Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey vetoes labor standards board

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey vetoed an ordinance Thursday creating a labor standards board made up of workers and employers that would recommend industry regulations for pay, safety and equity.

The Minneapolis City Council easily passed the ordinance last week by a vote of 9-3, enough to override the veto if their votes don’t change.

The board would be made up of an equal number of business owners, employees and other community stakeholders who would create work groups for various industry sectors and recommend policies to the City Council. Supporters of the board say it will just be an advisory board to the council, which can decide whether to propose regulations. Opponents say it creates another layer of government.

More than two years ago, Frey and a majority of council members said during a news conference that they supported creating a labor board, but they’ve since disagreed on how the board should be structured. In the intervening time, local and national industry groups mounted an advertising campaign against the board, a coalition that has only grown.

Frey said the council’s proposal was “lopsided” to the point where hundreds of businesses, including nearly all major business organizations, came out against it and said they wouldn’t participate.

“If we want this Labor Standards Board to work, business participation isn’t just important, it’s essential. Under the Council’s proposal, business participation is negligible – and everyone knows that’s not going to work,” Frey said in a news release Thursday. “Council must pass a board that is balanced and inspires collaboration from both labor and business.”

The mayor said he’d support a board that is “fair and balanced,” with a 50/50 split between employers and employees, a 50/50 split between mayoral and council appointments, and a requirement that a supermajority of the board support recommendations before they could advance to the City Council. The plan approved by the council didn’t include those provisions.

Michael Rubke, a condo worker who pushed for a labor standards board for over two years, called it “incredibly frustrating” that Frey vetoed the ordinance, saying condo workers have been fighting for years for a space where they can sit down and find solutions to issues.

“It’s a shame Mayor Frey is standing with big business to stop this commonsense proposal that simply brings people to the table, but we’re looking forward to the City Council overriding this decision and getting to work making Minneapolis a better place for workers, business and community,” Rubke said in a news release by a coalition supporting the board.