The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
When the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale School Board needed help building public support for its operating levy last fall, it reached out to the teachers’ union and other employee bargaining units. The district’s union workers made thousands of phone calls, knocked doors and provided the force behind a levy campaign that won support from 70 percent […]
Something critical gets lost amid all the hysteria and bluster that passes for immigration policy debate in the U.S., according to prominent labor photojournalist David Bacon. That something, he said in a lecture April 12 in St. Paul, is this: “We’re talking about human beings.” If politicians really wanted to reform U.S. immigration policy, Bacon […]
When it comes to avoiding taxes, Wells Fargo appears to know every loophole in the book. The banking giant has received nearly $18 billion in tax breaks over the last three years, including $681 million in federal tax refunds. Now, a growing number of people – those of us without access to offshore tax shelters […]
Editor’s Note: Josh Wise is director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, which advocates for trade policies that benefit working people and the environment. He wrote this “Labor Voices” column for the April 2012 Union Advocate. Those of you who fighting for good jobs know that so called “free trade agreements,” like NAFTA, have made […]
Workers and their supporters from across the Twin Cities staged a demonstration outside the Verizon Store in Roseville today as part of the Communications Workers of America’s “Verizon National Day of Action.” The demonstration drew more than 30 people, who held signs and banners warning consumers about Verizon’s corporate greed. About 45,000 union members at […]
By a 3-to-1 margin, employees of GCA Services Group at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport voted yesterday in favor of forming a union. The 162 workers will be represented by Teamsters Local 120. GCA Services Group is a contractor that provides rental-car companies with services like shuttling, cleaning and detailing their rental vehicles. Yohannes Asfaw, a […]
As state lawmakers at the Capitol held the session’s first hearing on a proposed Right to Work(RTW) constitutional amendment today, hundreds of workers from across the state – and across the political spectrum – demonstrated in opposition to the controversial measure, calling it unsafe, unfair and unnecessary for Minnesota. Spectator seating for the 8 a.m. […]
Editor’s Note: Bobby Kasper is president of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, which represents more than 100 local unions and their 50,000 members in Ramsey, Washington, Dakota and Chisago counties. The St. Paul RLF publishes The Union Advocate newspaper. Kasper wrote this “Labor Voices” column for the March 2012 Union Advocate. As union […]
Editor’s Note: David Roe was elected president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO in October 1966 and served in that position until his retirement in December 1984. Prior to that, he served as president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council and worked as representative for his own local union, Lathers Local 190. Roe wrote this […]
Union Advocate 