The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
Workers taking collective action and communities organizing for political change form the groundwork of 15 Now, panelists said Wednesday during a forum on the nationwide movement to raise wages. The discussion was the second in a new series of monthly educational events hosted by the East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul, co-sponsored by […]
Activists picketed outside Target Corp.’s headquarters downtown Minneapolis yesterday, calling on CEO Brian Cornell to make raising wages for frontline workers a part of the company’s massive restructuring effort. Organizers of 15 Now, a grassroots movement working to raise the minimum wage in Minneapolis, looked to pressure Target into following the lead of its primary […]
After relentless pressure from workers and the community, Walmart announced last month it will raise minimum pay for its workers to $9 an hour in April and $10 an hour by February 2016. Now, one Minnesota lawmaker is calling on Minneapolis-based Target to follow Walmart’s lead. Rep. Joe Atkins, lead DFLer on the Minnesota House […]
From fast food to retail, workers in low-wage jobs around the country, including Minnesota, are increasingly staging short-term, high-profile strikes to advance their movements for higher wages and a voice on the job. Walking off the job in protest is a costly, risky tactic to employ – even for one day. In addition to […]
Demonstrators in the Twin Cities yesterday echoed an expansive call put forth at Black Friday actions across the country to lift workers and their families out of poverty by guaranteeing livable wages, access to earned sick time and a path to forming a union without fear of retaliation. The target of most Black Friday protests […]
On the biggest shopping day of the year, nearly 500 people in St. Paul demonstrated outside the Midway Walmart, demanding that the retailer pay its associates living wages and stop retaliating against workers organizing for change. Four striking Walmart workers from Apple Valley led a march from Walmart to a nearby McDonald’s, where activists called […]
As the holiday shopping season shifts into high gear, workers who stock Walmart’s shelves, serve McDonald’s hamburgers and clean big-box stores are planning a week of action in the Twin Cities to draw attention to the low wages and poor conditions plaguing their industries. The day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday is the highest-profile shopping day […]
Sam Walton famously required that Walmart employees flash a smile and offer a greeting to anyone coming within 10 feet of their path. Moronica Owens this week discovered a few exceptions to the “10-foot rule” at Walmart’s annual shareholder meetings in Fayetteville, Ark. “I’m a Walmart associate; I know the 10-foot rule,” Owens said. “But […]
BROOKLYN CENTER – Walmart associates from Apple Valley and Brooklyn Center walked off the job today, joining another nationwide wave of strikes and demonstrations targeting the world’s largest retailer for its low pay and retaliation against workers looking to organize. Similar strikes took place today in 20 other U.S. cities, as members of the workers’ […]
Cantaré Davunt nodded her head as Anne Winkler-Morey talked about struggling to make ends meet as an adjunct professor. To Davunt, the challenges adjunct faculty face – low wages, unreliable hours, few opportunities for advancement – sounded all too familiar to her experience as an associate at Walmart. Davunt and Winkler-Morey joined a panel discussion […]
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