The voice of Saint Paul's working families since 1897
North Memorial Medical Center illegally fired one worker and unlawfully attempted to block others from participating in a campaign to fight staffing cuts and protect patient safety at the Robbinsdale hospital, an administrative law judge ruled Friday. Acting on behalf of the National Labor Relations Board, Judge Christine Dibble upheld charges of unfair labor practices […]
Clara Nakumbe is fighting for $15 an hour, but the Minneapolis resident doesn’t work in a fast-food restaurant or behind the scenes at the airport. She works in her own home, providing round-the-clock care for her son Siran, who lives with a severe form of multiple sclerosis. It’s work that earns Nakumbe $11 per hour, […]
There is safety in numbers and strength in a union. Security officers at HealthEast hospitals are organizing to achieve both. Officers say they’ve been warning management for years about dangerously low staffing levels among their ranks. HealthEast usually keeps just two security officers on duty at each of its four East Metro hospitals – […]
About 350 workers at Unity Hospital in Fridley voted yesterday to join SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, the union announced today. The new bargaining unit includes nursing assistants, dietary aides, environmental services aides, patient care technicians and other positions. Over 59 percent of workers voted in favor of forming a union. It was the first major election […]
The union contract that goes into effect today between the State of Minnesota and home care workers statewide is a big deal to Tallaya Byers. But it’s about more than paid time off, wage increases and other benefits that kick in today, the 38-year-old from St. Paul said. “I’m being recognized as an employee,” said […]
In a victory for 27,000 home health care workers across Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton today gave final approval to a historic first union contract that will dramatically improve working conditions in the industry when it takes effect July 1. Dayton’s signature on the Omnibus Health and Human Services bill, passed by the Legislature with bipartisan […]
The frenzied finish at the Capitol yielded mixed – and uncertain – results for Minnesota’s working families. Although the Legislature approved a record investment in long-term care before adjourning last night, unions said lawmakers squandered an opportunity to use the state’s $1.9 billion budget surplus to restore cuts to public schools, expand access to pre-kindergarten […]
Capping a week that saw fast food workers, bank tellers, students and other workers across the Twin Cities mobilize for higher wages, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota announced today that members have ratified a new contract with Allina that establishes a $15 minimum wage at seven Twin Cities hospitals. Allina backed out of metro-wide negotiations between the […]
After hundreds marched together outside Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis yesterday, the picket line shifted to United Hospital in St. Paul today, as health care workers kept the pressure on Allina Health to get serious about contract negotiations with their union, SEIU Healthcare Minnesota. Workers like Dave Young, a nursing assistant at United, want Allina […]
A bipartisan group of Minnesota legislators lined up on the Capitol steps today to show support for a bill to ratify and fully fund home care workers’ first contract with the state. Winning legislative approval for the contract, ratified by members of the newly organized unit in voting last month, is one of a […]
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