Fundraiser for displaced food workers Sept. 8

August 18, 2014 by

ufcw1189merge2smallUnited Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189 will hold a fundraiser to benefit members who lost their jobs when two large employers, Dakota Premium and Rainbow Foods, closed earlier this summer.

The Fundraiser for Food Workers will run from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 8 at Local 1189’s union hall, located at 266 Hardman Ave. N. in South St. Paul. Union members, allies and their families are invited to attend.

Dakota Premium suspended production indefinitely at its South St. Paul packinghouse in July, displacing 275 UFCW members. Roundy’s Inc. sold off or closed all of its Rainbow properties in the Twin Cities in July as well, displacing 125 UFCW members in the East Metro.

Funds raised will provide emergency assistance for those workers and their families, administered by the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation’s AFL-CIO Community Services program. To contribute by mail, send a check made out to “LSRC” to Labor Studies Resource Center, 411 Main St., Room 202, St. Paul, MN 55102.

Click here to download a flier for the fundraiser.

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Loaned executives look to grow labor’s support of United Way

August 13, 2013 by
Sheila Pokorny (left) and Joan Killeen are loaned labor executives for the 2013 Greater Twin Cities United Way campaign.

Sheila Pokorny (left) and Joan Killeen are loaned labor executives for the 2013 Greater Twin Cities United Way campaign.

United Way was there to support Sheila Pokorny and Joan Killeen when they needed a helping hand. Now the two are returning the favor as loaned labor executives supporting Greater Twin Cities United Way’s 2013 campaign.

Pokorny and Killeen began work July 25 and will continue through mid-November, reaching out to area union offices and encouraging officers, employees and members to give, advocate or volunteer in support of United Way’s work in the Twin Cities.

“Both of us have used United Way’s services, and it’s time to give back,” Pokorny said. “This is a personal connection for both of us.”

A former state employee and AFSCME member, Pokorny took advantage of St. Paul’s Neighborhood House as a young mother. Killeen, who worked 32 years for Ford Motor Company, benefited from a Salvation Army food shelf in her early years on the job.

Both women have long been supporters of United Way. Pokorny served as a campaign ambassador for 17 years while on staff at the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees.

Killeen worked as a loaned labor executive on the 1997 campaign and served on the United Way committee at the Ford plant for several years. “I wanted to come back out of retirement and do some meaningful work,” said Killeen, who maintains a retiree membership in the United Auto Workers.

The primary mission of Greater Twin Cities United Way is to create pathways out of poverty, making the non-profit organization a natural ally of the labor movement. In fact, unions and United Way share a long history of working together to benefit communities nationwide.

United Way funds Community Services programs and staff in central labor bodies in St. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth and Stillwater. (Pokorny serves on the St. Paul RLF’s Labor Studies and Resource Center, which directs the Community Services program’s work.) Community Services liaisons help union members facing hardships access services they otherwise may not know about.

That’s why both the St. Paul and Minneapolis regional labor federations sponsor Greater Twin Cities United Way’s annual campaign – and urge their affiliates to do the same.

Greater Twin Cities United Way supports 322 programs at 175 non-profit organizations across its nine-county service area, focusing its work on three areas of need: stabilizing families, helping children succeed and empowering healthy lives. It also provides referrals and information by phone via its 2-1-1 helpline.

“We help stabilize families with job training and by using tax credits to increase earnings for over 11,000 people last year,” Killeen said.

Pokorny and Killeen succeed longtime Twin Cities loaned labor executive Mary Ystesund, who retired after the 2012 United Way campaign.

To support the Greater Twin Cities United Way’s work – or to get a United Way campaign started at your workplace – contact Lynne Larkin-Wright or Vicki Beebe, Community Services liaisons for the St. Paul RLF, at 651-222-3787.

“I’m looking forward to getting out there and maybe starting more local union staff campaigns and participating in all the existing fundraising activities out there with local unions,” Pokorny said.

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Cigars, baseball, competitive cocktail mixing and more

May 1, 2013 by
Neighbors of the Lloyd C. Reppe, a polio victim, on St. Paul’s East Side saw “an exhibition of complete coordination, high skill and good fellowship” in May 1953, when 18 members of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers Local 61 painted the Repp house – and did it in exactly two hours, according to the May 14 edition of The Union Advocate.

Neighbors of the Lloyd C. Reppe, a polio victim, on St. Paul’s East Side saw “an exhibition of complete coordination, high skill and good fellowship” in May 1953, when 18 members of Painters, Decorators and Paperhangers Local 61 painted the Repp house – and did it in exactly two hours, according to the May 14 edition of The Union Advocate.

[The Union Advocate’s “This Month in the Archives” feature offers a look back at what the newspaper was reporting from 5 to 100 years ago. Our digital archives are online, searchable and free to anyone. Click here for access.]

The St. Paul Cigarmakers struck a deal with the St. Paul Saints in May 1913, granting the union the exclusive privilege of selling cigars during baseball games at Lexington Park all season long.

The Minnesota Union Advocate, in its May 23 edition, celebrated the deal as “an advanced step” in efforts to promote “home industry by patronizing local manufactories.”

“In consequence of this step there will not be sold on the base ball grounds a single non-union cigar during the rest of the season,” The Advocate reported. “Union men who patronize the games can get such cigars as they want, made by union labor in clean and sanitary shops and of good and wholesome material.”

Under the terms of the deal, the cigar makers’ union operated vending stands throughout Lexington Park, located at the corner of Lexington Parkway and University Avenue.

