The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Workers who clean linens for hospitals across the metro picketed outside Health Systems Cooperative Laundries on St. Paul’s East Side today, giving their employer a taste of what to expect if management continues to drag its feet in negotiations. About 240 Health Systems Cooperative employees, members of Workers United Local 150, have been working without […]
A crew of 12 UnderConstruction interns arrived at a vacant lot in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood before 9 a.m. today. Their task was to build a garage from the ground up, and within two hours the structure had begun taking shape. The concrete foundation had settled. The framework was up. Interns were taking turns shingling […]
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 […]
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