More than 700 union workers at the Metropolitan Council say they are ready to strike.
AFSCME Council 5 and Local 668 leaders said Friday that 94% of union members who voted support authorizing a strike against the Met Council, the agency that oversees regional planning, wastewater treatment and mass transit in the Twin Cities.
Union members, who do a variety of work for the council, are negotiating an employment contract and oppose performance-based pay increases they argue are “shrouded in secrecy and exacerbate pay inequities.”
“For too long, our union members at the Metropolitan Council have been underpaid and undervalued and now we are saying ‘enough is enough,’ and by historic numbers, we have voted to authorize a strike,” said Tiffany Leff, Local 668 president, in a statement.
The state Bureau of Mediation Services will be notified of the strike vote. There is a 10-day cooling down period during which both sides will work with a mediator.
