The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Union workers at a concrete products manufacturing facility in Shakopee went on strike yesterday, pledging to walk the picket line until Cretex Companies abandons its attempt to strip workers of their pension benefits. Since negotiations on a new contract for 38 members of Laborers Local 563 began in January, Cretex has refused to budge from […]
An associate from Apple Valley is among more than 100 striking Walmart workers nationwide who are protesting outside the company’s annual shareholder meeting in Bentonville, Ark., this week. Gabriel Teneyuque, a member of the grassroots campaign OUR Walmart, joined the “Ride for Respect” to company headquarters last week. The caravan traveled through about 30 cities, […]
Child-care providers and in-home health care workers celebrated a hard-fought victory for their professions yesterday, after the Minnesota House joined the Senate in passing a bill that would allow them to vote on whether to form a union. The celebration spilled from the House gallery into the Capitol hallways, as pro-union child-care and home-care workers […]
Chants of “si se puede!” rang out from the Minnesota Capitol lawn yesterday, as hundreds of people rallied for federal and state action to fix the nation’s broken immigration system. The May Day demonstration in St. Paul was one of dozens held across the U.S., organized by a broad coalition of groups – including labor […]
Support for transportation and transit investments among state lawmakers this session appears lukewarm at best, and that baffles Rep. Alice Hausman. “With all the grumbling and complaining about roads and potholes, you wouldn’t think funding transportation would be this hard,” the DFLer from St. Paul said. Hausman, who chairs the House Capital Investment Committee, joined […]
The time for bipartisan action to fix the country’s broken immigration system is now, according to a diverse group of more than 100 activists who rallied downtown Minneapolis yesterday for “commonsense” immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship. The event, one of several immigration rallies held across the country yesterday, drew support from unions, […]
A community group working to end the five-month lockout of St. Paul Chamber Orchestra musicians is exploring the possibility of forming a new group to replace the SPCO – and prevent any further losses of SPCO musicians to other orchestras around the country. Save Our SPCO, a grassroots group of patrons and audience members, announced […]
The fight is on to save Saturday mail delivery. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton joined more than 100 demonstrators outside the main post office in Minneapolis yesterday, leading the call for federal lawmakers to strengthen – not dismantle – the U.S. Postal Service. “I’ve never heard of anyone whose business is in trouble deciding the way […]
Supporters of protecting Saturday mail delivery will rally Sunday in Minneapolis, and Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is among the speakers scheduled to participate in the event. The rally will take place outside the main Minneapolis Post Office, located at the intersection of 1st Street South and Marquette Avenue. It will begin at 1 p.m., and […]
U.S. citizenship isn’t something Mitch Azarcon takes for granted – not after watching her Filipino-born mother wait 25 years to move her family to the U.S. Now Azarcon, a surgical core technician at Rochester Methodist Hospital, is exercising her rights as a citizen, taking action through her union, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, to change federal law […]
Union Advocate 