Outbreak adds urgency to janitors’ push for sick pay

The epidemic puts a grim spotlight on access to sick leave in the U.S.

Strikes surge nationwide

#RedForEd movement, sluggish wage growth behind big uptick in major work stoppages.

Twin Cities workers plan May Day actions for better working conditions, immigrant rights

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 […]

Dreading Trump? Turn your anger into action at four Twin Cities inauguration protests

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 […]

Janitors, teachers protest Kohl’s during back-to-school rush

  Looking to build on recent victories at Target and Best Buy, retail janitors in the Twin Cities put the pressure on Kohl’s Saturday – during the busy back-to-school shopping season – to do right by the workers who clean its stores. Janitors brought busloads of supporters, including union teachers, nurses and construction workers, to […]

Kohl’s janitors plan public action during back-to-school rush

Looking to build on recent victories at Target and Best Buy, retail janitors in the Twin Cities will put the pressure on Kohl’s this weekend – during the busy back-to-school shopping season – to do right by the workers who clean its stores. Janitors organizing with the Twin Cities worker center CTUL want Kohl’s to […]

UPDATE: With strike deadline looming, janitors reach landmark tentative pact

    Union janitors in the Twin Cities reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract with area cleaning contractors after a marathon bargaining session ended in the early-morning hours March 7. The settlement prevented janitors from staging a second strike. About 4,000 janitors, 90 percent of whom are people of color, will see […]

Retail janitors pledge strikes will continue until conditions improve

A day after union janitors walked off the job in an unfair-labor-practices strike, non-union janitors organizing with the Twin Cities-based worker center CTUL did the same, picketing early this morning outside Macy’s on the Nicollet Mall. It marked the seventh time in the last three years CTUL janitors, who clean big-box stores, car dealerships and […]

Striking janitors: ‘We do the dirty work, we deserve a better wage’

Union janitors are setting up picket lines across the Twin Cities today, raising the stakes in their fight to win a $15 minimum wage and address alarming workload issues. The one-day strike over unfair labor practices will impact nearly 200 office buildings in the area before the day is done, according to Local 26 of […]

Janitors fired after joining strike confront dealerships they used to clean

  WAYZATA – Backed by a delegation of supporters, three janitors fired after going on strike confronted the car dealerships they used to clean yesterday, asking managers to use their influence with cleaning contractor ROC to help them get their jobs back. “I am angry because they’re not listening to us,” fired worker Julio Romero […]