The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of American Crystal Sugar’s decision to lock out its 1,300 union workers at facilities in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa, the Twin Cities Labor Chorus and the Lex-Ham Community Theater will present an evening of songs and words of action in support of the locked-out workers – and, […]
Negotiations are underway on what experts say will become the largest free-trade agreement in the world, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But as important as this deal will be for workers worldwide, it has been negotiated behind closed doors, away from public scrutiny. On July 9 the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition will stage a rally to protest […]
UPDATE (June 25): The Minnesota Newspaper Guild reports five members in The Catholic Spirit bargaining unit have been laid off. The remaining eight have until the end of the week to decide whether or not to accept non-union positions in the archdiocese’s Office of Communications starting July 2. The Guild contends the archdiocese violated a […]
The Twin Cities labor community will rally behind workers at The Catholic Spirit newspaper Sunday, protesting Archbishop John Nienstedt’s decision to strip 13 workers at the archdiocesan publication of their union rights. The protest will begin at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, June 24, at the Cathedral of St. Paul. It is being organized by the St. […]
Dressed as modern-day members of the band of Merry Men, union nurses fanned out across downtown Minneapolis today, doling out bottles of water and a prescription for healing what ails the American economy. The nurses’ solution? A “Robin Hood Tax” on Wall Street transactions. The plan would place a small sales tax – less than […]
St. Paul Letter carriers collected more than 300,000 pounds of non-perishable food items May 12 during their union’s annual Stamp Out Hunger food drive. The estimated total is a slight improvement over last year’s total – and a big boost for emergency food shelves maintained by Second Harvest Heartland in the East Metro area. The […]
Hundreds marched through the streets of downtown Minneapolis on May 11, protesting the recklessness and hypocrisy of Wells Fargo’s dealings with Minnesota’s immigrant community. The march capped a weeklong string of “Occupy”-style protests across the Twin Cities. Organized by the Service Employees union (SEIU) in partnership with several progressive, faith-based and labor groups, the “99 […]
After six months of unusually bitter contract negotiations, union workers at The Saint Paul Hotel will vote May 17 on a tentative agreement with the company on a new three-year contract. Leaders of UNITE HERE Local 17, the union that represents about 170 workers at the downtown hotel, are recommending members vote to accept the […]
The Service Employees International Union is urging people who bank with Wells Fargo to take their business elsewhere, citing the bank’s record of bankrolling anti-immigrant and anti-worker forces in Minnesota. The union, led by SEIU Local 26, will stage a rally at the Wells Fargo Bank downtown Minneapolis (6th St. & Marquette Ave.) on Friday, […]
In public actions across the Twin Cities yesterday, union workers asked consumers to stop buying Verizon Wireless products until the company starts dealing fairly with its workers. Members the Communications Workers of America distributed leaflets outside the Verizon Store in Roseville and on the Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis, rebranding the company “VeriGreedy” for its treatment […]
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