The bookseller developed a case of writer’s block when it came time to draft economic terms.
‘Riding the union wave,’ Minneapolis Trader Joe’s workers win landslide election
August 14, 2022 by
Minneapolis is home to the nation’s second unionized Trader Joe’s store, after workers voted overwhelmingly last week in favor of joining together to bargain with the retailer for better wages and safer working conditions. About a dozen workers on hand Friday, when the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) counted votes in a delivery bay behind […]
Guthrie scenic artists voting in union election this month
February 1, 2022 by
Workers at Frattallone’s Hardware in Circle Pines and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis are set to vote by mail in union elections this month conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.
Half Price Books workers in Roseville, St. Paul form unions
October 18, 2021 by
Half the staffing has meant double the work for employees since the chain of booksellers reopened post-pandemic, but workers are pushing back.
Jennifer Christensen: ‘We really are dedicated, as a union, to everyone doing better’
August 24, 2021 by
Jennifer Christensen’s career with the United Food and Commercial Workers started over 30 years ago as a part-time deli worker at Cub Foods, and it will end this month, when she retires as president of South St. Paul- and Duluth-based UFCW Local 1189.
Grocery workers ask you to #ShopSmart during pandemic
April 27, 2020 by
“It’s about keeping yourself safe, keeping the workers safe and keeping the community safe,” UFCW Local 1189 President Jennifer Christensen said.
Bernie Hesse: ‘Don’t do something out of charity, do it out of solidarity’
July 7, 2017 by
He is gruff and often combative, principled and usually blunt. But above all else, Bernie Hesse is a trade unionist. From his days as a grocery clerk to his current work as director of special projects for United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189, Hesse has made himself ubiquitous in St. Paul’s labor community. If […]
Poised to strike this weekend, AT&T wireless workers seek support on picket line
May 18, 2017 by
Some 21,000 AT&T wireless workers in 36 states – including about 2,000 in Minnesota – plan to strike this weekend, a show of frustration over the company’s failure to negotiate a new contract that protects good, family-supporting jobs. The strike is set to begin at 2 p.m. tomorrow unless AT&T and the Communications Workers of America, which […]
Jeff Couillard: What if retail workers took a two-week break – starting on Black Friday?
November 22, 2016 by
It’s that time of year when retail executives get excited about the kind of record profits they will be raking in from mid-November to the end of the year. Retailers have been pushing out their deals earlier and earlier so consumers have more and more choices to cash in on a “super” deal ahead of […]
Dave Kamper: Missed opportunity 50 years ago offers insight into labor’s current challenges
July 5, 2016 by
The Union Advocate recently reported that Local 1189 of the UFCW has rejected a so-called “final offer” in negotiations with the owners of Cub, Rainbow, Lunds & Byerly’s, and other major retail grocers in the East Metro. Notably absent from the negotiations, of course, are two of the largest grocery retailers in the Metro, Wal-Mart […]
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