The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
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 […]
Minnesota unions are keeping the pressure on state lawmakers to pass a meaningful minimum-wage hike before the Legislature adjourns next week, despite increasing signals from Senate leaders the issue – a top priority for the state’s largest labor federation, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, heading into the 2013 session – may be a lost cause. “Hard work […]
Plans to furlough 800,000 civilian employees in the Department of Defense will put the nation’s economic recovery – and its military readiness – at risk, U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison said yesterday during a fiery speech to more than 100 members of the American Federation of Government Employees. AFGE’s Defense Conference, which represents more than 270,000 civilian […]
Think the minimum-wage hike progressing through the Legislature is bad news for Minnesota’s small businesses? Think again. A survey released last week indicates strong support among small business owners nationwide for raising the federal minimum wage and adjusting it annually to account for inflation. Small business owners gathered at the Minnesota Capitol yesterday explained the […]
U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum of Minnesota’s 4th Congressional District outlined a vision for “using the power of American manufacturing to secure America’s energy independence” in remarks made at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference in Washington, D.C. last month. The conference, now in its sixth year, met April 16-18, bringing together leaders from labor […]
The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee began hearings last week on an 844-page bill to overhaul the nation’s broken immigration system. The proposal includes a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants, as well as new boarder-security measures, guest-worker programs, employee-verification methods and other changes to the immigration system. In Minnesota labor leaders who have […]
The state legislator spending a week on minimum wage met today with three Minnesotans for whom the minimum-wage challenge is an everyday reality. Four days into his five-day walk in the shoes of the state’s lowest-paid workers, Rep. Jason Metsa listened as three minimum-wage earners related the experiences Metsa wouldn’t have during his five-day experiment. […]
Peanut butter or jelly? Juice or coffee? Dry spaghetti or ravioli in a can? Those aren’t decisions Rep. Jason Metsa usually wrestles with in the grocery store, but the Iron Range DFLer is tightening his belt this week after signing a pledge to live on Minnesota’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour for five days. […]
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