Meet More Grievance & Negotiating Members
KENDALL GROENEWOLD
This is Kendall’s first time on the Grievance and Negotiating Committee, although he has been a steward representing Home Care department for over ten years. Born and raised in the SW corner of the state in Worthington, Brother Groenewold ventured to Mankato after high school to further his education. He then made his way to the Twin Cities after a brief stint in Waseca working for a plumbing concern, where he initially took on a job maintaining 480 apartments. He then spent two years with a Heating and Air Conditioning company before joining Minnegasco in 1990 in the Home Care department where he has remained since.
Initially Kendall was encouraged to get involved in the union by then neighbor Ian Brown. As he became a regular at union meetings union officials Tom Veldhouse and Dick Musenbrock took it one step further and persuaded Kendall to run for union steward, emphasizing to him that the union needed some younger representatives. Kendall is an avid hunter, fisherman, and golfer. However, Brother Groenewold has let snowmobiling go to the wayside as he happily devotes more time to his family, which includes his wife and two children.
MIKE HARTEL
Brother Hartel graduated from Columbia Heights H.S. in 1970 and spent the next four years in a variety of jobs. He had a photography business, did some community theatre, performed at a dinner theatre in Landfall, and worked for the Chimera Theatre in St. Paul as theatre photographer and publicist. In 1974 Mike hooked up with the Air Force for a four year stint. He was sent to Altus, Okla-homa where he was trained and then worked as an air traffic controller. In 1978 Mr. Hartel enrolled at the University of Minnesota. Mike was able to work summers at Minnegasco as his Dad was employed in Customer Service. By 1980 Mike decided to seek full time employ-ment with the company and was hired. He worked his way through a variety of helper jobs (including helper on the last 340 Large Main Crew) until he moved to Meter Installation where he remains.
Mike has been a steward since 1991, has been on the 3 person union finance committee since 1989 and has been on the Grievance and Negotiation Committee through 3 prior contract negotiations. In his spare time Brother Hartel likes to golf and collect sheet music and just completed his 8th year on the Columbia Heights charter commission.
BRUCE HEMINGER
Bruce was as he puts it “a Minneapolis boy from day one” graduating from Roosevelt High School. After a two year hitch in the army Bruce tried his hand at a number of jobs and was not quite sure where he was headed until he hitched on with Minne-gasco in 1978 in the Customer Service Department. Brother Heminger’s first work location was the unique Northeast Warehouse at 1144 Fillmore NE., and except for temporary transfers to the street for a couple of summers, has remained at “home” in Home Care since 1978. Since 1998 Mr. Heminger has been a Master in Home Care, and has also been an instructor for HVAC classes on a volunteer basis.
Early on in his career Bruce ran into a little trouble with the com-pany and was greatly assisted by the union and in particular Charles McCoy. Seeking to return the favor, Bruce decided to become involved in the union. He has been union steward since the early 1990s, has been on the union finance committee for over ten years, and was on the Grievance and Negotiation Committee once before. Bruce is kept busy in his spare time occasionally hunting or fishing and enjoying his time with his wife and 3 children.