The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Members of Teamsters Local 120 who provide home-delivery of oxygen and medical equipment for Allina Health ratified a new contract Saturday, narrowly avoiding a work stoppage. Frustrated by management’s refusal to consider meaningful wage increases in negotiating sessions last month, the 42 members of Local 120 unanimously authorized their bargaining team to call a strike […]
Workers at the Wedge voted Tuesday to ratify their first union contract, making the Minneapolis grocer the state’s first unionized co-op. Wedge Community Co-op workers voted last November to join United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189, seeking higher wages, an equitable process for dealing with management and a voice in decisions that affect the co-op’s […]
The University of Minnesota is asking the state Court of Appeals to slow down a historic union-organizing effort among faculty at the Twin Cities campus. Union supporters today branded the university’s decision as divisive and wasteful. “We are forming a union so we can gain a stronger voice in university governance, and this is a […]
The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday rejected an attempt by corporate interests to weaken public-sector workers’ unions and, in the process, undermine the public services they provide. The court’s decision in Friedrichs v. CTA is a victory for “teachers, nurses, firefighters and public-service workers nationwide,” said Eliot Seide, director of AFSCME Council 5, which represents 43,000 […]
Union janitors in the Twin Cities reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract with area cleaning contractors after a marathon bargaining session ended in the early-morning hours March 7. The settlement prevented janitors from staging a second strike. About 4,000 janitors, 90 percent of whom are people of color, will see […]
A day after union janitors walked off the job in an unfair-labor-practices strike, non-union janitors organizing with the Twin Cities-based worker center CTUL did the same, picketing early this morning outside Macy’s on the Nicollet Mall. It marked the seventh time in the last three years CTUL janitors, who clean big-box stores, car dealerships and […]
Union janitors are setting up picket lines across the Twin Cities today, raising the stakes in their fight to win a $15 minimum wage and address alarming workload issues. The one-day strike over unfair labor practices will impact nearly 200 office buildings in the area before the day is done, according to Local 26 of […]
North Branch teachers rallied with supporters on back-to-back days this week, sending a clear message to school board members and administrators before contract negotiations resumed today. “We’re not in this alone,” industrial tech teacher Irv Geary said. “We’re all in this together. And it’s not just a teacher issue; it’s a community issue.” Geary, a […]
Most union security officers in the Twin Cities will earn at least $15 per hour – and future officers will be on track to do the same – under the terms of a tentative contract agreement struck late last night, according to union leaders. Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents more than […]
Nurses from five Twin Cities hospital systems voted yesterday to ratify union contracts that will protect their pension and health benefits and provide 2 percent raises in each of the next three years. The new contracts won’t go into effect for more than four months. Negotiations between the Minnesota Nurses Association and the hospitals – […]
Union Advocate 