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Workday Minnesota
The Art of Forced Sacrifice
Two and a half years ago, an ensemble of willing and unwilling “heroes” embarked on a journey filled with suffering. They faced the impossible task of keeping society functioning through a disruptive, deadly disease outbreak. Many of these workers were forced to toil in unfavorable, uncertain conditions. Many fell ill. Many died. Those who survived were left with the losses of trauma and burnout. Some even got a few extra hundred dollars for their sacrifices.
Rail Workers Reject Contract Recommendations, Say They’re Ready to Strike
Railroad unions continue their slow creep along the path to a settlement—or strike—in contract negotiations covering 115,000 workers. On August 16, the Presidential Emergency Board convened by President Biden issued its recommendations for a settlement. Many rail workers say they fall short and are prepared to strike to win more.
State Building Trades convention asks Governor Walz to call special session to pass bonding bill, complete unfinished business of 2022 legislature
MANKATO — The Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council’s annual convention delivered an in-person request to guest speaker Governor Tim Walz and legislative leaders: call a special session to take up the unfinished business of the 2022 legislative session. In addition to remarks by Governor Walz, the...
Building Trades Council steps up efforts to welcome and support veterans, celebrates new designation as a ‘Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Company’
MANKATO — On the eve of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council’s convention, delegates and guests met for an outdoor ceremony July 20 to celebrate the Council’s completion of a nine-month process to win designation as a “Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Company.”. Winning this...
Trader Joe’s Union Campaign Takes Two Steps Forward, One Step Back
Trader Joe’s workers in Minneapolis won their union in a landslide vote August 12, making theirs the second store to go with the new, independent Trader Joe’s United. The win raises the question of whether the grocer, with its 530 locations and progressive image, could be the next Starbucks.
Heat Waves Are Putting Teamsters in Danger
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters kicked off its campaign, on August 1, for its next big contract with United Parcel Service in 2023 — but the Teamsters have some other UPS fights along the way. Teamsters tell In These Times that workers are being pushed to the brink as...
Hospital nurses in Twin Cities, Duluth vote to authorize strike
Nurses at 15 Minnesota hospitals voted yesterday to authorize a strike, after union negotiators accused health care executives of refusing to bargain contracts that protect the safety of their patients and address the crisis facing their profession. “What we are being forced to do is totally against every ethical principal...
Blood, “Sweat” and tears: The Guthrie Theater’s take on the human cost of the economy
“Nostalgia is a disease…there’s nothing but mildew in these cracks.”. While keeping his patrons’ glasses full, an elderly and disabled bar manager named Stan grieves for the way his community has changed. Folks come to this spot to unwind after a hard day’s work at the local steel factory. Stan and an employee named Oscar offer therapeutic ears and helping hands for the workers whose once stable livelihoods are at risk. By the end of our time witnessing this story play out on the Guthrie Theater stage, Stan and Oscar’s emotional labor comes down upon them in a moment of violent rage, fracturing these human connections for years to come.
Minneapolis Trader Joe’s workers aim to unionize second store in U.S.
Workers at the Trader Joe’s in downtown Minneapolis will vote next week in the grocery chain’s second union election in the country. The election comes just two weeks after workers in Hadley, Mass., were the first to unionize Trader Joe’s, as organizing drives continue to spread at national chains including Starbucks, Apple and Amazon.
Young Workers Are Bridging the Climate and Labor Movements
This article first appeared on Truthout. New momentum is buzzing through the North American labor movement, driven by the same age group which, across party affiliations and the urban-rural divide, has expressed majority-to-outsize support for advancing a climate policy overhaul with economic justice at its core. After ticking up slightly...
Young Workers Are Bridging the Climate and Labor Movements
This article first appeared on Truthout. New momentum is buzzing through the North American labor movement, driven by the same age group which, across party affiliations and the urban-rural divide, has expressed majority-to-outsize support for advancing a climate policy overhaul with economic justice at its core. After ticking up slightly...
