Striking workers reach tentative agreement with Minneapolis Park Board

A tentative labor agreement between the Minneapolis Park Board and its workers “will make a significant impact” on their lives, union leaders said Friday.

The agreement signed Friday by the Park Board and the union ends a three-week strike — the first in the park system’s 141-year history — and was accompanied by a separate agreement to have workers return to their jobs Monday.

Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 363, which represents more than 200 full-time employees, expects to hold a vote to ratify the agreement next week. A date had not been established as of late Friday afternoon.

At a news conference, Local 363 members said the agreement included a 10.25% wage increase and a $1.75 hourly market adjustment over three years.

Union officials repeatedly had slammed Park Board officials for allowing wages to fall behind the pay of park workers in neighboring cities and also to be eroded by inflation. The park system in Minneapolis has been stressed in recent years by unhoused communities, substance abuse and civil unrest.

“Not going to sugarcoat it and pretend it’s everything they deserve, but hopefully [the wages are] more competitive and enough to get good candidates,” said AJ Lange, business manager for the union.

Lange said the market adjustment will have a bigger impact on the park system’s lower-paid positions that had wider disparities compared to counterparts in other cities.

And union officials said they successfully had removed contract language that would have made wage step increases discretionary. “This will definitely have an impact on peoples’ lives,” Lange said.

It’s unclear how much the new contract will affect Minneapolis property taxes. In a July 16 letter, Parks Superintendent Al Bangoura said the Park Board’s last offer would result in a 1.74% increase for city taxpayers as a whole. The union’s counteroffer, Bangoura said, would result in a 2.5% increase — what he called “the single largest property tax increase in over 30 years” by the Park Board.

Spokesperson Dawn Sommers said Friday that the Park Board “looks forward to the Local 363 vote next week and is optimistic that the contract will be accepted.”

Over the last three weeks, orange T-shirts and picket signs became common sights for parkgoers as more than half of park workers joined the strike. Picketers disrupted operations at several park-owned facilities, and the strike forced the cancellation of bandshell concerts and delayed cleanup after recent heavy rainstorms.

Earlier this week, workers delivered a petition of no-confidence with 2,000 signatures to the Park Board. Striking workers shut down Wednesday’s Park Board meeting with a three-hour protest.

“All the workers really showed their courage,” said Mitchell Clendenen, who works as a crew leader for the park system. “I’m happy to get back to work. It’s been worth it.”