The ballpark burned to the ground a year later – no word on whether cigar ash was to blame – but was quickly rebuilt. It housed the Saints, charter members of the minor league American Association, from 1897 through 1956, when the team moved to Midway Stadium.

75 Years Ago: Builders halted housing construction

In a first for the city of St. Paul, an association of 127 homebuilders shut down construction of more than 100 new homes in May 1938, locking out union carpenters and building laborers in an attempt to drive down wages.

The lockout, which began May 16, failed. The reason, according to analysis in The Advocate, was lack of public support.

“From its inception it was obvious that the strike was not popular with the general public,” The Advocate reported June 2.

In order to return to work, homebuilders demanded carpenters accept a cut in hourly wages from $1.25 to $1, and laborers accept a wage cut from 75 cents to 60 cents. Both wage scales had been established in union contracts settled a year earlier.

More, the homebuilders had no interest in negotiating a solution, according to The Advocate.

“On several occasions when the St. Paul Building Trades Council undertook to arrange meetings with the representatives of the Home Builders for the purpose of ironing out any misunderstandings … the association refused.”

Union members returned to work – without a pay cut – May 31.

60 Years Ago: Union bartenders held cocktail contest

Billed by The Advocate as “one of the most unique events in the history of St. Paul trade unionism,” the first citywide Cocktail Mixing Championship drew 18 union bartenders – and hundreds of thirsty spectators – to the Blue Ox Room of the Hotel St. Francis on May 19, 1953.

Co-sponsored by the ice industry, the Libbey Glass Company and Local 287 of the Bartenders Union, the competition awarded gold plaques to the “most original” entries in three categories: gin cocktail, whiskey cocktail and tall drink.

The Advocate reported the results in its May 21 edition:

“When the judges had turned in their score cards it was found that Vincent Gustafson, of Gannon’s, had won with his ‘Apple-blossom Cocktail,’ Reuben Katz, of the Hotel Lowry took a plaque for his ‘Sky Ride,’ a tall drink, and Nick Manson, of the Lexington bar, won the third plaque with his ‘Party Sipper.’”

(Sadly, The Advocate didn’t print recipes.)

The three winning drink formulas were entered in a nationwide contest.

Joan Simpson, a teacher at Webster Magnet Elementary School, was not only adopted by Steelworkers Local 7263, she was made an honorary member of the union.

Joan Simpson, a teacher at Webster Magnet Elementary School, was not only adopted by Steelworkers Local 7263, she was made an honorary member of the union.

25 Years Ago: Teachers ‘adopted’ by local unions

The St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly rolled out an “Adopt-a-Teacher” initiative in May 1988, lining up unions to sponsor St. Paul teachers to promote labor studies in their classroom.

Remedial reading teacher Mike LaBerge was adopted by Local 7201 of the Communications Workers of America – an experience that gave him a “fresh outlook” on the a labor movement, The Advocate reported June 6, 1988.

“LaBerge has attended one meeting of Local 7201 and plans to continue meeting with the local during the summer to develop lesson plans for the fall,” The Advocate reported.

The Trades and Labor Assembly spearheaded several initiatives to make labor studies a bigger part of public education, including a draft “labor curriculum” for students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

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Labor of Love helps families in need during holiday season

November 12, 2012 by

Greater Twin Cities United Way and the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation’s AFL-CIO Community Services program are co-sponsoring the Labor of Love – Adopt a Family holiday program, collecting donations to support families in need in the East Metro area.

Tax-deductible donations will be used to purchase gift cards from union grocers. Gift cards will support holiday food drives operated by Catholic Charities and the Jewish Community Center in St. Paul.

To contribute, mail a check payable to “Labor Studies Resource Center (LSRC) – Labor of Love” to AFL-CIO Community Services Program, Attention: Laura, 411 Main St. Suite 202, St. Paul, MN 55102.

Contributions will be accepted through Dec. 3.

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Union volunteers make United Way Action Day a success

September 24, 2012 by

Volunteers at Ecolab Plaza. Click to view more photos from the Action Day.

Volunteers from the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation’s Labor Studies and Resource Center helped make United Way Action Day a great success, with more than 40 East Metro union members taking action in support of their community during the Aug. 22 events.

More than 30 St. Paul RLF members participated in speed volunteering activities at Ecolab Plaza during their lunch hour on Action Day. Later in the day, 10 RLF members formed two teams for the Team Challenge Volunteer event at the Mall of America. Together, they helped make United Way Action Day a success. Overall results of the volunteer event include:

  • • Doing 14,000 loads of laundry for families who don’t have the option by making 7,000 laundry kits.
  • • Keeping 88 children warm at night by creating blankets.
  • • Giving 4,000 hungry kids a healthy snack pack.
  • • Encouraging good dental hygiene by creating 5,200 dental kits for children and adults.
  • • Supporting 220 seniors’ independence by producing safety kits.
  • • Making a house a home for 100 families in transition by forming kitchen kits.
  • • Supporting 10 local nonprofits doing great work in the community with $7,500 in donations.

Part of the fun for the five-person teams at the Mall of America was the chance to give a local nonprofit a gift in their team’s name and bragging rights as one of United Way’s top volunteer groups. To win a team had to be the first to complete its speed volunteering activity.

One of the RLF’s two teams, East Metro Labor, won first place in two separate competitions. Team members chose to give their $700 prizes to the West 7th Community Center in St. Paul and to the YWCA of Minneapolis.

“The United Way Action Day brought union members and retirees together to help our local United Way agency partners and had a good time too!” said Bobby Kasper, president of the 50,000-member St. Paul Regional Labor Federation.

Find additional pictures of RLF volunteers in this photo album.

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