The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
It’s the time of year when families gather together to celebrate the holidays. Those gatherings take many different forms. Sometimes we gather as a nuclear family, just parents and their children. Other times we gather with our extended family, bringing together the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins or in-laws. The ties that bind us together as […]
Two St. Paul natives who traded in their boxing gloves for work gloves were inducted into the Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame this month. Brian Brunette and Matt Vanda, both members of Local 563 of the Laborers International Union (LIUNA), received the honor during a banquet Oct. 11 at Mystic Lake Casino. After working in […]
Workers organizing with CTUL kicked off the campaign with a march down Lake Street in Minneapolis.
In Minnesota, we know what’s at stake. We’ve seen the attacks on working people in states around us.
Renee Gisch brought her grandchildren to the Capitol so they could see the restoration work she and hundreds of other tradespeople did over the last four years. Nearby, Daniel Reibestein and his mother, Donna, paid tribute to the work his great grandfather put into the landmark building’s original construction more than a century ago. Construction […]
School board members in Mendota Heights yesterday awarded construction contracts to two firms despite concerns about unsafe working conditions and poor oversight on other projects handled by the contractors. Independent School District 197 accepted bids to oversee renovation work on two elementary schools from Derau Construction and Ebert Construction – both “problem contractors,” Mendota Heights […]
On June 30, Laborers Local 563 won its federal court case to enforce an arbitration award that stopped an employer from using a physical machine test to screen members. The union believes that this type of test has nothing to do with the ability to do the work and may unfairly exclude people who have […]
Union members joined the party at the Ashley Rukes GLBT Pride Parade in Minneapolis yesterday, cheering the Supreme Court’s historic decision making marriage equality the law of the land. “We’re always fighting; it feels good to be celebrating for a change,” Charli Haataja, a member of Local 7250 of the Communications Workers of America, […]
A series of five public hearings on a proposed oil pipeline through Minnesota opened in St. Paul yesterday, and members of several Building Trades unions stepped forward to support the $2.5 billion venture, projected to create 1,500 construction jobs. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission is collecting public testimony at sites across the state this week […]
Laborers Local 563 today called on the Minnetonka School Board to commission an independent investigation into possible violations of state and federal child-labor laws stemming from construction work at district’s Scenic Heights Elementary School. Earlier this month, the Laborers notified state and federal regulators, as well as the school district, that a minor was apparently […]
