Bluestem Prairie

ACS lockout update: mediator calls union, management back to table; Thur. meeting set

The Grand Forks Herald and other outlets are reporting that federal mediator Jeanne Frank has called unon representatives and management back to the bargaining table. The two sides will meet tomorrow.

Ryan Schuster writes in American Crystal, union will resume talks Thursday:

An end could finally be in sight to the lockout of American Crystal Sugar Co. workers at Red River Valley plants.

A union spokesperson confirmed this afternoon that American Crystal Sugar and representatives for the company’s 1,300 union-represented employees will resume negotiations on a new contract Thursday.

Mark Froemke, a representative for the union, said union and company officials will meet with the federal mediator assigned to the case on Thursday. He declined to disclose the location and time of the meeting. . . .

The negotiations potentially could end the lockout, which has stretched on for 24 days.

Minnesota Public Radio reports in American Crystal, union negotiators to meet Thursday:

. . .A union official says he doesn't expect a quick resolution, but the meeting is a first step in restarting negotiations.

About 1,300 workers have been off the job at five Crystal plants in Minnesota and North Dakota. There are also union workers at sugar shipping and storage facilities in Chaska and in Iowa.

They rejected a contract offer over concerns about health care costs and job security. Since the vote, replacement workers have been on the job, packaging and shipping sugar. Full-scale sugar beet harvest begins in early October. . . .

The GF Herald posted Congressman Collin Peterson's reaction in Crystal workers may be offering changes:

“What we’ve been encouraging is that they get back to the table and get this stuff worked out,” Peterson says, of his own efforts. He says nothing could get resolved if the two sides weren’t talking.

Peterson says he’s been talking – company board members, union people and management – to encourage a resolution. Some of those conversations were as late as Aug. 23.

Peterson says it is difficult for outsiders to really know the key issues in the matter. “From what I can tell is the issue is on management have control over who gets what job, and being able to hire outside people,” he says. He had encouraged the union to come up some language that allows management its needed flexibility but also “tighten” what the union is concerned about.

He says the company has claimed it takes too long – as many as two weeks – to make decisions because of needed union negotiations. The union, on the other hand, says 95 percent of the issues are resolved “in 15 minutes,” Peterson says, acknowledging it is difficult to judge. He said he thought the union was planning to “come forward with some changes” as of today morning. He didn’t know whether this had an impact on the Aug. 25 talks.

Peterson, who is the ranking member of the agriculture committee and a key defender of policies beneficial to beet sugar producers and processors, said some growers had been calling him “worried this (labor issue) would jeopardize authorization of the farm bill,” which is coming up in 2012. “Nothing like that has happened so far,” Peterson says. “As long as we get this resolved in the next month or two I don’t think that’ll be a problem. If it drags on into the winter, it could be a problem.”

Photo: One big pile of beets.

 

Total recall: county board asks Ron Shimanski to sponsor bill to boot himself from office

After meeting with the McLeod County Board of Commissioners in Glencoe on Tuesday, ALEC member Representative Ron Shimanski may be asking himself why he ever came back from the corporate bill factory's annual meeting in New Orleans.

It's not just ALEC's corporate sponsors who are asking the friendly apple grower to carry bills. The locals have an idea for some model legislation, too.

The McLeod County Chronicle reports in Bayerl in mood to 'rattle some cages':

McLeod County Commissioner Ray Bayerl is in a mood to "rattle some cages."

Bayerl told his fellow commissioners Tuesday morning that he recently attended an Association of Minnesota Counties (AMC) meeting, where a great deal of frustration was expressed over the shutdown of state services this summer when the Legislature and the governor failed to reach a budget deal in May.

Bayerl has a solution: if the Legislature and governor can't get their work done by the deadline, they should all be booted out of office and a special election held to re-elect or replace them.

Bayerl would like to propose that as an amendment to the state constitution - which would need the approval of voters on a general election ballot - and to work with the AMC to bring such an amendment to the Legislature.

