The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Health care workers at eight Twin Cities hospitals are poised to enjoy greater health and safety protections on the job as part of their new union contract. SEIU Healthcare Minnesota announced today that its members have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract covering about 3,500 workers at five health systems: Children’s Hospitals, […]
Two public events in March – a film screening and a lecture – will consider the wisdom of increasing the use of standardized testing in public education. St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28 will co-sponsor a screening of “Standardized” at 6 p.m. March 10 at the East Side Freedom Library, 1105 Greenbrier St. The […]
Minnesota’s projected $1.9 billion state budget surplus, announced today by Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Myron Frans, is proof that progressive policies pushed by DFL lawmakers over the last two years have helped foster economic growth, the state’s unions said. The Minnesota AFL-CIO, the state’s largest labor federation, representing more than 300,000 union members, said […]
The parent company of T.J. Maxx and Marshalls yesterday announced it would copy Walmart’s decision to raise minimum hourly wages for U.S. workers to $9 per hour by June. But a Twin Cities-based worker center cast doubt on whether the change would benefit the low-wage workers who clean those stores. That’s because TJX Cos. contracts […]
With their contract negotiations stuck in a holding pattern, Sun Country Airlines pilots have voted unanimously in favor of authorizing union representatives to call a strike. The Air Line Pilots Association announced the voting results yesterday, noting that 209 of the 216 eligible Sun Country pilots participated in balloting. Pilots have been in negotiations with […]
Working people should not be trapped in poverty. This was part of the social contract America made with its people 80 years ago in the New Deal. Workers will receive a minimum wage. It may not be enough to make you rich, but you will have enough to afford necessities for your family – food, […]
After relentless pressure from workers and the community, Walmart announced last month it will raise minimum pay for its workers to $9 an hour in April and $10 an hour by February 2016. Now, one Minnesota lawmaker is calling on Minneapolis-based Target to follow Walmart’s lead. Rep. Joe Atkins, lead DFLer on the Minnesota House […]
Unions are joining a national day of action to stop fast track March 4, and two members of Congress from Minnesota got an earful as to why last week at a field hearing in Richfield. DFL Reps. Keith Ellison and Rick Nolan heard testimony from trade experts, union leaders, business owners and advocates for family […]
Workers at Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of two firms authorized by state regulators to manufacture and dispense medical cannabis, announced today they have unionized and ratified their first contract, all in the last week. The state’s Bureau of Mediation Services on Tuesday authorized Local 1189 of the United Food and Commercial Workers – a St. […]
Pushing back against an upswing in reports of Minnesota workers struggling to meet their employers’ increasingly irregular scheduling demands, a coalition of worker-advocacy groups today unveiled legislation to bring fairness to the state’s workplace scheduling laws. The House bill, authored by DFL Rep. Rena Moran of St. Paul, would require employers to provide hourly employees with […]
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