The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Minnesota’s workforce is experiencing tremendous transition. Thousands of our experienced baby boomers are retiring, while many employers are seeking a workforce capable of meeting increased levels of skill to operate new technologies with precision. An emerging, yet familiar, pathway for some employers to successfully bridge that gap is registered apprenticeship programs. Registered apprenticeship programs have […]
TruStone Financial has opened two new suburban branches in the last three months, but the credit union isn’t just upgrading its facilities. Workers accuse TruStone of using the relocation process as an opportunity to splinter their union. TruStone opened a new branch in Burnsville last Monday, two days after shuttering its nearby Apple Valley […]
The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, with more than 100 affiliate unions representing 50,000 union members in the East Metro, has endorsed six candidates for St. Paul City Council on the Nov. 3 ballot. Read more about Ward 2 candidate Darren Tobolt here, and read profiles of the Labor-endorsed candidates for St. Paul school […]
Four candidates for four open seats on the St. Paul school board have been endorsed by the St. Paul Federation of Teachers and the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. Here are brief profiles of the candidates that appeared in The Union Advocate’s Election Guide in advance of the Nov. 3 election. Zuki […]
Workers at the Wedge Co-Op in Minneapolis are poised to vote in an organizing election next month. Co-Op Partners Warehouse workers reached a tentative agreement with the Wedge earlier this month. But that might come as news to the co-op’s shareholders, who were left in the dark regarding the strides workers are taking toward a […]
Contracts covering about 27,500 state employees, including members of AFSCME Council 5 and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, will go into effect next month after a legislative subcommittee failed to reject or approve the agreements. Members of the Subcommittee on Employee Relations split along party lines in a 5-5 vote yesterday. Under state law, […]
Minnesota plummeted in a nationwide ranking of hospital safety released yesterday, but that came as no surprise to nurses, whose reports of unsafe staffing incidents in hospitals statewide have doubled over the last 12 months. Minnesota fell from 15th to 32nd in the Hospital Safety Score rankings, based on the percentage of hospitals that receive […]
Voters in the Forest Lake Area School District last year rejected a $176 million levy request, leaving the district’s facilities in critical need of updates and repair. Now, the district is back with another request on the Nov. 3 ballot, seeking $161 million over two unique referendums. Supporters of the local “Vote Yes” campaign, including […]
Ellen Fahey and Marge Newmaster, two of three labor-endorsed candidates for White Bear Lake school board, understand the challenges working families face, value public education and appreciate the collective bargaining process. It’s no coincidence Fahey and Newmaster also are union members. Minnesota unions have put a focus in recent years on training and equipping members, […]
The trophy on display in Local 1’s New Hope training center may be small, but the accomplishment behind it – Brandon Peterson’s first-place finish in the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers’ International Apprentice Contest – is as grand as they come. Peterson, a 33-year-old apprentice tile setter from Ham Lake, advanced from local and regional tiling competitions […]
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