Shimanski was at the board meeting and took some ribbing from the board member, as well as former state representative Bob Ness, a Republican who now works as a constituent outreach workers for Congressman Collin Peterson.  The paper reports:

State Rep. Ron Shimanski, R-Silver Lake, was at the meeting and Bayerl invited him to speak to the proposal.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do," said Shimanski. But he noted that other proposals for amendments also are in the works - in particular, a "lights-out" amendment that would keep government running at a "scaled-back 75 to 80 percent function" while a budget is worked out.

Shimanski also indicated that Bayerl's proposal could backfire.

"You know somebody is going to play politics with this," said Shimanski, saying that some legislators would stall on a budget agreement in hopes of forcing a special election to get rid of other legislators.

Bob Ness, an "eyes and ears" worker for U.S. Congressman Colin Peterson, said that throwing out the government "carte blanche" would mean that "you would have no government at all."

"Some people would say that we have that already," Bayerl shot back.

Ness also jokingly asked Shimanski if he would carry the proposed amendment to the state Legislature.

"I guess it depends on how it is worded," said Shimanski.

Board members turned the tables on Shimanski's "lights on" amendment. The article concludes:

County Commissioner Paul Wright said . . . legislators may use the "lights-out" amendment as another way of delaying a final decision.

"There still has to be a heavy consequence" if a budget is not adopted by the original deadline, Wright said.

Wright indicated he also supports Bayerl's effort.

"Whether it (the amendment) ends up as final or not, it sends a formal message that we were not happy," said Wright.

"It's very vague yet, but it is meant to rattle some cages," Bayerl agreed.

The board asked County Administrator Pat Melvin to work with the AMC to develop language on the amendment to bring before the AMC's next regional meeting. If the region adopts the resolution proposing the amendment, it will be forwarded to the AMC's annual meeting.

Bluestem suspects we'll never see that one on a list of ALEC model bills.

Photo: Rep. Ron Shimanski (R-Silver Lake and ALEC)

American Crystal Sugar lockout update: editorials, rally, letters, farmers

Update  Thursday, 8/11/2011: For an update and news about hundreds rallying in Moorhead today, visit "Hey Joe Talley, backstabbing union workers again?": hundreds protest ACS refinery lockout [end update]

Looking around news about the American Crystal sugar lock-out in Northwestern Minnesota, the story hasn't gone away.

The editors of the Crookston Times write in a short editorial: Crystal, union need to start talking again:

Maybe we set the bar too high by asking over the past couple of weeks for American Crystal Sugar management and members of the union to get together and agree on a new contract that is at least reasonably satisfying to all concerned. If that is indeed the case, then this week we’re scaling back our expectations and simply asking that both sides start negotiating again in the hope that the current lockout of the union workers and the employment of the replacement workers end sooner rather than later. Anything is better than nothing, which seems to be what’s going on right now, other than both sides attempting to win the public relations battle through the regional media. Start talking, people; if this drags on too long, decent, hard-working people are going to really start hurting, and that pain will inevitably spread to the communities that they call home.

Workday Minnesota announced that Rally planned Aug. 11 to support locked-out sugar workers:

The rally is scheduled for noon, Thursday, Aug. 11, outside American Crystal Sugar headquarters at 101 N. Third St., Moorhead. Participants will also march to the nearby bridge spanning the Red River between Moorhead and Fargo, North Dakota, then go to Davy/Memorial/Riverfront Park to hear labor leaders and other speakers.

The union plans to run buses to bring members from Drayton, N.D., Crookston and East Grand Forks, said Mark Froemke, a union officer helping to coordinate the effort. Community residents and members of other unions also are scheduled to participate.

Those who cannot attend can show support by signing an on-line petition coordinated by the Minnesota AFL-CIO. More than 3,000 people had signed by mid-week.

“We want to show people they’re not alone,” Froemke said.

