The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
The Minnesota Legislature is expected to take up the $9.50 an hour minimum wage bill in the first weeks of the 2014 legislative session. Raising Minnesota’s minimum wage to $9.50 an hour would mean a raise for 360,000 working Minnesotans and significant gains in purchasing power for women and people of color, according to a […]
Our Minnesota State Fair prides itself in offering new things to be found on the fairgrounds each year. But this year, I found one of the State Fair’s new offerings distressing – and insulting – to me. I have regularly attended our “Great Minnesota Get-Together” since childhood, and for as long as I can remember […]
Although a federal appeals court last month temporarily blocked a Minnesota law allowing in-home child-care providers to vote on whether they want a union, AFSCME Council 5, the union seeking the election, dismissed the injunction as temporary. “This one-sentence ruling has nothing to do with the merits of the case,” said union spokesperson Jennifer Munt. […]
Central Lutheran School in St. Paul is now handicapped accessible, thanks to the goodwill donations of three union trades. Volunteers from Laborers Local 132, Plasterers Local 265 and Cement Masons Local 633 helped build a concrete walkway to the school, located in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood, from Lexington Parkway. Local 132 paid for the materials, […]
The nation’s oldest union of health care workers marked its 80th anniversary Sept. 20 by welcoming a new group of members, home care workers, into the local. For the first time ever, roll call to open SEIU Healthcare Minnesota’s convention included a unit of personal care attendants who are hired by their clients and paid […]
The U.S. immigration system is broken, and both new American immigrants and American-born workers are suffering the consequences. On Oct. 5, supporters of comprehensive immigration reform will take part in a National Day for Dignity and Respect, with events in more than 40 cities nationwide. Locally, activists will gather at 12:30 p.m. at the Basilica […]
Painters and Allied Trades District Council 82’s annual PATCH Golf Fundraiser Aug. 29 was the biggest – and most successful – in the 11-year history of the event, Business Manager Terry Nelson said. The tournament drew a record 205 golfers, enough to fill both 18-hole courses at Majestic Oaks Golf Club in Ham Lake. It […]
Folk-rocker Billy Bragg gave a union rally on the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus a kick in the pants today, performing an impromptu, two-song set on the steps of Morrill Hall – and throwing his support behind the U’s frontline workers as they bargain for affordable health care coverage. [Click here to sign a […]
Addressing a roomful of union retirees in Maplewood today, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton recounted his morning meeting with members of Laborers Local 563 who are on strike, fighting to ensure a secure retirement of their own. Dayton’s remarks to the Minnesota State Retiree Council’s 17th convention came on the heels of a dialogue with workers […]
After voting unanimously to reject management’s final contract offer, seven members of Teamsters Local 120 who work at Minneapolis-based Metal-Matic, Inc. went on strike Tuesday morning. They remained on the picket line this afternoon. The workers, drivers for the steel-tubing manufacturer, rejected what Local 120 representative Bill Wedebrand called “extreme concessions” regarding their pension benefits. […]
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