The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Whether you have 15 minutes or four hours to spare, you can make a big difference in your community on United Way Action Day, a volunteer event Aug. 22 sponsored by Greater Twin Cities United Way. The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation’s Labor Studies and Resource Center is seeking volunteers from the union community for […]
Earlier this spring, I stood on the steamy streets of Chicago and witnessed a revival that my union brothers and sisters in the Windy City said was a long time coming. I’d been swept into town a day earlier along with hundreds of nurses, union members and others to help National Nurses United (of which […]
Could John Kline live on $290 per week? That’s the question several constituents from the 2nd Congressional District asked their Republican representative in the weeks leading up to today’s three-year anniversary of the last federal minimum-wage increase. When Kline failed to provide his constituents with an answer, they decided to deliver a letter to his […]
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 […]
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 – […]
The union representing more than 400 striking janitors in Houston is fanning out across the country this week, setting up solidarity picket lines outside buildings cleaned by contractors involved in their dispute back home. In Minneapolis yesterday, about 40 union members and supporters picketed outside U.S. Bancorp Center, which secures its cleaning services through ABM, […]
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of American Crystal Sugar’s decision to lock out its 1,300 union workers at facilities in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa, the Twin Cities Labor Chorus and the Lex-Ham Community Theater will present an evening of songs and words of action in support of the locked-out workers – and, […]
Local 1189 of the United Food and Commercial Workers will host a fundraiser for victims of flooding across northeastern Minnesota last month. The benefit will take place July 26, from 5 to 8 p.m., at the local’s union hall in South St. Paul, 266 Hardman Ave. North, and will feature “food, fun and solidarity.” Proceeds […]
River Valley Action will host a forum entitled “Follow the Money: How big money influences our elections and public policy” Aug. 8, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., in Peter O’Neill Hall at Guardian Angels Church in Oakdale. From the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling to the influence groups like ALEC are having on the legislative […]
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act, announced today, keeps the country moving toward a health care system that ensures affordable, high-quality coverage for all Americans, Minnesota’s union leaders said. The court’s narrow, 5-4 decision to keep intact the landmark 2010 law, known as “Obamacare,” drew cheers from workers, retirees, students […]
Union Advocate 