Workers lead push for community guarantees before potential Allina, North Memorial sales

Unionized healthcare workers are leading a campaign to secure binding commitments from two large, out-of-state health care systems looking to expand their reach in Minnesota, seeking guarantees around patient access, workplace standards, use of artificial intelligence and other issues. A coalition of labor, faith-based and community organizations want so-called “community benefits agreements,” or CBAs, in […]

Poll finds ‘staggering’ support among Minnesotans for massive ICE protest

The polling found 23% of Minnesota voters participated in some way, with 38% of participants saying they did not go to work and 65% saying they did not shop.

Push for paid family leave takes on new urgency in pandemic

A union-backed coalition of groups renewed its lobbying push for paid family and medical leave on Valentine’s Day – and not by accident. Love is at the heart of the proposed legislation, advocates said, adding that its failure to gain traction in the Senate over the past six years has cornered too many Minnesota families […]

Union educators join effort to expand child care, early ed

“Teachers are leaving the profession at very high rates, and no one who has worked in a school or child care center is surprised,” one former educator said.

Working people plan big push for paid family leave next year

“It’s simple, it’s popular and it’s the right thing to do,” St. Paul pastor Corinne Freedman Ellis said.

Photos: Labor, faith, community activists stand up for sick time, resist corporate interference

The Minnesota House passed a bill last night that would strip 150,000 Minnesotans of newly won earned-sick-and-safe-time benefits and block local governments from raising labor standards in their communities. As debate raged inside the Republican-controlled House, opponents from labor, faith and community groups rallied outside the chamber, calling the bill a corporate power grab and […]

Nurses, allies back MinnesotaCare expansion as fix for state’s individual market woes

Union nurses rallied at the Capitol today with family farmers, small business owners, clergy and other allies in their push to expand health care coverage to all Minnesotans – and hold insurance companies accountable. Members of the Minnesota Nurses Association spent the day talking to state representatives about making health care more accessible and affordable, […]

‘End run’ around local sick-pay victories advances at Capitol

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 […]

Council vote gives St. Paul nation’s strongest earned sick time ordinance

Members of the St. Paul City Council today voted 7-0 to pass an ordinance hailed by working people, small business owners, clergy members and other advocates as the strongest earned sick and safe time law on the books nationwide. Mayor Chris Coleman immediately indicated he would support the ordinance, making St. Paul the 35th U.S. […]

Advocates stage last-ditch rally for paid family leave

With fiery speeches and foam “No. 1” fingers, advocates of paid family leave rallied outside the Minnesota Capitol today, calling on House Republicans to take up the issue, which Gov. Mark Dayton called “a moral responsibility.” Earlier this month, the DFL-controlled Senate approved a measure designed to prevent workers from being forced to choose between […]