Five reasons workers are fighting Trump’s pick for labor secretary

Working people aren’t waiting for fast-food CEO and robotics enthusiast Andy Puzder’s confirmation hearings – twice delayed because he’s having difficulty completing the required ethics paperwork – to oppose President Donald Trump’s nominee for Labor secretary. Last week fast-food workers led a demonstration outside Hardee’s, a chain operated by Puzder-led CKE Restaurants, in St. Paul. […]

Minnesota union members marched against Trump in droves. Here’s why

  Dressed in hard hats and union colors, union members were among the estimated 100,000 people who joined the Women’s March in Minnesota one day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, capping three days of protests – locally and nationally – that put the new administration on notice of popular opposition to his policy objectives and governing […]

Workers to give Franklin Street Bakery owners a ‘taste of justice’

Fighting hunger is a worthy cause, but workers at a local bakery say their bosses should start by paying them a living wage. Workers at Franklin Street Bakery in Minneapolis are planning “A Taste of Justice” next Saturday, Feb. 4, the same night their bosses, Wayne Kostrowski and Mark Haugen, will throw their glitzy fundraiser, […]

St. Paul teachers answer Trump’s divisive rhetoric with wall of support for immigrant students

  Teachers, parents and community members lined the walkway outside LEAP High School in St. Paul yesterday, forming a protective wall around students at the school for new immigrants as they walked to their buses after dismissal. Organized by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers on the day before Donald Trump’s inauguration, the public action […]

Medical cannabis workers’ new contract reflects industry growth

Workers at Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of two companies authorized by the state to produce medical cannabis, voted unanimously Jan. 12 to ratify a new union contract that reflects – and anticipates – growth in the industry. The three-year pact includes annual wage increases, provides premium pay for lead positions and time spent training other […]

Dreading Trump? Turn your anger into action at four Twin Cities inauguration protests

We’re a week away from seeing former reality-TV boss Donald Trump – a megalomaniac with a track record of not paying his employees, fanning the flames of bigotry and making “locker-room talk” about sexual assault – assume the highest office in the land. Whether the impending Trump presidency scares the hell out of you or […]

Home care union, state reach tentative agreement on new contract

After negotiations that took nearly four months to conclude, home care workers are poised to vote on a tentative agreement for a new union contract with the State of Minnesota that would raise their wage floor from $11 to $13. The home care workers’ union, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, announced the tentative agreement in a press […]

Lawmakers seek answers as Walmart strains local police time, municipal resources

State Rep. John Lesch, a prosecutor in St. Paul for 15 years, can recite the address from memory: 1450 University Avenue West. That’s Walmart’s Midway location, and it is a magnet for shoplifting and other petty crime that, like several other Walmart stores in Minnesota and across the country, absorbs a disproportionate amount of attention […]

Kaela Berg: TPP is dead, but fight for fair trade isn’t over

Many of us are left reeling from the results of the 2016 election and what it will mean for this country moving forward. The future of U.S. trade policy is unclear, as is much of the political and economic landscape. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has officially been declared “dead.” That means that, in its current […]

Challenges remain, but soccer stadium breaks ground in Midway district

Youth soccer players and local dignitaries sent dirt and snow flying during a ceremonial groundbreaking Dec. 12 for the planned 20,000-seat pro-soccer stadium in St. Paul’s Midway district. The $250 million construction project remains in the early, exploratory stages, and snarls remain both at the Capitol, where lawmakers must sign off on a property-tax exemption […]