The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Working people aren’t waiting for fast-food CEO and robotics enthusiast Andy Puzder’s confirmation hearings – twice delayed because he’s having difficulty completing the required ethics paperwork – to oppose President Donald Trump’s nominee for Labor secretary. Last week fast-food workers led a demonstration outside Hardee’s, a chain operated by Puzder-led CKE Restaurants, in St. Paul. […]
Two years ago, Congress opened the door for troubled pension funds to cut retirees’ benefits, after Rep. John Kline slipped the provision into a must-pass bill keeping the federal government open. Now, with Congress poised to pass a similar stopgap bill, Kline is back with another “pension reform” bill, and it’s just as bad […]
A procedural vote last week greased the wheels for Fast Track in the U.S. Senate, but Sen. Al Franken is keeping up the fight for a trade bill that does the least harm to U.S. workers. Yesterday Franken offered two amendments to the Fast Track bill. One would require tougher labor and environmental standards from […]
The two candidates atop the DFL ticket this election year know better than most the importance of getting out the vote, the theme of a rally staged by the party today outside the Minnesota Capitol. Four years ago Gov. Mark Dayton “won by a large, large margin as far as I’m concerned – 8,800 (votes),” […]
The Boston Red Sox were 62-28 on July 19, 1978. They were on pace to win a whopping 111 games. Their bitter rivals, the New York Yankees, lagged 14 games behind in the American League East standings, a deficit that seemed too big for any team to overcome. The Red Sox were considered heavy favorites […]
From TV ads to robocalls, technology has changed the way political campaigns communicate with voters, but the most effective form of voter contact remains the same: one-on-one conversations. That’s the guiding principle for Labor 2014, the statewide push to get union members to the polls in support of labor-endorsed candidates up and down the Nov. […]
HealthWORKS, a new coalition of Taft-Hartley health and welfare funds, presented U.S. Sen. Al Franken with an award at the annual “Health and Benefit Fair” held April 26 at the Minneapolis Convention Center. The HealthWORKS Hero Award recognizes Franken’s advocacy on behalf of Taft-Hartley plans, industry-based health insurance funds that cover workers at multiple employers […]
Union members today called on U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar to take a stand against efforts in Congress to put job-killing free-trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on the fast track. Members of the Communications Workers of America marked a worldwide day of action against the TPP – the NAFTA-style trade agreement being negotiated in […]
President Obama is pushing Congress to approve the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities Act, introduced in the U.S. House earlier this month and better known as “Fast Track authorization.” Fast Track would force Congress to take an up-or-down vote on trade agreements without offering amendments. But a large coalition of labor, environmental, family-farm and other grassroots […]
I know that to many people, the words “Medicare solvency,” which is the ability of Medicare to meet its obligations, sound like an invitation to a nice nap. But union workers pay into Medicare every month, and you deserve to know that the benefits you’ve paid for will be there when you need them. And […]
Union Advocate 