.”

Hutchinson Leader: “Sixteen other states, including california,

already have similar constitutional amendments. anyone who follows california’s nightmarish financial situation should realize this isn’t a good idea.”

Morrison County Record: “Just because the taxation level is all but frozen, that doesn’t freeze the costs of providing

government programs.... in fact, the experience in other states ... shows that requiring supermajorities for tax hikes doesn’t provide affordable government so much as inefficient, ineffective, bad government.”

New Ulm Journal: “passage of this amendment would assure continued deficits, which would have to be balanced by slashing things like schools and local government aid.”

West Central Tribune: “in reality, a supermajority amendment often just constrains legislative options, requires temporary budget solutions, creates more frequent legislative stalemates and brings higher borrowing costs.”

Winona Daily News: “requiring a supermajority on matters of revenue

has crippled states’ abilities to respond to economic challenges, plunging them into budgetary chaos when things go wrong.”

Worthington Daily Globe: “When taxes don’t get raised or expenditures increased at the state level, the buck simply gets passed, and communities like Worthington suffer.” ■

sOLIdarIty

david and Charles Koch are the richest of the rich. They’re tied as the 4th wealthiest Americans,

Forbes magazine says. They’re worth $25 billion each (that’s 25 followed by 9 zeroes).

The Koch brothers own Koch Industries, which they inherited. The privately held conglomerate, based in Wichita, Kansas, has revenues of more than $100 billion.

David and Charles increased their wealth by $16 billion – by almost 50 percent – between 2007 and 2011, Forbes says. During that same time, their companies eliminated 13,000 jobs.

The Koch brothers use their immense wealth to tear apart the middle class in more ways than eliminating jobs. They bankroll dozens of anti-union and right-wing organizations that pit workers against each other. Their money makes it easier for corporations to hoard even more for themselves.

David and Charles are lavish financiers of extreme causes, doling out more than $100 million in the past 15 years, according to research by the Center for American Progress. “Whether they are contributing millions in campaign contributions, spending millions on lobbying, or investing millions in right-wing think tank and advocacy groups, the Koch brothers’ influence is pervasive,” the organization says.

Beneficiaries of Koch money include:

• ALEC – the American Legislative Exchange Council – which relentlessly pushes privatization, attacks public workers, and promotes corporate giveaways with blueprint legislation in Minnesota and other states.

• More than 80 tea-party organizations.

• The corporate front group now known as Americans for Prosperity, whose leaders have advocated “taking unions out at the knees.”

• Organizations like the Cato Institute and Heritage Foundation, which are mainstays of peddling right-wing ideology.

David Koch and groups he financed spent more than $3.5 million in 2010 to elect Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. They opened the way for Walker’s battering-ram attack on the middle class and on collective bargaining rights for public-sector workers. The Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation is a primary donor of The Goldwater Institute, which is a driving force behind anti-union legislation in Arizona that is even more extreme than what Walker achieved in Wisconsin.

And they’re not finished: The Koch brothers have pledged to donate or raise $88 million this year for candidates who will pursue their agenda. ■

The Koch Brothers: ATM for the extreme right wingWhat Koch industries producesKoch industries is involved in everything from fertilizers, raw materials, pipelines and refineries to cattle, forests and consumer products.

among its subsidiaries is georgia-pacific, the huge forestry and wood-products company that produces plywood to cleaning supplies, drywall to towel dispensers, and office paper to toilet paper. in addition to its own name-brand products, georgia pacific produces:

angel Soft, Quilted northern and Soft ’n gentle toilet paper• Brawny, mardi gras and Sparkle • paper towels Dixie plates, bowls, napkins and cups • mardi gras napkins • Sparkle, Vanity Fair and Zee napkins •

Koch industries also owns invista, which manufactures more than a dozen widely known fibers and fabrics used in clothing and household products. among invista’s brands:

polarguard synthetic insulation• antron and Stainmaster carpet fibers• comforel, lycra and tactel fibers• Dacron fiberfill• coolmax, cordura, Solarmax, Supplex, and • thermolite fabrics

in minnesota, Koch industries owns Flint hills resources, which operates the pine Bend refinery in rosemount (which many people still call the Koch refinery).

1% AMENDMENTS‘Supermajority’ means a death spiral for public services

Like “right to work (for less),” the supermajority amendment threatens the very existence of our jobs and our union. “Supermajority” restricts the state’s ability to raise revenue. that ushers in an era of permanent

budget cuts for state agencies, colleges and universities. it also pushes more of the financial burden to the local level, threatening jobs and services in counties, cities and school districts. the amendment would:

• make it even harder to pay for the public services that minnesotans expect their government to provide• Wipe out thousands of public-sector jobs• protect millionaires by locking in tax breaks they currently enjoy• Force property taxes even higher, shifting the burden to homeowners who can least afford it• increase gridlock at the legislature and encourage even more budget gimmicks• let legislators wash their hands of actually doing their jobs or fulfilling their responsibility to govern

“Supermajority” would require at least a 60 percent vote in both chambers of the legislature to raise taxes. that’s a dramatic increase from the simple majority of 50 percent (plus 1) that’s required today.

Opposition to ‘supermajority’ grows statewideContact your legislatorstell them to keep the “super-majority,” “right to work (for less)” and “voter suppression” amendments off the ballot. to find your legislator, go to www.gis.leg.mn/ Openlayers/districts

Jeff Mammenga and other members of Local 4001 learn about proposed constitutional amendments during a meeting at Anoka Technical College.