Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council, AFL-CIO
Candidate Questionnaire (May 2, 2005)
Have you ever run for office before? If yes, what office(s)? No
Have you ever received Central Labor Union endorsement? If yes, what office(s) and what year(s)? No
Are you, or have you ever been, a member of an AFL-CIO Union? If yes, what Union(s), and what year(s)?
Yes. Two trade unions within the AFL-CIO: SAG (Screen Actors Guild, 1990 – present) and AEA (Actors Equity Association, 1988 – present).
What endorsements do you have?
Progressive Minnesota, Rock for Democracy and The League of Pissed Off Voters, State Representative Steve Simon, State Representative Keith Ellison, and School Board Member Lydia Lee
What additional endorsements will you be seeking?
Other local Labor organizations (some within the AFL-CIO, if they re-screen), and organizations that have progressive social and economic agendas (e.g. Democracy for America/Minnesota).
Who is your source of information on Labor issues? Fellow union members.
Does your organization have a Labor liaison?If yes, who? We do not have an “official” Labor liaison.
Do you consider yourself: X Democrat
1. Why are you seeking Labor’s endorsement?
I want to improve the quality of life for Minneapolitans and I need Labor’s help in this campaign and beyond. I believe Labor is a true partner in implementing a progressive agenda at the local and national level.
I believe that Labor is the backbone of our country. I have fought for social and economic justice for all people my entire life, and have actively supported Labor as a union member and as head of the organizing committee at America West Airlines for The International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
2. Will you actively support workers who are trying to organize?
Yes. Workers’ organizing efforts have to be supported to ensure progressive labor practices and guarantees of dignity and respect in the workplace.
3. What is an example of a project or campaign where you worked with a union/unions that you feel was successful in improving the quality of people’s lives? Give specific detail in areas such as:
a) Helping to police a union contract,
I’ve been an AEA (Actors Equity Association) union deputy on several legitimate theater contracts.
b) Helping a union in contract negotiations,
c) Helping a union achieve recognition as a bargaining agent,
I created a union theater, Pillsbury House Theatre with a union (AEA) contract.
I organized the ticket and gate agents for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at America West Airlines in Los Angeles, California. I attended meetings, signed and circulated petitions, passed out union cards, collected signatures, organized break room meetings, made phone calls, visited homes, led delegations to “march on the boss,” gained support from other sympathetic unions, passed out pins, wore union pins and paraphernalia, organized protests, participated in national and regional teleconferences, confronted management with charges of unfair labor practices, flew out to other sites to boost morale, helped to bring in the final vote by keeping a running count and reminding people to support the Teamsters.
The Teamsters are now negotiating a contract with America West. The employees finally feel that the company can’t mistreat them at will and that there is recourse when they feel abused and disrespected. As a result of the “yes” vote, a space for dignity is being constructed.
d) Walking a union picket line
I’ve walked picket lines for SAG and AEA, and in support for WGA (Writers Guild of America).
4. Are you familiar with our “Local Agenda for Good Jobs and Strong Communities”? Yes.
5. Which parts of it are especially compelling to you?
All of it. I like how it frames the agenda by showing the interdependence between living wage/high-quality job creation with mass transit, environmental sustainability, quality public education, quality services, healthy work environment and health care—social and economic justice for all working people.
6. If elected, what will you do to accomplish these goals? How would you measure progress towards these goals?
I would fight to strengthen The Living Wage Policy. I would fight for Smart Growth including Smart Development, affordable housing, safe streets/safe neighborhoods, quick and accessible transportation, and high-quality public education. I would work to ensure that city workers had a safe, healthy work environment so they are able to provide high-quality services for the citizens of Minneapolis.
I would encourage developers to link new projects close to mass transit hubs. I would fight to make sure that we continue to pursue multi-modal methods of quick and efficient transportation. As a former organizer with the Teamsters campaign at America West Airlines, dignity and respect in the workplace is of the utmost importance to me. I would make sure that all union rules and regulations were enforced when brought to my attention. As a former student of the public school system as well as a lifetime worker with arts in education, I would meet regularly with School Board and legislative officials to make sure that my constituencies’ concerns are met, and to glean any additional information that my constituency should be privy to. I would also offer my views and expertise on the importance of arts in education particularly in early childhood development.
