The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
U.S. Postal Service employees from the Twin Cities rallied with supporters April 24 outside a Staples store in Roseville, part of a nationwide day of action opposing plans to put USPS service counters inside Staples locations across the country. Already, 82 Staples stores in Georgia, California, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts house USPS service counters, and postal […]
The Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council held its annual Workers Memorial Day observance last Friday, honoring nine union workers who died over the previous year as a result of workplace injuries or illnesses. The ceremony, held at the Workers Memorial Garden on the State Capitol grounds, included remarks from St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman, […]
Staples and the U.S. Postal Service have cut a deal that will replace full-service post offices with privately run post offices inside Staples stores. These knock-off post offices will not be staffed with Postal Service employees. This back-room deal jeopardizes the mail service, local post offices and thousands of middle class jobs, postal workers say. […]
Supporters of raising the state’s minimum wage – and indexing it to keep up with the cost of living – kept the pressure on state senators today, delivering more than 7,000 postcards from constituents demanding action. The postcards are the product of conversations with Minnesotans that began, Raise the Wage Coalition spokesperson Jennifer Munt said, […]
School board members weighed into the minimum-wage debate this week, when all seven members of St. Paul’s Board of Education signed a letter urging state senators to help close achievement gaps in their district by supporting a substantial wage hike this session. Louise Seeba, a board member and AFSCME Local 3757 member, spearheaded efforts to […]
One day after a rally in support of raising Minnesota’s minimum wage rocked the Capitol rotunda, nearly 100 activists took their message to the skyways of Minneapolis, calling on Target and other corporations to join the fight against poverty wages. The lunch-hour march yesterday snaked through the skyways and into Target’s flagship store. Inside, demonstrators […]
“It’s an accident waiting to happen.” That’s rail worker Corey Plath’s assessment of Canadian Pacific Railway under the direction of CEO Hunter Harrison, who has made a career of cutting costs and, union members say, cutting corners when it comes to the safety of workers and the public. Plath and fellow Minnesota-based members of the […]
Wearing red scarves, hats and shirts to show their solidarity with union teachers, families packed the parking lot outside St. Paul Public Schools headquarters yesterday during a rally in support of smaller class sizes, expanded pre-kindergarten and other community-driven priorities teachers have brought to the table in contract negotiations with the district. “Parents are standing […]
Parents, students and other activists demonstrated this morning outside a hotel downtown St. Paul, site of a business-backed conference on education reform that featured Michelle Rhee, a prominent national voice for weakening the influence of teachers and their unions. Not surprisingly, presenters at the Education Summit, sponsored by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, did not […]
On days when the cold or snow delays the start of school, some students trickle into Ryan Long’s classroom at American Indian Magnet school, while others stay home altogether. Sadly, it’s on these rare occasions that Long and other St. Paul teachers glimpse what it’s like teaching a manageable class size of students. “All of […]
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