A meeting about the proposal Thursday turned into a shouting match at the Common Roots Coffee Shop in south Minneapolis.

The biggest objection among small businesses that was voiced was not to paid sick leave but to a scheduling requirement for four weeks in advance and penalties for employers who did not comply.

The meeting was supposed to be a forum for some small business owners, like Common Roots owner Danny Schwartzman, to endorse the proposal.

“I don’t want to see people in our community who can’t afford to be sick,” he said.

But the meeting descended into a shouting match.

Ruby Scher, a server, says she doesn’t like the proposal’s strict scheduling requirements.

“It’s affecting my ability to have flexibility in my schedule, whether it’s for serous reasons or for fun,” she said. “That’s the reason we have this job.”

Many of the opponents were restaurants owners.

“Why does everything have to be about a penalty, and such a one-sided penalty?” Deepak Nath of Empire Entertainment said. “What if the employee calls in sick? Are they going to pay us predictability pay?”

Saed Wadi, the owner of the popular World Street Kitchen said, the restaurant business model is built on flexibility.

“Don’t take [the flexibility] away from our employees,” he said. “The city is asking us to change the way we do business.”

Wadi also says many businesses don’t even know about the proposal, which could be up for a vote in the Minneapolis City Council as soon as mid-November.

“I am certainly in favor of part of it,” said Barb Johnson, the president of the Minneapolis City Council. “I am a nurse, and so I think sick leave is important for people.”

Johnson says in the past week the council has been inundated with business owners objecting to the plan, and she expects there will be changes.

“There will be compromise,” she said. “(I) can assure you of that.”

The sick pay proposal is significant in that it includes part-time workers and a maximum of nine sick days per year for employees of big companies and five per year for employees of smaller companies.

If approved, the proposal could go into effect early next year.

To see the proposal, click here.

Opinion appears to be divided on the City of Minneapolis’ intentions to implement new standards under its Working Families Agenda.

What is the proposal?

The changes would see workers accrue one hour of sick time for every 30 hours worked; and make employers set employee schedules 28 days in advance.

If an employer changes, cancels or shortens a shift with less than a day’s notice, workers would still get “predictability pay” of four hours.

The changes are designed to improve conditions for non-salaried workers who tend to work in the service industry, who face unpredictability over their working hours and often work even when they are not well enough to do so. The City says a lack of fair scheduling disproportionately affects women and people of color.

The only way that businesses could avoid the fair scheduling rule is if they have a collective bargaining agreement with workers that waives the law.

Complaints among restaurant industry

There appears to be a split among small business owners about the changes, which could be discussed by the City as soon as next month and implemented as early as January.

Much of this was on display at a meeting at Common Roots Café at 26th & Lyndale in south Minneapolis Thursday.

The Southwest Journal reports that this was intended to be a press conference in which the café and a few other local business owners – including Frank Brown of the Minuteman Press and Julie Kerns of Junket: Tossed and Found – were set to speak in favor of new standards that all businesses must honor.

But it instead turned into a heated debate as other business owners in attendance made their own views known, and according to WCCO, they say the fair scheduling law in particular could put them out of business.

The Southwest Journal notes that there were several objections relating to restaurant and outdoor businesses, who think that it is unreasonable to expect them to schedule their shifts 28 days in advance.

This, they say, is because they can’t predict how busy they will be a month ahead of time and therefore don’t know how many staff they’ll need, and in the case of outdoor businesses, they can’t predict what the weather will be like.

The changes also affect “on-call” shifts, where workers are given little advance notice that they are needed for work.

“I could not prepare a schedule that goes out 28 days to save my life. It’s just not practical to do,” said Gus Parpas, co-owner of Christos Greek Restaurant, told KARE 11 earlier this week.

He told the TV station that many of his workers are students, artists and parents who need flexible schedules, and he also has a catering business that needs to make “last minute accommodations for large groups.”

