Shortly before 4 pm today, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) filed an Unfair Labor Practice Charge against LIUNA Local 363 for violation of MN Statute 179A.13, subdivision 3(13) which prohibits employee organizations, their agents and representatives, and employees from “picketing which unreasonably interferes with the ingress and egress to facilities of the public employer.”
The MPRB owns and maintains Minnehaha Regional Park and the building that vendor Sea Salt restaurant leases. On July 17, 2024, LIUNA Local 363 (Union) picketers blocked delivery trucks that were attempting to make essential deliveries at Sea Salt restaurant, and Union picketers tried to convince delivery drivers to leave without making their deliveries to the restaurant. By Noon, Union picketers had convinced more than one delivery truck driver to leave without making their deliveries. Another driver was intimidated by Union picketers and made Sea Salt staff— escorted by Minneapolis Park Police—unload the delivery truck a block away to avoid interacting with the crowd.
The same day, July 17, Union picketers similarly harassed and blocked essential truck deliveries at the Bread and Pickle restaurant at Lake Harriet, which is located in the park and a building owned and maintained by the MPRB.
On July 18, 2024, Union picketers stood in front of and blocked employees’ personal vehicles as they were arriving for work at the MPRB’s Southside Operations Center around 5:30 a.m. Union picketers then blocked employees in MPRB trucks and equipment from leaving the lot at Southside Operations Center. At approximately, 6:20 a.m., while picketers were continuing to block the lot’s exit, a MPRB employee on-duty driving a MPRB vehicle tried to proceed out of the lot, and possibly struck—at a low speed—a Union field representative who was sitting blocking the lot’s exit. Then a Union picketer approached the driver’s side door and opened it threateningly. No one was injured, but MPRB vehicles and equipment remained trapped in the Southside lot until Minneapolis Park Police arrived at approximately 7 a.m.
The MPRB requests an order requiring Local 363 to cease and desist from the unfair labor practice to post a cease-and-desist notice in the workplace. In addition, MPRB will petition the district court for enforcement of the order and for appropriate temporary relief or a restraining order.