The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Contracts covering about 27,500 state employees, including members of AFSCME Council 5 and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, will go into effect next month after a legislative subcommittee failed to reject or approve the agreements. Members of the Subcommittee on Employee Relations split along party lines in a 5-5 vote yesterday. Under state law, […]
Voters in the Forest Lake Area School District last year rejected a $176 million levy request, leaving the district’s facilities in critical need of updates and repair. Now, the district is back with another request on the Nov. 3 ballot, seeking $161 million over two unique referendums. Supporters of the local “Vote Yes” campaign, including […]
Ellen Fahey and Marge Newmaster, two of three labor-endorsed candidates for White Bear Lake school board, understand the challenges working families face, value public education and appreciate the collective bargaining process. It’s no coincidence Fahey and Newmaster also are union members. Minnesota unions have put a focus in recent years on training and equipping members, […]
When a non-union electrical contractor was undermining area wages and benefits on a project funded by Ramsey County several years back, IBEW Local 110’s Brian Winkelaar didn’t think twice about what to do. He called Darren Tobolt, County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt’s longtime assistant. “I called him up and said, ‘Darren, how come they’re on this […]
Workers haven’t given up the fight to stop the latest – and largest – free-trade deal, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. As diplomats from 12 Pacific Rim countries gathered in Atlanta yesterday for negotiations on the sprawling, NAFTA-style trade pact, fair-trade advocates across the country took to the streets, warning the public about what’s at stake in […]
Fast-food workers in New York state won their fight for $15 yesterday. Workers in Minneapolis intend to be next. “If New York can do it, then Minneapolis and Minnesota can do it,” Guillermo Lindsay, a McDonald’s worker and CTUL organizer, barked into a megaphone at a rally outside the Dinkytown McDonald’s yesterday. Fast-food workers, […]
As Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and other presidential hopefuls wooed party leaders in Minneapolis during the Democratic National Committee meetings last weekend, local worker and retiree groups mobilized inside and outside the event, looking to push their concerns to the forefront of the 2016 campaign. On Friday, activists with 15Now Minnesota rallied for a […]
Clara Nakumbe is fighting for $15 an hour, but the Minneapolis resident doesn’t work in a fast-food restaurant or behind the scenes at the airport. She works in her own home, providing round-the-clock care for her son Siran, who lives with a severe form of multiple sclerosis. It’s work that earns Nakumbe $11 per hour, […]
Scott Walker’s knack for bringing people together was on full display in St. Paul last night. As the Wisconsin governor wooed local Republican lawmakers and raised funds for his presidential campaign inside O’Gara’s Bar & Grill, about 20 Building Trades union members and other protesters marched outside in a steady rain. Tempers flared briefly […]
Union retirees and other seniors plan to show up in force at an Aug. 29 meeting of the Democratic National Committee in Minneapolis and demand that party leaders do more to address older adults’ concerns. The Minnesota State Retiree Council, AFL-CIO, is urging seniors from across the region to attend the DNC Seniors Coordinating Council […]
Union Advocate 