
Minnesota’s Building Trades unions are behind an effort to restock the pipeline of workers entering the industry with with women, veterans and people of color.
The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897

Minnesota’s Building Trades unions are behind an effort to restock the pipeline of workers entering the industry with with women, veterans and people of color.

The industry says it’s in trouble, but job openings in Minnesota restaurants have increased by 200 percent since 2014, when the minimum wage began to climb.

Gov. Dayton touted his proposed $1.5 billion public works bill. Republicans pledged to shift mining and pipeline projects out of neutral.

Paycheck deception would “make it harder for working people to join together in common purpose,” Minnesota AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Julie Blaha said.

The newly appointed senator landed one of eight seats on a congressional “super-committee” to address the looming retirement crisis.

Poverty wages are a big problem in St. Paul, but interest groups are already trying to poke holes in a potential minimum wage ordinance.

The four DFLers were united in opposing right-to-work legislation and supporting union organizing and collective bargaining.

Bigham, a DFLer and longtime resident of Cottage Grove, is the labor-endorsed candidate in a Feb. 12 special election in Senate District 54.

“We’re taught sports is this level playing field, this epitome of America, where anybody who’s good can make it. Yet the reality is it’s a very unlevel playing field.”