After Yellowstone Floods, Tourism Workers Lose Their Jobs—And Their Housing
When floods swept the upper Yellowstone River in June, Audra Feldhousen lost her home. It didn’t fill with water or wash downstream, like many other structures in the area. No, less than a week after the flood hit, Feldhousen was laid off by her employer, who was also her landlord.
Yes, Abortion Rights Are a Union Issue
Abortion: it’s a topic unions shy away from. The logic is, why go there? You might alienate conservative workers who otherwise share your workplace concerns. And it’s true, you might—though the issue is not as divisive as the GOP makes it out to be. A solid 61 percent of U.S. adults is pro-choice. Among those aged 18-29, it’s 74 percent.
How Minnesota’s land is used
Last week’s visits to Minnesota ethanol refineries by the campaigns of Gov. Tim Walz and his likely GOP opponent Scott Jensen were a reminder that whatever their differences, Minnesota Democrats and Republicans are united in their commitment to turning corn into gasoline. According to a report by the University of Minnesota Extension, nearly one third of Minnesota’s corn crop was converted into ethanol last year.
For migrant farm workers, housing is not just a determinant of health, but a determinant of death
Imagine if, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic — before vaccines were available — you had to share a cramped bunkhouse with a dozen co-workers. Imagine if your employer forbid you from having personal visitors, or if you had to ask your boss for permission to visit the doctor.
How your race, class and gender influence your dreams for the future
In Disney’s “Pinocchio,” Jiminy Cricket famously sings, “When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are. Anything your heart desires will come to you.”. But Jiminy Cricket got it wrong. We’re often taught that we are free to dream – to imagine our...
Nurses in the U.S. Are Suffering “Moral Injury”
Minnesota emergency room nurse Cliff Willmeng remembers, during the early days of the pandemic, treating a patient at United Hospital who asked how the nurses were doing. The man was a Vietnam veteran, and Willmeng recalls that he said, “This is your war.”. “I kind of laughed, like...
National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) Strike
Last month, roughly 40,000 UK rail workers with the National Union of Rail, Maritime, and Transport Workers (RMT) went on strike for three days, bringing major portions of the British rail system to a halt in a historic show of collective strength. This week, after receiving a contract offer from state-owned Network Rail that union leaders described as “paltry,” the RMT announced that workers at Network Rail and the train operating companies will engage in another day of strike action on Wednesday, July 27. With these strikes, and in the ongoing negotiations, workers are fighting for livable wages at a time when the cost of living is spiraling out of control and corporate executives and shareholders are stuffing their pockets with cash. As Adam Bychawski writes, “Train companies paid out nearly £800m to shareholders last year before telling rail unions that employees must take a real-terms pay cut for them to stay afloat.” But workers are fighting for much more; they are fighting against years of austerity policies and corporate profit-generating schemes that have led to deteriorating working conditions and quality of service on the rails; they are fighting against further job losses for the sake of “modernization”‘; and they are fighting for better, safer, more accessible, and well-staffed rail services for the people who depend on them.
Transition and transformation at the Labor Education Service
The following is a letter from the Labor Education Service. The last two years have been some of the most difficult and transformative in the Labor Education Service’s 71-year existence. From the pandemic to the uprising following the murder of our beloved community member, George Floyd; from the deepening climate crisis to the biggest wave of U.S.-based worker organizing in decades; we have collectively experienced unparalleled trauma, grief, isolation, community, connection, and movement in the liberation struggles of working class and poor people.
A First Contract for Mexican GM Plant’s Independent Union
An independent union at General Motors in Silao, Mexico, has ratified its first contract, with an 8.5 percent wage hike and benefit improvements—outstripping recent wage increases at other Mexican auto plants. The contract comes after workers voted last year by more than 3 to 1 to be represented by...
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Workday Minnesota holds the powerful to account while bringing the perspective of everyday workers and the organizations that defend their rights to focus. Workday emphasizes long-form investigative journalism to bring to light the concealed and buried.
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