The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
More than 200 activists marched along Nicollet Mall downtown Minneapolis today before rallying in Peavey Plaza against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive, NAFTA-style trade pact being negotiated in secret by the U.S. and 11 other countries with Pacific shorelines. The Communications Workers of America, holding a district convention in Minneapolis this week, organized the march. […]
John Kline has enough influence in Congress to make reversing federal cuts to education a priority. But who has influence enough to get the 2nd District Congressman’s attention? Target Corporation does, according to members of Service Employees International Union Local 284. In an unannounced visit to Target’s West St. Paul location yesterday, activists attempted to […]
The picket line outside Cretex’s concrete plant in Shakopee swelled with supporters yesterday, as more than 200 people rallied behind 38 striking members of Laborers Local 536 who are fighting for their retirement security. The crowd included Laborers International Union President Terry O’Sullivan, state and local labor leaders and the highest-ranking members of the Minnesota […]
Rep. Keith Ellison hasn’t seen a draft of the impending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement, but executives at Cargill and Monsanto probably have. If that arrangement strikes you as skewed, you’re not alone. At a panel discussion on the TPP July 1 in Minneapolis, Ellison faced a fiery crowd of more than 50 people, who […]
Twin Cities members of the Communications Workers of America have some major concerns about the latest proposed free-trade agreement, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. On June 20 they took those concerns to union members in West St. Paul and asked supporters to sign onto a letter to 2nd Congressional District Rep. John Kline. The letter asked Kline […]
If your job offers a defined-benefit retirement plan, odds are good you’ve heard it before, maybe even across the negotiating table: Pensions are a relic of the past. Bolstered by slick marketing campaigns underwritten by Wall Street investment firms, employers have been successful in convincing a generation of American workers they don’t need pensions to […]
Planning on attending the City of St. Paul DFL Endorsing Convention? Three labor-endorsed candidates are counting on union members’ support. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman is seeking re-election with labor endorsement. Two incumbent candidates for St. Paul Board of Education also have labor endorsements: John Brodrick and Jean O’Connell. The endorsing convention will begin at 9 a.m. […]
Legislative leaders called 2013 the “education session” for the new investments in E-12 students, and a bill to extend union rights to 21,000 child-care providers and home health care workers grabbed headlines as Republicans tried to filibuster it to death. But the 2013 legislative session yielded many other victories for union members and middle class […]
The Minnesota Trade Policy Advisory Council is back and, fair-trade advocates believe, better than ever. The Jobs and Economic Development bill signed into law by Gov. Mark Dayton this week included reauthorization of the Trade Policy Advisory Council, which saw its authority “sunset” in 2012, but in a new form – one more inclusive of […]
Minnesota’s working families will see the most obvious fruits of the 2013 legislative session in their public schools and property-tax bills, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg of investments, reforms and initiatives passed by labor-endorsed majorities in the Legislature this year, union leaders said. The Minnesota AFL-CIO called the session, which adjourned May […]
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