We have seen Marathon Refinery in St. Paul Park kick out local contractors with skilled union tradesmen and women and replace them with out of state contractors in the last 5 years. We decided to take a stand for safety, and for the community. In Minnesota, cutting corners and doing things on the cheap isn’t the way we do business. We have bannered at the Refinery all summer. We have supported billboards and social media campaigns to alert the public to this issue. The other thing we have been working on is a bill at the state capitol that would require contractors working in oil refineries to have apprenticeship training programs. This would be a minimum requirement, that would at least ensure the contractors they use have access to training and skilled workers.
This bill has made it to the end of session negotiations because of our push. Now is the time for your local elected officials to hear from you for the final push.
Contact your state reps right now, tell them to go to their leadership and ask them to get the safe and skilled workforce act language passed this session.
