Trades push Royal Credit Union to ditch contractor accused of underpaying immigrant workers

Efforts to stop worker exploitation in the Twin Cities construction industry continued to gain momentum today, as construction unions called out Royal Credit Union for using an out-of-state masonry contractor accused by watchdog groups of underpaying immigrant laborers. As the credit union cut the ribbon inside a newly acquired and refurbished branch in Inver Grove […]

As special session nears, unions push lawmakers to prioritize working people

Minnesota unions are calling on state lawmakers to include crisis relief, paid leave and protections for working people in their final budget. “Working people need their lawmakers’ help,” they said in a letter to legislative leaders this week.

Outside Amazon fulfillment center, workers demand tax fairness

Workers unfurled a “Tax the Rich” banner outside Amazon’s Shakopee fulfillment center today.

Making the adjustment: Union apprenticeship programs get creative to navigate COVID-19 safely

The result isn’t always ideal, but what has been in 2020? 

Kasper to retire, Peterson elected to lead St. Paul labor federation

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation will have new leadership in the coming new year. After a decade in office, RLF President Bobby Kasper will retire at the end of December, a decision he made official at the federation’s delegate meeting Dec. 11. Kasper, a “proud” member of LIUNA Laborers Local 563, has served as […]

MN’s public-sector workers aren’t mourning Janus, they’re organizing

The decision has prompted a lot of hand-wringing over the labor movement’s downfall. Don’t buy it.

‘Minnesotans are the losers’ when divided Legislature plays politics with transportation

Republicans and Democrats rarely agree, but when the Minnesota Legislature convened in January 2015, leaders of the GOP House and the DFL Senate were sounding an awful lot alike. It was time to address the state’s transportation needs, they agreed. And the state could not afford to wait. Nearly two years later, Minnesotans are still […]

Unions, employers reach out to St. Paul’s East Side at job fair

Union employers, apprenticeship programs and community service agencies set up shop on St. Paul’s East Side last night, recruiting talent from the distinctly working-class neighborhood and beyond at the Union Jobs and Resource Fair. Many Latino, Hmong, Karen and East African families call the East Side home, and the job fair, organized by the St. […]

Over Laborers’ concerns, Mendota Heights district awards work to ‘problem contractors’

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 […]

Tim Mackey: Laborers fought physical machine testing – and won

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 […]