The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Business owners say Minnesota’s economic climate is poor, urging lower tax rates and steep cuts to government spending. Union leaders say Minnesota owes its high quality of life to public investments in education and infrastructure that are a catalyst for economic growth. That’s the debate likely to take place when state lawmakers return to the […]
History Theatre’s production of “Nellie” tells the story of pioneering Minnesota labor activist and civil rights activist Nellie Stone Johnson (1905-2002). The show will run Jan. 26 through Feb. 17 at History Theatre downtown St. Paul. A Minnesota hero, Johnson’s feisty spirit and drive to succeed made her a political force to be reckoned with […]
More than 30 workers in St. Paul threw a monkey wrench into Montgomery Ward’s holiday-shopping rush Dec. 6, 1937, walking off the job after management at the mail-order company’s University Avenue plant refused to negotiate with their elected union representative, Warehouse Employees Local 20,297. The picket line drew 300 supporters on the strike’s first day, […]
With families across the Midwest struggling to keep their farms out of bank foreclosure, union members rallied with farmers Oct. 10, 1987, at the Heartland Jobs with Justice rally on the Iowa State Fairgrounds. About 40 Minnesotans were among the estimated 1,500 to 1,700 union members at the rally, Union Advocate Editor Barb Kucera reported […]
Delegates to the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s 51st Constitutional Convention will gather in Rochester Sept. 16-18. It is certain to be a much more harmonious affair than the statewide labor convention held in Hibbing 75 years ago, when AFL delegates snuffed out an attempt by “CIO sympathizers” to gain a foothold in the organization. “Minnesota Labor took […]
It’s not a “golden anniversary” – that would be 110 years – but Local 110 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers will turn 100 years old this month, and members planned to celebrate July 28 with a picnic on Harriet Island. The St. Paul-based union traces its roots to a division that took place […]
Progressive writer John Nichols energized and entertained during a May 2 lecture at the Carpenters Union Hall in St. Paul, providing a first-hand, insider’s account of union protests that swept across Wisconsin last year, sparking a renewed interest in grassroots democracy and progressive activism nationwide. Nichols, a Wisconsin-based writer for The Nation magazine and author […]
Union Advocate 