St. Paul Park refinery picks fight with Building Trades unions, too

Teamsters aren’t the only union members Marathon is looking to replace with nonunion, out-of-state workers at the St. Paul Park refinery. They aren’t the only ones fighting back, either. Earlier this month, several Building and Construction Trades unions began setting up banners around the refinery, publicly shaming Marathon for turning its back on Minnesota contractors […]

Area Building Trades councils honored for community outreach

The national award recognizes Minnesota unions’ efforts to recruit and prepare women, people of color and veterans for construction apprenticeships.

Bobby Kasper: Union candidates share our values, amplify our voice

Every election cycle our unions interview and consider endorsing candidates for public office, from local school boards and city councils to the Legislature and Congress. We want to know which candidates share our values. We want to know who stands with us on issues that matter to working families, like affordable health care, quality schools […]

With Lowertown development, union pension fund invests in Building Trades workers

The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust treated the men and women working to redevelop a property in St. Paul’s Lowertown district to lunch Aug. 31, highlighting the trust’s unique approach to investing union pension funds in union-built construction projects. The development, 333 on the Park, is transforming an eight-story office building, originally constructed in 1913, into […]

Union investment fund backs $42.3 million project in Lowertown

A union investment fund announced plans today to renovate an aging, eight-story office building in St. Paul’s Lowertown district. The project will create 134 market-rate multifamily housing units and an estimated 190 union construction jobs. The AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust (HIT) unveiled the $42.3 million project, dubbed “333 on the Park,” in a press release. […]

Trades praise agreement covering construction project in Forest Lake schools

A $140 million bonding initiative approved by voters in ISD 831 last fall will improve the security and structural integrity of buildings throughout the Forest Lake Area Schools. And thanks to a project labor agreement (PLA), the district’s investment will uphold area wage, benefit and safety standards as well. By a 7-0 vote, the Forest […]

Melander steps down as St. Paul Building Trades’ top officer

  Harry Melander has stepped down after 10 years as the executive secretary of the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, which swore Don Mullin into office as Melander’s successor in the full-time position at a delegate meeting tonight. Delegates voted unanimously to elect Mullin at a meeting last month. They also elected Tom […]

Members bring union perspective to local campaigns in East Metro suburbs

At least three union members are running campaigns for local office in the East Metro this fall, a positive sign in an odd-year election cycle for those who believe union members naturally make the best advocates for working families’ issues. Don Mullin, a second-generation trade show decorator and member of the Painters and Allied Trades, […]