St. Louis County snow plow drivers vote to authorize strike

St. Louis County snow plow drivers have refused the county’s latest contract offer, therefore it automatically triggers a labor strike. The Teamsters Local 320 chapter president, Erik Skoog said the labor strike won’t happen immediately. However, the labor strike will be “extremely deliberate” in 2023.

“We will be filing our intent to strike. Actually, as we speak, we are plotting the calendar and ordering picket signs for that event. This is going to be predicated on that.” Skoog said. Subsequently, St. Louis County’s snow plow drivers and other public works employees’ current contract runs through the end of this year.

Consequently, the snow plow drivers can file their intent to strike with the bureau of mediation services. Although, this triggers a 10-day cooling off period. Basically, the earliest time they could strike is mid-January, according to St. Louis County.

“To the general public out there. Unfortunately, we’re being pushed into this position, you know, these folks work hard, they’re committed. And unfortunately, county leadership has just pushed us here. We have to take care of our own and we need to stand up for ourselves. And by standing up, if that means that the roles are not going to get fired, they’re going to take that up with their county commissioners and county leadership.” Skoog said.

However, St. Louis county released a statement after the teamster’s vote Monday night to move forward with an intent to strike for the snow plow drivers. The statement “We are disappointed and discouraged to hear the outcome of the vote by members of teamsters local 320, who have rejected our contract proposal as part of labor negotiations for contracts effective January 2023.”

For more information about St. Louis County public workers you can look here https://www.stlouiscountymn.gov/departments-a-z/public-works/about-public-works/faqs.

For our story looking at St. Louis County the snow plow drivers you can look here https://www.wdio.com/front-page/top-stories/st-louis-county-snow-plow-drivers-likely-reject-countys-offer/.