Franken earns HealthWORKS Hero Award for advocacy on behalf of Taft-Hartley funds

HealthWORKS, a new coalition of Taft-Hartley health and welfare funds, presented U.S. Sen. Al Franken with an award at the annual “Health and Benefit Fair” held April 26 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The HealthWORKS Hero Award recognizes Franken’s advocacy on behalf of Taft-Hartley plans, industry-based health insurance funds that cover workers at multiple employers […]

Twin Cities Letter Carriers deliver over 1 million pounds in annual food drive

Union Letter Carriers delivered for food shelves and families in need across the Twin Cities Metro Area May 10, collecting over 1 million pounds of food donated by people along their mail routes. The National Association of Letter Carriers’ annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive is the nation’s largest one-day food drive, which celebrated its […]

Union launches campaign urging patients to ‘insist on a registered nurse’

There’s no substitute for the professional judgment and personalized care nurses provide to their patients. That’s the message behind radio and online ads airing across the country, including in Minnesota, that advise the public to “insist on a registered nurse.” National Nurses United, the nation’s largest union of nurses (the Minnesota Nurses Association is a […]

Lunds gives downtown St. Paul a full-service, union grocery store

Good news: Downtown St. Paul finally has the full-service grocery store residents have been clamoring for. Even better news: It’s a union shop. After years of planning and waiting, Lunds opened a 27,000-square-foot store on the ground floor of the Penfield Apartments at 10th and Robert streets May 15. The store’s 80 workers are members […]

Unions: Dayton, DFL legislators delivered for working families

Progress is what Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton promised he’d deliver if given pro-worker majorities in the Legislature. Progress on job creation, better schools, economic justice and budget stability is what Dayton and House DFLers will point to when they campaign for re-election this fall. In the 2014 session, Dayton and legislators picked up where they […]

For Building Trades, state’s infrastructure investments mean ‘millions of work hours’

Utilizing the first state budget surplus in seven years, state legislators pushed the value of a package of public infrastructure investments passed during the 2014 Legislative Session to over $1 billion. Gov. Mark Dayton signed off on the construction bill May 20, green-lighting projects across the state that will create “millions of work hours” for […]

In Forest Lake, Electrical Workers picket City Hall construction site

FOREST LAKE – Construction of a new City Hall in this northeast suburb slowed to a snail’s pace yesterday, as members of Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers erected a picket line to protest the city’s use of an electrical contractor that, members say, undermines area standards for wages and benefits. Efforts to […]

Transit workers enlist riders in fight for better public transportation

It’s Transit Action Month nationwide, and Metro Transit workers and riders took action today downtown Minneapolis, calling for “more, better and safer public transit” during a lunchtime rally outside the Hennepin County Government Center. Coordinated by Local 1005 of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), the “Transit Tuesday” event drummed up support for a bipartisan bill […]

Macalester won’t stay neutral in faculty union vote

Despite public appeals from students, instructors and U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison to take a neutral stance, Macalester College administrators last week announced their opposition to efforts by contingent faculty members to organize a union. Macalester President Brian Rosenberg and Provost Kathy Murray revealed their opposition in a memo sent May 2 to the school’s tenured […]

Nellie Stone Johnson Scholarship deadline is May 31

The postmark deadline for students to apply for a Nellie Stone Johnson Scholarship in the 2014-15 academic year has been extended to May 31. The fund awards scholarships ranging from $500 to $2,000 to minority students from union families who attend or plan to attend a technical college, community college or university in the MnSCU […]