The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Minnesota is poised to do great things this year, the first time in 22 years that Democrats control the governor’s office and both chambers of the Legislature. This is Minnesota’s moment to fix the budget, raise fair revenue, and build an economy that grows good jobs and the middle class. Union members campaigned hard to […]
The 2013 legislative session presents Minnesota’s labor movement with opportunities we haven’t seen since 1990, the last time we had a pro-labor governor and labor-friendly majorities in both the House and Senate. After 22 years of playing defense, we finally have an opportunity to accomplish positive change for working people. The Minnesota AFL-CIO, working with […]
After an amazing 2012 political election in Minnesota, we as union members must stay politically involved. It must be a year-round campaign. Our focus is to make sure our electoral gains translate into effective pro-labor, pro-jobs agenda. We must push for policy reform that strengthens the union workers. After a 22-year hiatus of having a […]
Election night was a great night for Democrats across Minnesota, with the exception of three congressional races. Three Republican incumbents won re-election to the U.S. House, including Michele Bachmann in the 6th District. To say that Congresswoman Bachmann is a polarizing figure in American politics is an understatement. Bachmann is so extreme that the GOP leadership […]
[Bobby Kasper, president of the 50,000-member St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, wrote this Labor Voices column with Kera Peterson and Peter Polga-Hecimovich, political organizers for the Federation.] The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation has a lot to be proud of from the November elections. With our union brothers and sisters from across the state […]
We are at a political crossroads. The economy is still struggling from the devastatingly deep hole that President Obama inherited from George W. Bush. The political action that we take today through November 6 will decide our future as union members. We have a responsibility to get out the vote, with our state and federation […]
I’ve been retired for a few years now. Although I don’t always know (or care) what day of the week it is, I do try to stay informed, and I brush up on national, local and postal issues – especially those affecting seniors and retirees. That leads me to some thoughts on something I do […]
Thank you to everyone who helped make our participation in the 2012 Labor Day parade at the Minnesota State Fair an enormous success. We had over 250 participants who marched in our unit this year, and it was the first year we had a float. The Minnesota State Fair capped our unit at 200 marchers, […]
Letter: There is room for cuts in Pentagon budget As some of us see Labor Day as a vacation and celebration of Minnesota’s workforce, others are struggling to recover from the Great Recession. We’ve seen efforts to reduce health care and retirement benefits for workers on the grounds that there’s no money, yet there’s always […]
Earlier this spring, I stood on the steamy streets of Chicago and witnessed a revival that my union brothers and sisters in the Windy City said was a long time coming. I’d been swept into town a day earlier along with hundreds of nurses, union members and others to help National Nurses United (of which […]
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