Machinists picket United Airlines for outsourcing middle class jobs

United Airlines’ union employees greeted travelers approaching Minneapolis – St. Paul International Airport today, raising public awareness of the airline’s plan to outsource more customer-service jobs to non-union, low-wage contractors – a plan that could impact jobs based in the Twin Cities. At its peak, the daylong informational picket line outside Terminal 1 drew 25 […]

State employees vote to ratify new contract

Unions representing state employees announced today that their members have voted to ratify new, two-year contracts with the state. The contracts call for across-the-board raises of 3-percent in each of the next two years, but require state workers to pay more for their health insurance. The contracts cover 19,000 members of Council 5 of the […]

UPDATED: Workers at hospital laundry win tentative agreement, end strike

UPDATED 08/06/13 – Workers United Local 150 reports the strike is over after negotiators reached an agreement on a tentative contract agreement early this morning. Workers will take a ratification vote tomorrow. “The campaign was a complete success for the union,” Workers United representative Julie Boots said in an e-mail, noting the company agreed to […]

Union: Cretex harassed, discriminated against Latino workers

The union representing workers on strike at a Shakopee concrete plant opened a new front in the labor dispute today, when 15 members of Laborers Local 563 filed civil rights charges with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission alleging Cretex mistreated Latino employees. Local 563 represents 38 Cretex workers who have been on strike since June […]

Union opposes U.S. Bank CEO’s campaign for Minneapolis Institute of Arts board

Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union announced today it will protest outside the Minneapolis Institute of Arts’ annual membership meeting tomorrow, urging members not to elect U.S. Bank CEO Richard Davis to their Board of Trustees. Davis is the immediate past chair of the Minnesota Orchestra’s board. The orchestra has been locking union […]

Striking Cretex workers appeal to Shakopee City Council for support

Striking union members and their supporters filled the Shakopee City Council chambers last night in an appeal to local leaders for their help resolving the 29-day work stoppage at Cretex Companies’ concrete plant inside the city limits. “What’s going on right now is not good for Shakopee,” Tim Mackey, business manager of Laborers Local 563, […]

HealthEast drags out negotiations with home-care nurses

HealthEast is dragging out negotiations on a first contract for nurses in its Home Care division, according to the Minnesota Nurses Association, which is seeking the public’s help in pressuring HealthEast to bargain in good faith. The MNA, which represents about 65 nurses at HealthEast Home Care, is asking supporters to call or e-mail HealthEast […]

AFSCME, MAPE reach tentative contract agreements with state

Workers in Minnesota’s largest public-employee bargaining unit reached a tentative agreement Friday on a new two-year contract that includes annual raises of 3 percent and requires workers to cover more of their health care costs, the union said in a statement released today. The tentative agreement covers 17,000 craft, service, health care, clerical and technical […]

Musicians ratify contract, call for new SPCO leadership

Stressing that they “remain deeply concerned” about the ensemble’s future, musicians of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra today announced their vote to ratify a three-year agreement with the orchestra, officially ending the lockout that began Oct. 21, 2012. The new contract will reduce the size of the SPCO from 34 to 28 musicians. It also […]

In contract talks, teachers look to build ‘schools St. Paul children deserve’

Buoyed by broad-based community support, St. Paul teachers kicked off their contract campaign with a public celebration April 20, pledging to use negotiations with the district to build “the schools St. Paul children deserve.” Negotiators for the St. Paul Public Schools and the St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28 will open talks this spring […]