In the Grand Forks Herald, the chair of the North Dakota Democrats, Mark Schneider, writes in Sugar beet growers should tell American Crystal to end lockout:

The misguided lockout of American Crystal Sugar workers by management is taking a tremendous toll on working men, women and their families in the valley. The sugar beet industry is, of course, an integral part of the regional economy. American Crystal is owned by the regions’ sugar beet farmers and, ultimately, its managers are accountable to them.

Whatever Chief Operating Officer Joseph J. Talley’s motives are in locking out American Crystal’s own employees, the ultimate authority at American Crystal Sugar is the sugar beet growers themselves.

Beyond the federal subsidies they receive, sugar beet farmers have been blessed in recent years with both outstanding crops and outstanding prices. . . .

Yet, consider the irony: In the sugar beet owners’ name, COO Talley locked out the workers who in North Dakota cannot even receive unemployment benefits. . . .

Read the whole thing at the Herald. The Star Tribune looked at the company that supplies scabs in Strom helps strike back against unions (I suppose the Strib thought it was being clever with that headline, rather than grossly inaccurate in conflating a lockout with a strike):

For more than half a century, a little-known Minnetonka firm called Strom Engineering has provided troops to help companies across the country battle their unions.

American Crystal Sugar sought reinforcements from Strom when it locked out some 1,300 union employees in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa last week. Strom workers have stepped in at a steel mill for nearly a year, replaced striking mechanics at Northwest Airlines and kept a food plant running during a dispute.

To companies that hire Strom, it is an ally that can help their bargaining position merely by drawing up contingency plans for a work stoppage.

Union leaders who have gone up against Strom clients have a different view.

"To us, Strom is basically an outfit that hires mercenaries to basically go in and destroy communities," said Mark Froemke, president of the AFL-CIO's West Area Labor Council and a member of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers union, which represents the sugar beet workers.

Learn more at the Strib. A short report on a local radio station notes that Collin Peterson Concerned With Sugar Lockout:

Minnesota 7^th District Rep. Collin Peterson says he's concerned with the possible implications of the employee lockout at American Crystal Sugar. In the long term, Peterson says it could play a role in sensitive negotiations over the federal sugar program. 

Peterson says he talked with Crystal management a couple of months ago. 1,300 crystal employees in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa are affected by the lockout, now in its second week.

Photo: Locked out workers.

Free Willie? Franken and Peterson support bid to bring annual Farm Aid concert to Detroit Lakes

A small item at the bottom of Queen Miranda reigns over WE Fest, an article in the DL-Online about the  annual country music gathering:

* WE Fest has some friends in high places. Rep. Collin Peterson from Minnesota’s Seventh Congressional District, which includes Moorhead and Detroit Lakes, was out here Friday. Apparently Peterson is a country music fan and a regular at the annual event. Festival owner Rand Levy said Peterson and Minn. Sen. Al Franken wrote letters supporting Levy’s offer to hold a future Farm Aid concert, organized by Willie Nelson, one of Friday’s performers. This year’s Farm Aid will be held in Kansas City. [link added] The event has never been held in Minnesota.

Nelson played We Fest this week; the Fargo Forum reviews the show in No surprise, Willie plays like a legend.

It's a great idea to see if Farm Aid will come to Minnesota. But just shoot me if Peterson's reunited band, The Second Amendments, plays at Farm Aid again, wherever it's held.

Related post: A Second Amendments solution; or, redistricting can't come soon enough

A Second Amendments solution; or, redistricting can't come soon enough

Some days, music lovers in Minnesota's Seventh Congressional district can't be blamed if they don't get out of bed in the morning.

This is one of them.

In the Star Tribune's Hot Dish blog, Jeremy Herb reports in Peterson rocks at portrait presentation:

Nero fiddled as Rome burned. Tuesday night, Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson struck a few hot licks on his electric guitar ahead of a potential government shutdown. . . .

Finally, it was time to rock and roll with The Second Amendments, Peterson’s band. In the spirit of collegiality, the players included the cowboy-booted, neatly coiffed Peterson, a blue dog Democrat, on guitar and vocals, conservative Michigan Republican Rep. Thad McCotter on guitar, Tennessee freshman Republican Rep. Steve Fincher on bass and former Missouri Republican Rep. Kenny Hulshof on drums and vocals.

