The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Anticipating negotiations with a school district that seems perpetually short on resources, St. Paul teachers launched their contract campaign today – Tax Day – by calling on the city’s wealthiest corporations to pay their fair share toward local public schools. St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28 kicked off its contract campaign early this […]
State lawmakers are more than a month away from the deadline for finishing their work, and although negotiations over big-ticket items like the state budget, an infrastructure bill and long-term transportation investments have yet to begin in earnest, it already has been a disappointing legislative session for Minnesota’s working families. It’s been clear from the […]
Volunteer plumbers provided an estimated $70,000 worth of service and repairs to senior, low-income and disabled homeowners in Minnesota during their unions’ annual Water’s Off day of service March 25. The program, begun in 1994, is a joint effort sponsored annually by Minnesota plumbers’ unions and their contractors to give back to the community – […]
Twin Cities nurses provided the inspiration for a new play opening tomorrow at Macalester College, with special, off-site performances scheduled next week at the Minnesota Nurses Association offices in St. Paul. “Acute Care” draws from interviews with nurses conducted by director Beth Cleary, a theater professor at the college, and nine of her students. The […]
Good times will roll at the Minnesota State Retiree Council’s fundraiser April 29, and people of any age are welcome to join in the fun. The 14th Annual State Retiree Council Fun(d)raiser will extend from 3 to 7 p.m. at a new venue, the St. Paul Labor Center, 353 W. 7th St., near the Smith […]
Union members are becoming increasingly scarce in the U.S. labor force. It’s a trend that continued in 2016, when union density fell from 11.1 to 10.7 percent of the total workforce, according to federal report issued in January. Unions’ demise has assumed an aura of inevitability. So when the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its […]
I believe our unions can survive and thrive in a right-to-work nation. America isn’t powered by quitters and neither is our labor movement. We’re committed to our members, to each other, and to our communities. With President Trump and Justice Gorsuch, we know right-to-work will happen. The only question is how soon. Survival won’t be […]
The Minnesota House passed a bill last night that would strip 150,000 Minnesotans of newly won earned-sick-and-safe-time benefits and block local governments from raising labor standards in their communities. As debate raged inside the Republican-controlled House, opponents from labor, faith and community groups rallied outside the chamber, calling the bill a corporate power grab and […]
Mayoral elections are on the horizon in both Minneapolis and St. Paul. Corporate lobbyists at the Minnesota Capitol are taking aim at local ordinances expanding access to earned sick and safe time. The timing, it seems, couldn’t be better for author Steve Early’s book reading and discussion at 7 p.m. March 7 at the East […]
What’s the value of a union contract? For nearly 500 retail janitors in the Twin Cities, who made history last year by forming the industry’s first metro-wide union, it’s a cool $4.5 million in wage increases and paid time off over the course of their new, three-year contract. Local 26 of the Service Employees International […]
Union Advocate 