Hamline puts posturing before progress in contract talks, adjuncts say

Adjunct faculty members accuse school administrators of trying to weaken their union and marginalize their status on campus.

Ruling deals blow to faculty union drive at U’s Twin Cities campus

A Minnesota Court of Appeals ruling issued yesterday dealt a setback to faculty members organizing a union at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus, who are now weighing an appeal to the state’s Supreme Court. The ruling overturned a decision by the Bureau of Mediation Services, which oversees public employee labor disputes in Minnesota, […]

Teamsters say U of M policy punishes dining workers who use earned sick time

  On the steps of Morrill Hall Tuesday, front-line staff at the University of Minnesota rallied with other U of M workers, including faculty members seeking a union vote, to protest an attendance policy that, workers say, unfairly disciplines them for getting sick. Teamsters Local 320, which organized the rally, represents food-service workers at the […]

MCAD faculty members unionize; Augsburg adjuncts on track to vote soon

Faculty at Minneapolis College of Art and Design have voted overwhelmingly to unionize after an organizing drive sponsored by Local 284 of the Service Employees International Union. The election results were announced this afternoon, just days after adjunct faculty at Augsburg College filed for a union election of their own. MCAD’s part- and full-time instructors […]

Ruling sets stage for 2,500 Twin Cities faculty to take union vote

The historic organizing drive among faculty at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus cleared a major hurdle today, when a state agency ruled contingent and tenure-track faculty could join together in one potential bargaining unit. The Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services’ decision clears the way for about 1,000 contingent and 1,500 tenure-track faculty members […]

Faculty blast U’s attempt to delay union vote with legal appeal

The University of Minnesota is asking the state Court of Appeals to slow down a historic union-organizing effort among faculty at the Twin Cities campus. Union supporters today branded the university’s decision as divisive and wasteful. “We are forming a union so we can gain a stronger voice in university governance, and this is a […]

Students, teachers, unions urge lawmakers to invest state budget surplus

  The projected $1.2 billion state budget surplus, announced by state officials today, creates an opportunity for lawmakers to strengthen communities and continue growing Minnesota’s middle class in the 2016 legislative session, union members and allies said. And the first place lawmakers should look to invest is education. That’s the message three Metro-area legislators heard […]

Trumka at U of M: ‘There’s a way for workers to win, and it’s together’

In a policy address at the University of Minnesota yesterday, the nation’s highest-ranking labor leader pointed to “thousands of little groundswells” from across the country, including in the Twin Cities, as signs of a renaissance for collective action in American culture. “Right now workers are standing together and asking for a better life – and […]

Ellison to U of M researchers: Use collective action to reverse dwindling federal support

  Frontline researchers alerted U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison to the impacts of dwindling federal and institutional support for their work in a meeting at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities yesterday. Ellison, a DFLer whose 5th District includes the Twin Cities campus, pledged to continue supporting research funding in Congress, and he praised U […]