Fair trade activists to Cargill: What’s the big secret?

If free-trade agreements like the forthcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership are in the public interest, then why are they negotiated in private? That’s the question supporters of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition asked during a July 9 rally in Hopkins. The coalition of labor, environmental and agricultural organizations is mounting a public campaign to pressure the Obama […]

Politics take center stage at state Building Trades convention

One by one, DFL state lawmakers took the podium on the opening day of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council’s annual convention July 19-20 in St. Cloud. Invariably, each offered his own variation on three common themes: • DFLers salvaged the 2012 legislative session by providing the votes – or the veto power – […]