How the record-long Chisago County strike is impacting social services

Monday is day 95 on the picket line for a group of public employees in the north metro. Workers with the Teamsters Local 320 union in Chisago County went on strike back in the spring, on May 1. That's after a long set of contract negotiations failed. Those began last fall.

It’s the longest county worker strike on record, according to the state Bureau of Mediation Services, which started keeping track in the early 1970s.

The striking workers include people employed at the county government center and, mostly, health and human services staff, including social workers.

Hana Ikramuddin is a Minnesota-based reporter for The Imprint, a national news outlet that covers child welfare and youth justice. She’s following the impact the strike is having on social services and joined Minnesota Now to talk about her reporting.