The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Tom DeGree, the labor-endorsed candidate for House District 39B (map), is a small business owner, and his first campaign for public office has a distinctly entrepreneurial feel. DeGree knows the numbers, from his campaign budget to the number of successful voter contacts volunteers have made during phone banks and door-knocks. The campaign has a dynamic […]
Musicians locked out of their jobs by the Minnesota Orchestra rallied with patrons, union leaders and other supporters in Peavey Plaza downtown Minneapolis today, as the lockout of 95 members of Twin Cities Musicians Union Local 30-73 entered its second month. Although buoyed by strike benefits from their international union, the American Federation of Musicians, […]
A name certain to be in the headlines this November – for better or for worse – was also in The Union Advocate’s front-page headlines 50 years ago. The top story in the Nov. 16, 1962, edition analyzed the results of gubernatorial races across the country: “Rocky, Romney, Scranton Win Big For GOP; Nixon, Others […]
“An engineer’s bread and butter is problem solving,” said Barb Yarusso, the labor-endorsed candidate for Minnesota House in House District 42A (map). “You have to figure out the questions that have to be answered, and have an ability to stay focused on the outcome you’re looking for.” Such focus has been lacking at the Legislature […]
Musicians locked out of their jobs by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra voted unanimously today to reject a contract offer from management, prolonging a work stoppage that began Oct. 21. Management’s proposed reductions to current musicians’ salaries and benefits are unacceptable, union members said. They warned even bigger proposed cuts to future musicians’ compensation would […]
Laurie Halverson is seeking to unseat Republican Rep. Doug Wardlow in House District 51B (map). For union members in the district, the two candidates should need no further introduction. In his first term at the Capitol, Wardlow took up anti-worker Right to Work legislation as his personal pet cause, pushing a constitutional amendment on the […]
Greg Clausen’s calling in life is to be a public servant, and when the Legislature convenes next year, Clausen hopes to be serving the voting public of Senate District 57 (map) at the State Capitol. “Running for Senate is a continuation of my life’s work,” said Clausen, an Apple Valley resident who has been a fixture […]
Jim Carlson, Sandy Masin and Will Morgan are hoping voters who bounced them from office two years ago will show buyer’s remorse in 2012. All three DFLers represented suburban areas south of St. Paul, including Burnsville, Eagan and Lakeville, from 2007 to 2010, but they were swept out of office by a wave of support […]
Mary Larson Dennis, a social worker and member of AFSCME Local 151, remembers exactly the moment when she decided the freedom to marry wasn’t just a gay-rights issue, but a union issue as well. It was March 2011, and Dennis, then an officer in her union, was making the rounds on a lunch break, talking […]
Union musicians in Minneapolis and St. Paul have been locked out of their jobs by the Minneapolis-based Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO), leaving a deafening void in the Twin Cities cultural scene. SPCO musicians, who had been working under a “talk-and-play” agreement after their contract expired in September, were locked out […]
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