The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Negotiations are underway on what experts say will become the largest free-trade agreement in the world, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But as important as this deal will be for workers worldwide, it has been negotiated behind closed doors, away from public scrutiny. On July 9 the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition will stage a rally to protest […]
UPDATE (June 25): The Minnesota Newspaper Guild reports five members in The Catholic Spirit bargaining unit have been laid off. The remaining eight have until the end of the week to decide whether or not to accept non-union positions in the archdiocese’s Office of Communications starting July 2. The Guild contends the archdiocese violated a […]
The Twin Cities labor community will rally behind workers at The Catholic Spirit newspaper Sunday, protesting Archbishop John Nienstedt’s decision to strip 13 workers at the archdiocesan publication of their union rights. The protest will begin at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, June 24, at the Cathedral of St. Paul. It is being organized by the St. […]
The Vikings Stadium deal is done, and the members of UNITE HERE Local 17 are happy about that. We are happy about the jobs that it will provide over the next few years while it’s being built and about the jobs it will provide over the next 30+ years for our members. Local 17 represents […]
Dressed as modern-day members of the band of Merry Men, union nurses fanned out across downtown Minneapolis today, doling out bottles of water and a prescription for healing what ails the American economy. The nurses’ solution? A “Robin Hood Tax” on Wall Street transactions. The plan would place a small sales tax – less than […]
The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is moving forward with plans to dissolve the bargaining unit of workers at its official newspaper, The Catholic Spirit, when their current collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of this month. In an overhaul intended “to create a more integrated communications function,” the Archdiocesan Office of Communications […]
About 1,700 electricians in the East Metro are poised to strike if negotiations between their union and members of the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA) do not progress in the coming weeks. Members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 110 voted June 8 to reject their employers’ proposal for a new three-year contract. More […]
The St. Paul City Council will consider a labor-backed resolution opposing corporate personhood at its meeting Wednesday, June 13. Council Member Dave Thune, who authored the resolution, said he expects it to pass. Organizers with the Move to Amend coalition in St. Paul are planning a rally and press conference at 3:40 – 10 minutes […]
St. Paul Letter carriers collected more than 300,000 pounds of non-perishable food items May 12 during their union’s annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive. The estimated total is a slight improvement over last year’s total – and a big boost for emergency food shelves maintained by Second Harvest Heartland in the East Metro area. The […]
In his new book, “Playing Bigger Than You Are: A Life in Organizing,” Stewart Acuff looks back on his 35-year career as a community, political and union organizer, including a stint as organizing director of the nation’s largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO, from 2001 to 2008. Acuff is quick to point out, however, that the […]