The set list included everything from Del Shannon to the Eagles as House Minority whip Steny Hoyer, among others, swayed to the tunes.

But it was hard to escape politics or the farm bills hammered out in the committee room in the shadow of the Capitol. As the band wrapped up a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Brown Sugar,” Hulshof asked Peterson, “Brown sugar, does that get a government subsidy?”

The jokes are bad enough, and there were tears from the current speaker:

Here stood John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House locked in mortal combat with Democrats over the federal budget, praising Peterson, and, of course, weeping over Peterson’s devotion to family as Peterson’s kids and grandkids looked on.

Peterson is divorced, so perhaps those are tears of envy.  Or maybe the Speaker's real problem was the music itself. Lord have mercy. This is an offense to creation (and the Strib video is one of the better performances of the Second Amendments).

Not that the Republican Party will be offering me a better alternative. Unfortunately, Lee Byberg, another aspiring songbird, is challenging Peterson a second time. And Byberg writes his own material. I didn't spend years at the Ozarks Famous Writers school reading Saintsbury and studying formal verse at the feet of Lucinda Williams' daddy and hanging at bookshows in the Opryland convention center with Tom T. Hall with to have to put up with this.

I'm beginning to think my only hope is relocation--or redistricting. McLeod County sits on the edge of the Seventh; before 2002, we were part of the old Second. And for awhile, when Republican band members were retired by voters, the Second Amendments were no more. No longer.

Is it too much to ask those working on redistricting to shuffle us back into the Second? Or, please, Minnesota's Sixth. Sure, Kline is a conservative Republican and Bachmann, Queen of the Tea Party. But Peterson's Blue Dog yodeling with the Second Amendments?

It's enough to make me shoot my laptop--the ultimate post-modern Second Amendments solution--or just praise Al Gore for inventing the pause button on media players when he dreamt up the innertubes.

Collin Peterson's statement on the Arizona shootings

Like Seventh CD representative Collin Peterson, Gabby Giffords is a member of the conservative Blue Dogs Caucus. Peterson's statement about the shootings hasn't been as widely circulated as those of his colleagues, but it did find its way into the Fergus Falls Journal:

“I was shocked and saddened to hear of the shooting of my colleague and friend Gabrielle Giffords, and other staff and constituents in Tucson today.

“Gabby is a terrific Congresswoman, and someone who works very well with members on both sides of the aisle. She is really an up-and-coming leader in Congress. My prayers are with her and her family as she fights to survive, and my thoughts go out to the families of those who died or were injured in this senseless act of violence.”

Hat tip to Al Juhnke's Outstate News at Middle Minnesota.

 

Demmer campaign to Walz office: quit listening to vets and find out how disagreeable Randy is

I've been very busy getting up to speed with a project, but today played catch-up in my reading.

In the past, I've attended a number of the 23 public meetings with veterans that Congressman Walz has held since taking office in 2007, so I wasn't surprised to see an article in the Rochester Post Bulletin, Veterans' stories of trouble accessing VA care dominate forum.

Walz serves on the House Veterans' Committee and has put veterans needs high on his agenda for policy making and constituent outreach. And he's received national recognition for this commitment: this year, he's received the Silver Helmet Award from AMVETs and the Legislator of the Year award from the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers.

What did surprise me were a couple of paragraphs in political reporter Heather Carlson's article, detailing the response of Randy Demmer's campaign manager to the meeting:

The campaign of Walz's Republican opponent Randy Demmer questioned Walz's decision to hold a town hall on veterans' issues but not one on the economy. Demmer's campaign manager, Jason Flohrs, said Demmer agrees with Walz on veterans' issues. But he said he would like to see a town hall on an issue where the candidates disagree.

"We've got to be talking about the jobs. We've got to be talking about the economy," he said. . . .

Flohrs seems fundamentally confused about the work of congressional offices.

