Home care workers ratify new contract, urge lawmakers to get serious about looming care crisis

Union members who provide in-home health services to clients across Minnesota have ratified a new contract with the state that will lift wages, provide holiday pay, boost paid-time off and expand training opportunities for an estimated 27,000 home care workers statewide. The new contract, home care workers’ second since voting to join SEIU Healthcare Minnesota […]

Nurses buy – and forgive – $2.6 million in medical debt for Minnesotans

Twin Cities community members overwhelmingly supported Allina nurses during their historic strike last year. Today, members of the Minnesota Nurses Association offered a thank-you gift for that support, purchasing and forgiving the past-due accounts of 1,800 families facing a combined $2.6 million in medical debt. MNA, a union of more than 20,000 registered nurses, located […]

New worker center reaches out to poultry, packinghouse workers in Minnesota

The Hardman Avenue Workers Center, located at the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189 hall in South St. Paul, opened with a celebration and free citizenship workshops for immigrant workers last week. The goal of the initiative, Local 1189 organizing director Abraham Wangnoo said, is to “start teaching people what their rights are,” particularly […]

Denise Rodriguez: ‘Our contract is the most powerful tool we have’

When she and her friends played school as kids, Denise Rodriguez was always the teacher. As a teenager she dreamed of teaching Spanish at Harding High School, just like her favorite teacher. Now Rodriguez, president of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers for the last three years, is set to retire June 12 after 39 […]

Rose Roach: Let’s bring back sanity, fairness and compassion

Our wealth is being stolen from us. We are being robbed of our opportunity to better our plight. This isn’t some liberal conspiracy “theory” – it’s an actual conspiracy. Public education is being defunded so only those with money can get a “good” education for their children. The cost of college is so high that […]

Poised to strike this weekend, AT&T wireless workers seek support on picket line

Some 21,000 AT&T wireless workers in 36 states – including about 2,000 in Minnesota – plan to strike this weekend, a show of frustration over the company’s failure to negotiate a new contract that protects good, family-supporting jobs. The strike is set to begin at 2 p.m. tomorrow unless AT&T and the Communications Workers of America, which […]

Transit operators, riders urge Dayton to stand strong against cuts

Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a transportation bill Monday that would have slashed funding for Metro Transit bus and rail services by $17.5 million over the next two years. Transit riders and operators cheered the governor’s veto at a rally Tuesday outside the Capitol, urging Dayton to continue standing firm against service cuts and fare hikes. […]

Stamp Out Hunger with union-made products

Letter Carriers nationwide will help restock food shelves in their local communities May 13 during the annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive. It’s the largest one-day food drive in the country –and a shining example of the many ways union members give back to their communities every day. So why not double the impact of […]

Sheet Metal Workers put new lid on St. Paul’s municipal booya shed

St. Paul’s municipal booya kitchen has a new roof, thanks to members of Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 and union contractor Berwald Roofing. Four members of Local 10 installed a new standing seam metal roof on the structure in Highland Park today. The contractor donated supplies; Local 10 picked up the labor costs. The union’s […]

Ken Peterson: On Workers Memorial Day we remember the dead, fight for the living

Four workers from St. Louis will not be alive to observe Workers Memorial Day on April 28 this year. Their unnecessary deaths earlier in the month are a stark reminder that despite calls for cutting back government regulations, we cannot allow workplace safety standards or enforcement to be reduced. At about 7:30 a.m., Monday, April […]