Now is a great time to look back at 1934, to learn how a wide range of workers changed the course of history and to consider how today’s workers might change this course themselves.
Peter Rachleff: Looking for History Day help? Check out the East Side Freedom Library
December 9, 2022 by
The East Side Freedom Library invites the middle and high school students in your families to benefit from our rich resources and our experienced mentors. National History Day is a great program in which students are challenged to develop a project as an illustration of a theme. Students, individually or in small teams, might take […]
State Capitol dedicates a ‘place and space’ for Nellie Stone Johnson – and all she represents
November 22, 2022 by
A new statue unveiled in the Capitol yesterday celebrates the legacy of Nellie Stone Johnson, a towering figure in Minnesota’s labor, political and civil rights history. After a ceremony that included music, a video remembrance and speeches from the honoree’s colleagues and admirers, Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan joined the youngest members […]
Peter Rachleff: Labor Day roots trace to St. Paul’s East Side
August 31, 2022 by
Most of us, from St. Paul workers and labor activists to labor historians like me, have been unaware of the role that St. Paul workers played in the establishment of the Labor Day holiday.
Photos: Teamster horses bring union’s history to life in Blaine
September 23, 2021 by
Shawn Gordon, a member of Teamsters Local 41 from Kansas City, Mo., travels across the country with Thunder and Lightning, raising awareness of the Teamsters’ early history.
Northwest Airlines museum gets parting gift from union retirees
May 5, 2021 by
Local airline retirees placed their social club into retirement last month, but not before donating the organization’s remaining funds to a museum preserving of the history of Minneapolis-St. Paul’s longtime union carrier, Northwest Airlines. Founded in 1976, the Machinists Airline Local 1833 Retired Members Social Club met for the final time April 15 in Bloomington. As the last order of business before gaveling […]
From the Eight-Hour Day to the $15 Minimum Wage: A conversation between past and present
March 24, 2021 by
In its inclusive membership, its vision of broad and sweeping change, and its insistence that all workers should share in the wealth that they produce, the Fight for $15 shares a kinship with the movement for the eight-hour day.
March events: Expo to connect women with pathways into trades
March 1, 2021 by
Women in Construction Week runs from March 7 to 13, and local tradeswomen, in partnership with the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry (DLI), will celebrate with a virtual event showcasing career opportunities available in the unionized trades. The Women Building Success Info Expo is open to women statewide who are interested in learning more […]
More than a building, a building block on city’s East Side
May 8, 2020 by
There’s a new book about St. Paul’s East Side Freedom Library, and it offers “a nicely woven story about a place, a people and a public space,” according to our reviewer.
Lessons from labor history can inform our labor movement during COVID-19 crisis
May 4, 2020 by
The Minneapolis Teamsters strikes of 1934 offer lessons valuable to our present challenge.
Union Advocate 