Progress would be measured in feedback from constituents and employees; updating /strengthening and ENFORCING current measures; and in achieving agreed upon goals and timetables.
7. Do you support strengthening the City’s Living Wage policy?
Yes. I would lead the fight for a living wage ordinance that was equal to 130% of the poverty line, which is the maximum income a family can have and still be eligible for food stamps.
8. Will you support an ordinance that would strengthen the City’s living wage policy by:
Closing loopholes for “community development”
Including most city contracts for services
Raising the “living wage” to 130% of the federal poverty line for a family of four.
Including reporting and enforcement mechanisms?
Absolutely.
9. Will you distribute Living Wage Campaign literature with your own?
Yes.
10. Will you actively push to strengthen it further if you’re elected by requiring card-check and neutrality for all city contracts and subsidies?
Yes.
11. Should employers be allowed to use public money to oppose a union organizing effort? What would you do if you learned an employer was using city dollars to oppose organizing?
No, employers should not use public money to oppose union organizing efforts. If they did, I would work to pull the public money from the project. In this country workers have a lawful right to organize.
12. What is your position on outsourcing public services that are currently provided by public employees?
I think that outsourcing public services currently provided by public employees is wrong, and not necessary. Our public employees provide high-quality services to the citizens of Minneapolis, and need to remain in the realm of public sector.
13. When is public investment in private development a good idea? In what cases do you support public financing? Do you support tying this funding to agreements that guarantee high quality jobs?
Public investment in private development is a good when that development genuinely improves the quality of people’s lives. It should be used to ensure the creation of high-quality jobs, affordable housing, mass transit, and the like. Where public money is involved there must be strict guidelines and agreements that guarantee compliance, with vigilant enforcement, and costly penalties if disregarded.
14. Do you support prevailing wage?
I would support paying actual wage or prevailing wage (whichever is higher).
15. While international trade policy is voted upon by Congress, increasingly the impacts of trade agreements—particularly in the expanding area of trade in services—will affect local and state policymakers’ ability to govern in the public interest. Trade deals currently being negotiated are likely to require privatization of public services, effectively nullify prevailing wage laws, and strictly circumscribe what kinds of state and local laws elected officials would be allowed to pass.
As a local elected official, would you be willing to actively express to Congress and US trade negotiators (through resolutions, meetings, letters, etc.) your opposition to the implementation of trade rules that would undercut your ability to legislate in the public interest?
Yes. I would be a fierce advocate for the rights of Labor as a Council Member. I have put myself on the line for workers as a private citizen when I didn’t have any obligation to do so and I would be positively fearless as an elected public official. I would very actively oppose any actions that undermine prevailing wage laws.
16. Given the Local Government Aid cuts, and a political atmosphere that makes restoring those cuts unlikely, how do you propose that Minneapolis maintain its current city services as well as pay and benefits for city employees?
In the immediate I would propose parking fees on city owned ramps to help with replacing some lost LGA. Targeting the ramps would fall proportionately more on non-residents who work in the city, and help to pay for the resources that they use, but do not pay for as non-city residents. Towards that end I would also explore proposing a “commuter fee” on wages of non-residents of Minneapolis.
17. Service Employees Union Local 26 just settled its first contract for Private Security Officers in Minneapolis. The Local’s goal in organizing these guards has been from the beginning to improve the standards of an industry so important to public safety. Will you commit to convening meetings of private security companies, the union and the police? And how would you work to bring private security companies, the union and the police together to address security and safety issues in Minneapolis?
I would commit to convening meetings as appropriate. I wouldn’t however, want to play the role of a gatekeeper or kingmaker. On issues of public and private safety I would bring private security companies, the union and the police together to brainstorm and problem solve.
