AFL-CIO halts PAC contributions, gears up for battle to stop fast track

Upping the ante in its campaign to stop trade agreements that give corporations more power over the global economy, the AFL-CIO announced today it would freeze all contributions to federal lawmakers’ Political Action Committees and focus, instead, on a ground battle against fast track for the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The nation’s largest labor federation announced the […]

Labor 2012: Minnesota unions celebrate clean sweep of top priorities

Minnesota unions achieved a clean sweep of their top priorities for the Nov. 6 election, as voters elected pro-labor majorities to the Legislature, tossed a Tea Party incumbent out of office in the 8th Congressional District and rejected a pair of constitutional amendments opposed by labor. It was a resounding victory for the Labor 2012 […]

Fifty years ago, another Romney was bad news for union members

A name certain to be in the headlines this November – for better or for worse – was also in The Union Advocate’s front-page headlines 50 years ago. The top story in the Nov. 16, 1962, edition analyzed the results of gubernatorial races across the country: “Rocky, Romney, Scranton Win Big For GOP; Nixon, Others […]

Bobby Kasper: Obama, Democrats the right choice for union members

We are at a political crossroads. The economy is still struggling from the devastatingly deep hole that President Obama inherited from George W. Bush. The political action that we take today through November 6 will decide our future as union members. We have a responsibility to get out the vote, with our state and federation […]

Statewide labor convention opens with political call to action

Election-year politics dominated Day 1 of the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s 51st Constitutional Convention in Rochester yesterday, as speakers, including U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, urged delegates to take action in support of labor-endorsed candidates up and down the Nov. 6 ballot. Klobuchar, whose campaign for a second term has the state labor federation’s endorsement, said unions will […]

Fair Trade Coalition plans rally against corporate control of trade pact

Negotiations are underway on what experts say will become the largest free-trade agreement in the world, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). But as important as this deal will be for workers worldwide, it has been negotiated behind closed doors, away from public scrutiny. On July 9 the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition will stage a rally to protest […]