Café’s message of support for fair scheduling

But on the other sign of the coin are businesses like the Common Roots Café, which posted a lengthy and well-received comment on Facebook summing up its own feelings on fair scheduling.

They say the proposal put forward by the City is by no means perfect, and hopes it can work through issues to avoid putting an “undue burden” on small businesses,

But the overall aims of predictable schedules and guaranteed sick pay is something the eatery ultimately backs, saying: “We stand in support of a city-wide ordinance that addresses these concerns and makes Minneapolis a better place to make a living and a life.”

The café acknowledged the changes “will be challenging for small business,” but adds: “We believe that we can work together to set a higher standard and make Minneapolis a national leader in supporting workers and their families.”

ST. PAUL, Minn. (WCCO) – The St. Paul chapter of Black Lives Matters will not disrupt the Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday.

That’s the word from a closed-door meeting between St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and leaders of the organization.

Coleman and city attorney Sammy Clark sat down with organizers of Black Lives Matters and spent hour talking about issues that have communities of color concerned.

Black Lives Matter St. Paul organizer Rashad Turner says his organization will not pose a threat to people running and attending this weekend’s marathon.

“Part of our goal is raising awareness,” he said. “I think that’s been done, another goal is safety. I think it’s a balance of those two things.”

Coleman says settling issues surrounding the planned protest allows him and Black Lives Matter to focus on what is most important.

“This isn’t about a protest on Sunday,” Turner said. “It’s not about a rally, it’s not about the marathon, this is about the work this country and this community needs to do to assure that all are treated fairly and equally under the law.”

Coleman says the city continues to address inequality in education, employment and housing.

Turner says Black Lives Matter got what it wanted.

“The mayor took the time to listen,” Turner said. “He heard our concerns, he expressed his commitment to our issues in the community.”

Coleman says he’s thankful for Thursday’s talk and looks forward to continued talks, as well as an incident-free marathon.

“Organizers of the march and the rally on Sunday have agreed to not disrupt the course, have agreed that they will not go onto the course,” Coleman said. “It is our intent to provide space near the finish line where the rally can happen, where community members can gather, where voices can be raised and heard.”

Turner says elders in the community, like former city councilman and civil rights leader Nathaniel Kaliq, helped guide him through Thursday’s meeting.

All involved say they are looking forward to further discussion about how to address issues of inequality in St. Paul.

Multiple outlets are reporting that it happened Thursday morning at a quarry near Rochester, where multiple emergency response crews showed up and attempted lifesaving efforts.

According to ABC 6, the unidentified man was apparently between two dump trucks when one of them backed into the other and “pinned” him.

Despite lifesaving efforts, the badly injured man died at the scene, the station says.

It happened at Rochester Sand & Gravel, which the Post Bulletin describes as a “mining and asphalt operation” in High Forest Township.

The paper says the man’s identity, as well as the names of the companies that own the dump trucks involves, will be released on Friday.

The Star Tribune reports that plans have been submitted to the City of Bloomington for the next phase of the megamall’s expansion, which will increase its size by another 1 million square feet by fall 2018.

It would comprise of a hotel, an office tower, and retail space aimed at luxury shoppers called “The Collections at MOA,” the newspaper says, adding that it will create a “new and vibrant high-end shopping district at MOA”

The Business Journal reports that the latest expansion is likely to cost upward of $500 million,  and would include 580,000 square foot of retail space, a 180-room hotel with 120 apartment/condo units above, a 168,000 square foot office building and between 600 and 650 parking spaces.

The publication has some images of the new expansion you can view here.

The website notes that the new wing of the mall will link to the still-under-construction $325 million extension at the north end of the mall between Nordstrom and Sears, with Star Tribune saying it would connect via a multi-story bridge over Lindau Lane.

The first section of the mall’s north addition opened earlier this month, the Associated Press reports, with restaurants the first tenants to move in, setting up shop in a new food court dubbed “Culinary on North.”