Photos: ‘Labor Sing!’ raises funds for locked-out musicians, striking Laborers

The Twin Cities Labor Chorus put solidarity into song Tuesday night, hosting “Labor Sing” with Minnesota musician Charlie Maguire at the State Fairgrounds’ Labor Pavilion. The sing-along did more than raise the spirits of 30-plus people in attendance, however. Donations collected at the concert were split evenly between relief funds supporting locked-out musicians of the […]

In negotiations on first contract, North Star Steel dropped anchor

North Star Steel approached “a new level of absurdity” in an attempt to avoid negotiating a first contract with 30 clerical and sales employees at its Newport facility, The Advocate reported in August 1988. The workers had voted a year earlier to join the United Steelworkers, but management refused to bargain with the union. After […]

Union: Cretex harassed, discriminated against Latino workers

The union representing workers on strike at a Shakopee concrete plant opened a new front in the labor dispute today, when 15 members of Laborers Local 563 filed civil rights charges with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission alleging Cretex mistreated Latino employees. Local 563 represents 38 Cretex workers who have been on strike since June […]

UPDATED: Laborers plan Aug. 6 rally in support of striking Cretex workers

The union representing 38 workers on strike at the Cretex concrete plant in Shakopee will stage a public rally Aug. 6 at 10 a.m. on the picket line. Elected officials from the state and local levels will join supporters from the labor community, putting pressure on the company to reach a settlement that would end […]

Labor volunteers needed for United Way Action Day

It only takes 15 minutes to make a difference at United Way Action Day! Union members can get involved in the second metro-wide volunteer event Aug. 14 by joining the St. Paul Labor Studies and Resource Center’s Community Services team. Union volunteers are needed at two events: • “Speed volunteering” downtown at Ecolab Plaza, 370 […]

Harry Melander: Building builders, growing our economy

Drive to just about any region in our State. Look up or down, and you will see: “We are back.” You see new mining opportunities on the Iron Range and housing developments in our urban core. You see expansion of our medical center in Rochester and new investments in our regional transit system. All are […]

Laundry workers picket for fair contract on St. Paul’s East Side

Workers who clean linens for hospitals across the metro picketed outside Health Systems Cooperative Laundries on St. Paul’s East Side today, giving their employer a taste of what to expect if management continues to drag its feet in negotiations. About 240 Health Systems Cooperative employees, members of Workers United Local 150, have been working without […]

Union opposes U.S. Bank CEO’s campaign for Minneapolis Institute of Arts board

Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union announced today it will protest outside the Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ annual membership meeting tomorrow, urging members not to elect U.S. Bank CEO Richard Davis to their Board of Trustees. Davis is the immediate past chair of the Minnesota Orchestra’s board. The orchestra has been locking union […]

Community group plans dialogue on Minnesota Orchestra’s future

Orchestrate Excellence, a grassroots group of audience members and business owners working to end the Minnesota Orchestra lockout, will host a community forum, “Our Community’s Commitment to the Minnesota Orchestra,” Aug. 20 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Minneapolis. The forum will explore the community’s role in supporting the Minnesota Orchestra. […]

Striking Cretex workers appeal to Shakopee City Council for support

Striking union members and their supporters filled the Shakopee City Council chambers last night in an appeal to local leaders for their help resolving the 29-day work stoppage at Cretex Companies’ concrete plant inside the city limits. “What’s going on right now is not good for Shakopee,” Tim Mackey, business manager of Laborers Local 563, […]