18. For years the Service Employees Union Local 26 has worked to change part-time janitorial jobs in office buildings to full-time jobs with better pay and benefits. We are currently working to implement contract language we won in 2003 that stipulated that by the end of 2005 buildings over 250,000 square feet must be staffed at 80% full time. We are encountering some resistance on this implementation, both from the contract cleaning companies and from some building owners in Minneapolis. Some are threatening to bring in non-union companies to do cleaning work for less money. Will you commit to supporting the union in increasing the full-time janitorial jobs and protecting the union wages?
Yes, I would be a very LOUD and persuasive union proponent for increasing full-time janitorial jobs and protecting union wages.
19. What should be the relationship between Minneapolis schools and city government?
City government and Minneapolis schools should have a close relationship and partner on the matters that affect all concerned constituencies. While I wouldn’t have any official jurisdiction over the School Board as a City Council Member I would still function as an advocate for my constituents and as an adviser and liaison when needed. I would meet regularly with School Board officials so that there was clear and consistent communication.
20. Please describe your campaign strategy and how you see labor assisting in your strategy.
We plan to win with a grassroots organizing campaign. We will use door knocking, canvassing, phone calling, and direct mail to reach the community. There will be visibility events and fundraisers all summer and fall. We will need labor volunteers to join our very energetic volunteers. We will also need financial contributions.
21. Is there anything else labor should take into account regarding your endorsement?
It is time for people who have felt powerless and outside of the system to fully participate in the electoral process. After the last election cycle, I felt compelled to run.
I’ve always been an advocate of direct action to enforce dignity and respect. As a youth I helped homeless people move into vacant housing in North Philadelphia, and also picketed local grocery stores and pharmacies so that they would pay better wages to their employees. I have always been a citizen-activist protesting apartheid, fighting for fair housing, organizing for workers’ rights, working with AIDS/HIV education, protesting both Gulf Wars and creating theater for social change.
For seven years, as a social service director at Pillsbury Neighborhood Services (which served 20,000 Minneapolitans annually), I grappled with some of the major issues affecting people’s lives such as homelessness, joblessness, welfare to work problem-solving, unwanted pregnancy, AIDS/HIV infection, school truancy and neighborhood economic development. I worked with almost every area of the city including Near North, West Bank, Powderhorn, Central and Bryant communities.
As a member of the Leadership Team at Pillsbury, I assisted with final drafting of our $10 million dollar agency-wide annual budget. I was the Affirmative Action/ Equal Employment Opportunity officer for five years. I became very familiar with Title VII (Civil Rights Act) and was responsible for helping to ensure that it was enforced.
As the producing artistic director of Pillsbury House Theatre I led the creation of a $500,000 fully professional union theater from the ground up. I’ve sat on numerous government and private foundation panels. I was Executive Director of Media Artists Resource Center where I raised $100,000 in seven months and engineered a non-profit merger.
In Washington, D.C. as Director of Community Engagement at Arena Stage I hired and supervised 19 staff and was responsible for a $750,000 annual budget.
I’m a US Army veteran and a graduate of Camp Wellstone.
At the DFL endorsement Ward 10 convention I led on all five ballots cast that day, and finished with 45% of the delegates. There was endorsement because a candidate not honoring the endorsement engineered a block with the other candidates.
While my opponents talk about what they’ll do for labor I live it and truly walk my talk. I’ve not only organized for labor and walked picket lines but I am also a member of two trade unions in the AFL-CIO. I also created a totally union theater from the ground up governed by union contracts and employing union personnel.
I am ready to bring your voice in the room.
22. Are there any other candidates for office that you’re publicly supporting? Who? No.
23. The Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council is the only organization that gives the official, AFL-CIO Labor endorsement for local races. If you get our endorsement, will you agree not to actively work against any other officially labor-endorsed candidates?
I will not actively work against any other officially AFL-CIO Labor-endorsed candidates.
Share your ideas & concerns with Ralph at 612-821-3819 or email rembuz@aol.com |
