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Richard Trumka: The choice we face Nov. 4
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (right). Almost no one in America is satisfied with the imbalance of our economy. We’re working harder and harder for less and less. This isn’t a partisan opinion. All...
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Bill Moore: To act together, we’ve got to get together
Bill Moore is president of the Minnesota State Retiree Council, AFL-CIO. “GOP tightens grip on white working class,” read the headline on an Oct. 31 Wall Street Journal story datelined Aitkin, Minn....
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Shar Knutson: 2015 legislative session presents challenges, opportunities
Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson The 2015 legislative session is nearly one month old, and Minnesotans are presented with a very different situation than we were in 2013 and 2014. While Gov....
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John Marty: Minnesota must end worker poverty
Senator John Marty Working people should not be trapped in poverty. This was part of the social contract America made with its people 80 years ago in the New Deal. Workers will receive a minimum wage....
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Bernie Hesse: Politicians, bad laws can’t stop workers from organizing
Bernie Hesse Our union, United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189, organized a new group of workers in Luck, Wis., the day Gov. Scott Walker signed a Right to Work for Less bill. The workers at...
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WAIT Twin Cities coalition takes local labor movement by surprise
Just one day after local supporters of the Fight for $15 announced plans to strike for higher wages and union rights later this month, fast-food, retail and other low-wage workers in a new coalition...
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Rose Roach: It’s health care, not ‘wealth care’ – and it’s a human right
Rose Roach is executive director of the Minnesota Nurses Association. A. Phillip Randolph, union organizer and president of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, once said, “The essence of trade...
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Bobby Kasper: Moving our hall, bringing along the spirit of 411 Main
Bobby Kasper presides over the last St. Paul Regional Labor Federation delegate meeting at 411 Main. A house is more than its walls and windows, more than the foundation and support beams that hold it...
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Tim Mackey: Laborers fought physical machine testing – and won
Laborers Local 563 Business Manager Tim Mackey On June 30, Laborers Local 563 won its federal court case to enforce an arbitration award that stopped an employer from using a physical machine test to...
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McCarthy to succeed Knutson as Minnesota AFL-CIO’s top officer
Bill McCarthy and Shar Knutson The Minnesota AFL-CIO General Board today elected Bill McCarthy to serve as the state labor federation’s next president. McCarthy, currently president of the Minneapolis...
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Melander steps down as St. Paul Building Trades’ top officer
Incoming and outgoing officers of the St. Paul Building Trades: (L to R) Tom McCarthy, Stan Theis, Harry Melander and Don Mullin. Harry Melander has stepped down after 10 years as the executive...
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Labor-endorsed Tobolt seeks council seat without help from shadowy ‘reform’...
[This report by Larry Sillanpa is adapted from his column, “A View from the Ditch,” in the July 22 edition of the Labor World, a Duluth-based publication Sillanpa edits.] Megan Boldt and Darren Tobolt...
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Bobby Kasper: This Labor Day, let’s commit to a Raising Wages agenda
Bobby Kasper Whether you celebrate with a backyard barbecue, a trip to the cabin or by marching alongside fellow union members at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds, Labor Day is our opportunity to...
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Shar Knutson: Thank you for everything
As autumn begins, my time as Minnesota AFL-CIO President will come to a close. As I head into retirement, I wanted to thank you and everyone in Minnesota’s labor movement for the opportunity to serve...
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Ken Peterson: Apprenticeship training meets workforce needs of today and...
Minnesota DLI Commissioner Ken Peterson Minnesota’s workforce is experiencing tremendous transition. Thousands of our experienced baby boomers are retiring, while many employers are seeking a workforce...
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Trumka at U of M: ‘There’s a way for workers to win, and it’s together’
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka speaks at the U of M’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. In a policy address at the University of Minnesota yesterday, the nation’s highest-ranking labor leader...
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Unions: Dayton’s ‘jobs bill’ would strengthen state’s infrastructure and economy
Gov. Mark Dayton today proposed investing $1.4 billion in infrastructure improvements across Minnesota, including $82 million earmarked for projects in St. Paul. The governor called the bonding...
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Unions praise Dayton’s approach to building a ‘state that works for everyone’
In his State of the State Address last night, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton called on legislators to join him in addressing the state’s racial and geographic disparities, and in making needed investments...
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Kaela Berg: Trans-Pacific Partnership a threat to U.S. jobs
Kaela Berg is director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition. Trade. It may not be at the front of your mind today, or even most days, but it should be. After 20 years of living with the disastrous...
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Ken Peterson: Fight for safer workplaces continues in Minnesota, worldwide
Minnesota DLI Commissioner Ken Peterson Workers Memorial Day is observed each April 28 because President Richard Nixon signed the OSHA law on that date in 1970. He called it the most significant...
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