The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
They may work different jobs or carry different union cards, but workers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are fighting together to raise MSP’s minimum wage to $15. And their solidarity is paying off. The Metropolitan Airports Commission, which oversees operations at MSP Airport, is advancing an ordinance that would raise the minimum wage in three […]
Notorious wage broker Ricardo Batres, who pleaded guilty to felony charges of labor trafficking and insurance fraud in November, received a nine-month sentence in Hennepin County district court Wednesday. The sentencing brought to a close the first labor trafficking case to emerge from Minnesota’s construction industry. But worker advocates, armed with the findings of an […]
Their rallying cry: “One job should be enough.”
When a notorious wage broker pleaded guilty to two felony charges in Hennepin County this week, it was welcome news for unions and community groups working to rid Minnesota’s construction industry of labor abuses. “We are grateful that the legal system is holding those who commit wage theft and illegal trafficking of construction workers seriously,” […]
Latesha Hayes’ career path came full circle this morning. A fourth-year apprentice with the Carpenters union, Hayes was one of six tradeswomen who led 33 eighth-grade girls from Roseville on a tour of the union’s St. Paul training center. The students put on hard hats and safety glasses, worked with tools of the trade and […]
Candidates carrying the unified labor endorsement performed well in local elections across the East Metro last week, and union members helped pass several school-funding measures as well. The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, endorsed 25 candidates on the ballot in 2019, and 23 won their races. All six school levy and bond referendums endorsed […]
BLAINE – Bosses at Carley Foundry learned an important lesson today. Pick a fight with one Minnesota union, and you’ll get a fight with them all. About 220 members of United Steelworkers Local 63B began an unfair-labor-practices strike Saturday at the Blaine plant, which supplies parts to aerospace and other firms. Their picket line swelled […]
Union educators in St. Paul are standing in solidarity with the 35,000 teachers and school service workers on strike in Chicago this week. Yesterday the St. Paul Federation of Educators sent a letter, signed by SPFE President Nick Faber, to two unions representing the striking workers. Faber’s message was simple: Your fight is our fight. […]
Organized labor is boosting efforts to fund new investments in several East Metro public school districts, including a record-breaking building referendum in the White Bear Lake Area Schools. Levy and bond referendums empower communities to invest in their schools’ programming, facilities and technology – investments that always pay off in the long run, St. Paul […]
Tradeswomen from across the U.S. and Canada are descending on the Twin Cities for the union-sponsored Tradeswomen Build Nations conference this weekend. In its ninth year, the annual event has grown to become the world’s largest gathering of women working in the skilled construction trades. Organizers expect this year’s conference, taking place at the Hilton […]
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