The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
WAYZATA – Backed by a delegation of supporters, three janitors fired after going on strike confronted the car dealerships they used to clean yesterday, asking managers to use their influence with cleaning contractor ROC to help them get their jobs back. “I am angry because they’re not listening to us,” fired worker Julio Romero […]
A house is more than its walls and windows, more than the foundation and support beams that hold it together. Memories make a house a home. The friends and family members who gathered there – and the accomplishments that took place under its roof – are as much a part of any house as its […]
Analise Adams, a 22-year-old from Minneapolis, was working in a Linden Hills childcare center two months ago. When her aunt, a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, told her about a free training opportunity for women considering careers in construction, Adams decided to take a chance. She quit her childcare job and […]
Four janitors with 8 years of experience cleaning car dealerships in Wayzata were fired June 9, the same day they joined a Twin Cities-wide strike for better wages and working conditions. Suspecting retaliation was the motive behind their release, the janitors and their supporters are pressuring the dealerships and their cleaning contractor, ROC Commercial […]
Letter carriers nationwide collected 70.6 million pounds of food along their routes May 9 during the Stamp Out Hunger food drive, according to results announced on the National Association of Letter Carriers union’s website yesterday. The total continues a streak of 12 consecutive years in which Stamp Out Hunger has collected at least 70 […]
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – In a showing of cross-border solidarity, fair trade activists from Minnesota bolstered the ranks of local activists protesting today outside the offices of U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, a lead proponent of legislation that would “fast track” more bad trade deals that threaten U.S. jobs. Fast Track, or “trade promotion authority,” […]
RICHFIELD – Inside and outside of Best Buy’s annual shareholders meeting today, Minnesotans called on the corporation to stop using its political clout to block policies that improve working families’ lives. That includes proposed legislation in Minnesota that would provide workers and their families with the stability and security they need to ensure a […]
One week after voting 468-0 to authorize their leadership to call a strike if necessary, warehouse workers at Supervalu’s Hopkins distribution center ratified a new three-year contract June 4 that will raise wages and improve working conditions. The contract covers 723 members of Teamsters Local 120, who voted by an 8-1 margin in favor of […]
As Minnesota lawmakers announced a breakthrough in negotiations over the state’s E-12 education budget yesterday, the faces behind the financial figures – students, parents and teachers – rallied against staff and programming cuts in St. Paul. “We cannot nickle and dime our kids’ future,” school board candidate Zuki Ellis, the parent of a first-grader in the St. Paul Public […]
Workers taking collective action and communities organizing for political change form the groundwork of 15 Now, panelists said Wednesday during a forum on the nationwide movement to raise wages. The discussion was the second in a new series of monthly educational events hosted by the East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul, co-sponsored by […]
Union Advocate 