Wage Theft
In Minnesota, Wage Theft Will be a Felony
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The new wage theft provisions are a resounding victory for the worker advocacy organizations who led the fight to hold employers accountable.
Government
A Big Night for Labor
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Last night was a victory for labor. At the DFL Election Party at the Intercontinental Riverside Hotel in St.Paul, people were energetic and thrilled with election results
Investigative
Sherburne County Sheriff’s Department Generates Millions through the Incarceration of Immigrant Detainees
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Sherburne has spurred the privatization of health care services for county jails, displacing county workers and leading to dangerous conditions for the incarcerated. The revenue is somewhat restricted leading to complaints from Sheriffs in contract negotiations.
Investigative
Prison Labor in Minnesota, Part 2
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Ezekiel “Zeke” Caligiuri remembers learning that inmate labor built St. Cloud Correctional Facility. Upon that discovery, he began seeing the walls of his cell in a different hue. Zeke observed that he “lived in a space that had been lived in for 100 years.” He grappled with the sobering reality that countless men before him had labored to sustain their own confinement and would continue to do so long after he was gone. As Zeke describes in his memoir, “I thought about a world that had no problem forgetting any of us ever existed.” Being forgotten behind concrete and steel bars also means that there is little observance and awareness of the treatment of prison laborers like Zeke.
Investigative
Prison Labor in Minnesota, Part 1
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The Department of Corrections (DOC) has a monopoly over an inmate’s shelter, work opportunities, and medical care. Since inmates live in their workplace, their living conditions are also their working conditions.
Government
Pivotal labor cases due before Supreme Court
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When it comes to the issue of union fees and free riders heading towards the U.S. Supreme Court, it’s a case of “here we go again.” But with a difference.
Government
Postal unions cheer as lawmakers reverse course, uphold 6-day mail service
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After lobbying by the nation’s postal unions – and questions from non-partisan auditors about savings claims – a key GOP-run House committee reversed course and voted June 25 to uphold 6-day mail service, including Saturday service.
Government
Senate fills all five NLRB seats
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Bringing to an end a long and bitter controversy, the Senate on Tuesday filled all five National Labor Relations Board seats with permanent members, ensuring the board can go ahead and govern worker-management relations for 85 million U.S. workers, most of them in the private sector.
Government
Senate to vote this week on NLRB nominees
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The Senate will vote this week on all five of President Obama’s nominees – three Democrats and two Republicans – for National Labor Relations Board seats, Senate Labor Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, said.
Government
Union members praise Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage
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Union members are lauding the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional, paving the way for the federal recognition of same-sex marriages.