Results are in: Letter Carriers’ food drive nets over 70 million pounds nationwide

  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 […]

With Fast Track vote looming, Minnesotans join ‘last-ditch effort’ to sway Wisconsin rep

  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,” […]

Protesters to Best Buy: ‘Get out of the way so we can have justice’

  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 […]

Teamsters at Supervalu’s Hopkins facility ratify new contract

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 lawmakers haggle, faces behind education budget speak out in St. Paul

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 […]

Victory in Los Angeles buoys hopes of local 15 Now supporters

  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 […]

Rose Roach: It’s health care, not ‘wealth care’ – and it’s a human right

A. Phillip Randolph, union organizer and president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, once said, “The essence of trade unionism is social uplift. The labor movement has been the haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden, the poor.” The essence of trade unionism is social uplift. What better issue to provide […]

It’s official: Dayton signs Minnesota home care workers’ contract into law

In a victory for 27,000 home health care workers across Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton today gave final approval to a historic first union contract that will dramatically improve working conditions in the industry when it takes effect July 1. Dayton’s signature on the Omnibus Health and Human Services bill, passed by the Legislature with bipartisan […]

Janitors set new strike deadline, accuse cleaning contractor of wage theft

Janitors who clean big-box and department stores in the Twin Cities announced two key developments in their campaign for better wages and working conditions today, setting a new strike deadline and filing a class-action lawsuit to recoup wages allegedly lost to wage theft. Members of with the Twin Cities worker center CTUL took legal action […]

With Fast Track poised to pass Senate, Franken keeps up fight for better trade policy

A procedural vote last week greased the wheels for Fast Track in the U.S. Senate, but Sen. Al Franken is keeping up the fight for a trade bill that does the least harm to U.S. workers. Yesterday Franken offered two amendments to the Fast Track bill. One would require tougher labor and environmental standards from […]