“Minnesota’s Super Bowl shouldn’t just be about entertaining the rich and the powerful,” bakery worker Travis Reinhart said.
Minnesota gained 46,000 union members last year, reversing decade-long decline
January 19, 2018 by
Working people’s voice grew stronger last year in Minnesota, where organizing gains pushed union membership to its highest point since 2004.
St. Paul fast-food workers strike for $15 on Labor Day
September 4, 2017 by
Striking fast-food workers rallied with supporters outside a St. Paul McDonald’s this morning, demanding $15 per hour and respect on the job. “We need something to live on,” said 27-year-old Tay Polite, on strike from her job at McDonald’s in the city’s Midway district. “Even with a job we’re still struggling to support our families. […]
Twin Cities workers plan May Day actions for better working conditions, immigrant rights
April 26, 2017 by
Workers have unveiled plans to strike, rally and march May 1 for better wages, safe working conditions and respect on the job. At a press conference last week outside a Minneapolis Home Depot, local organizers said International Workers’ Day takes on added urgency this year, given the “current political climate and mass mobilization of communities […]
Unions gaining public favor, losing ground in workplace
March 7, 2017 by
Union members are becoming increasingly scarce in the U.S. labor force. It’s a trend that continued in 2016, when union density fell from 11.1 to 10.7 percent of the total workforce, according to federal report issued in January. Unions’ demise has assumed an aura of inevitability. So when the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its […]
Organizing drive pays off for big-box janitors with landmark first contract
February 22, 2017 by
What’s the value of a union contract? For nearly 500 retail janitors in the Twin Cities, who made history last year by forming the industry’s first metro-wide union, it’s a cool $4.5 million in wage increases and paid time off over the course of their new, three-year contract. Local 26 of the Service Employees International […]
‘End run’ around local sick-pay victories advances at Capitol
February 3, 2017 by
Corporate special interests clashed with working people during a Capitol hearing last night on legislation that would roll back ordinances extending earned sick and safe time to an estimated 150,000 workers in Minneapolis and St. Paul. The local preemption bill, authored by Rep. Pat Garafalo (R-Farmington), passed its first committee hearing after a lengthy round […]
Five reasons workers are fighting Trump’s pick for labor secretary
January 30, 2017 by
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. […]
Minnesota union members marched against Trump in droves. Here’s why
January 27, 2017 by
Dressed in hard hats and union colors, union members were among the estimated 100,000 people who joined the Women’s March in Minnesota one day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, capping three days of protests – locally and nationally – that put the new administration on notice of popular opposition to his policy objectives and governing […]
Dreading Trump? Turn your anger into action at four Twin Cities inauguration protests
January 13, 2017 by
We’re a week away from seeing former reality-TV boss Donald Trump – a megalomaniac with a track record of not paying his employees, fanning the flames of bigotry and making “locker-room talk” about sexual assault – assume the highest office in the land. Whether the impending Trump presidency scares the hell out of you or […]
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