I've checked with the congressional office, which issued the press release announcing the Rochester meeting, and this was not a campaign event. Rather, it was a chance for the congressman to meet with constituents--and a group of constituents directly related to his committee work in Washington.

Victim of his own confusion, Flohrs seems to think that it's the role of the congressional office--funded by taxpayer dollars--to contact the office of a political opponent and schedule official work based on points of disagreement between the candidates.

It is not.

That's what campaigns--funded by private contributions--are for. And indeed, the Walz campaign has since challenged Demmer, IP candidate Steve Wilson, and no-party man Lars Johnson to a debate on jobs in Rochester, and well as two others. The Demmer campaign responded by calling for eight debates, though with a caveat:

[Flohrs] added, "We said we're not going to do any that are only one topic specific." 

Given how much Flohrs wanted a town hall--at taxpayer expense--solely on jobs and the economy earlier in the week, one wonders what changed. The about-face is positively Emmeroid in nature.

As for the vets, they don't seem particularly pleased with the notion that they should STFU --or that Walz should quit listening to them--simply because his opponent's campaign manager decided to politicize a town hall on veterans' issues. 

In a letter in today's Post Bulletin,Walz forum solely about veterans, former state VFW commander Steve O'Connor takes Flohrs to task:

Thank you very much for the article "veterans vent frustrations with benefits claims process." I am very disappointed that John Flohrs of the Demmer campaign took the opportunity to make a campaign issue out of Monday night's forum.

Congressman Walz, since his election, has held one to three veterans forums each year to inform veterans of the actions Congress has taken to correct deficiencies in veterans' health care and other benefit programs as well as to solicit ideas to help correct existing problems and to present any new issues.

I highly doubt that any veteran, spouse or family member present viewed the veterans' forum as a campaign strategy by the congressman but rather as his usual followup with the veterans community.

In addition, I do not doubt that Mr. Demmer and Congressman Walz agree on veterans' issues. Almost all politicians agree on the issues, it's in the resolution of those issues where disagreement occurs.

Steve O'Connor

Perhaps O'Connor protests too much--and all representatives and their staffs should follow the Flohrs's model and stop meeting with constituents about issues related to the committees upon which  they serve.I

Instead, taxpayer dollars could be dropped in a system where public employees call the warring political campaign and let them set the agenda for public meetings.

Think of the possibilities. House Ag Chair Collin Peterson could tell Seventh CD farmers to go pound dirt and address whatever the heck is bothering Lee Byberg this week. Oberstar? Drop talk of transportation and find out what that opponent disagrees with you about.

On the other  hand, Michele Bachmann might be coaxed off the phones, Fox News, planes to fundraisers in exotic California and into a public forum to talk about foreclosures, jobs, infrastructure in the Sixth as Tarryl Clark would like her to do. 

Perhaps the Republican Party of Minnesota could start with that one--and not bother Walz or the  veterans he to whom he listens.

Photo: Congressman Walz (standing) acknowledges vets leader Steve O'Connor (foreground, arm raised0 at the recent veterans town hall in Rochester. Photo via Rochester Post Bulletin.

House agriculture committee votes to open travel and trade with Cuba

My congressman Collin Peterson is pretty conservative, the bluest of Blue Dogs. So I did a double take when I read this statement in the Bemidji Pioneer:

“This legislation is the right policy at the right time,” Peterson said. “We have tried to isolate Cuba for more than 50 years, and it has not worked. As it has in other countries, perhaps increasing trade with Cuba will encourage democratic progress.”

Opening Cuba for America farmers seems to be the impetus for  Peterson's involvement. He spoke with the Texas Farm Bureau about the bill in April:

On the other hand, Peterson isn't an advocate of free trade agreements. He was one of the state's most outspoken critics of NAFTA in 1993-- and one of founders of the Congressional Anti-NAFTA Caucus.

Not all of the support for the bill is based on trade. The Pioneer reports:

The Travel Reform and Export Enhancement Act conference report passed the panel by a 25-20 vote. Introduced by Peterson, it is co-sponsored by 62 members of Congress.

“I am proud to say that (Thursday), the House Agriculture Committee took a courageous vote to end the short-sighted and failed policy that limits American agriculture’s access to the Cuban market.” Peterson said in a statement. “An unprecedented coalition of agriculture, business, religious and social organizations have endorsed H.R. 4645, and (Thursday’s) vote demonstrates that Congress is ready to change our nation’s approach on this issue.”

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DFL-Minn., has the companion piece in the Senate.

Some 140 groups have expressed support for the bill, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Farmers Union, American Farm Bureau Federation, and Human Rights Watch. The House Agriculture Committee also received a letter signed by more than 70 pro-democracy Cuban leaders that strongly encouraged passage of H.R. 4645.

The House bill now has 65 co-sponsors; in the Minnesota delegation, support for the bill falls along partisan lines, with Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum, Jim Oberstar, and Tim Walz signed on. Outside of Minnesota, however, divisions aren't so clear, since the measure is sponsored by such conservative stalwarts as Arizona's Jeff Flake and Texan Ron Paul.

The Minnesota Cuba Committee supports the bill.

Wall Street Reform: Peterson and Walz look for Main Street answers

An ag mag reports:

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the conference report on the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act or H.R. 4173.

"I am pleased the conference report contains many of the provisions the House

Agriculture Committee endorsed in three different bills on these topics," House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) said. "This bill will mitigate the outrageous price spikes in commodity markets that we first saw two years ago, bring greater transparency to the derivatives market through mandatory clearing and ensure that end users can continue using derivatives to hedge risk."

He went on to emphasize that the comprehensive legislation represents a middle ground between the House and Senate products. “While no one got everything they wanted in this bill, I think we got a bill that will help prevent another crisis in the financial markets like the one we experienced in 2008," Peterson said.

Reuters reported earlier that that Collin Peterson is speaking out against what he believes to be Wall Street scare tactics:

The financial overhaul bill would not impose margin and capital requirements on swap end-users, senior Democrats said on Wednesday, accusing Wall Street firms of trying to frighten Main Street businesses.

At issue is a provision of the bill that would force big players in the $615 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market to front more in good-faith deposits to back up their dealings in these financial contracts, including swaps.

End-users of OTC derivatives -- ranging from airlines to agribusinesses hedging the risks of running their businesses -- would not face these same higher capital and margin requirements, said Representative Collin Peterson.

"Nowhere in this section do we give regulators any authority to impose capital and margin requirements on end users," said Peterson, a Democrat, in debate on the House floor on the sweeping reform bill ahead of a final vote.

"What is going on here is that the Wall Street firms want to get out of the margin requirements, and they are playing on the fears of the end-users in order to obtain an exemption for themselves," Peterson said.

Why does this matter?

The OTC derivatives market -- especially credit default swaps like those that dragged down former insurance giant AIG -- were widely blamed for aggravating the 2007-2009 financial crisis. The reform bill aims to prevent a repeat of that crisis, which dragged the economy into a deep recession.

Back in Minnesota, the Waseca County News reports in Walz gathers input on Wall Street reform bill:

Walz’s chief of staff, Josh Syrjamaki, came to Waseca Tuesday with staff intern Jen Boelter to meet with Mayor Roy Srp and invited residents about the bill that came out of the House and U.S. Senate conference committee.

“Now we’re in the 11th hour of the reform bill and the House is set to vote as soon as tomorrow,” said Syrjamaki.

Rep. Walz, according to his chief of staff, “wants to see the reforms but is waiting to make up his mind.” By the end of the day, Walz would use reaction from the Waseca meeting and conversations with other 1st District residents to make an up or down decision, said Syrjamaki.

Joining Srp were former Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives Rod Searle, his wife, Ruth Searle, retired teachers Don Zwach and Gladys Carlson, CEO and president of Winegar, Inc. Tim Wenzel, Roundbank president Larry Thompson and teacher and wife of the mayor, Delores Srp. . ..

Read the whole article at the WCN.