Workday Magazine (https://workdaymagazine.org/category/organizing/page/2/)
It is no surprise that out of the hundreds of strikes that began last year, two historic ones occurred in Minnesota, where feminized workers withheld their labor to demand better working conditions, hold their employers accountable, and stand up against greed for collective good and care.
Recently unionized healthcare and nonprofit workers in the Midwest are weathering the changes to reproductive rights and access.
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. It seems that Trader Joe’s management is considering becoming the next Starbucks in a different sense: closing stores and harassing workers out of union drives. A store in Boulder, Colorado, had a vote lined up for this week, but workers seeking affiliation with Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 7 there withdrew their petition the day after filing charges against the company for coercion and intimidation. The Trader Joe’s drives reflect an emerging theme of recent new organizing: independent versus affiliated unionism.
Housekeepers and other hotel employees took the stage on Day 1 of the AFL-CIO’s Pride at Work convention and told delegates that the Millennium Hotel had pulled back tentative agreements with their union two months after booking the convention. Delegates didn’t take the news sitting down. They marched out of the Millennium ballroom and into the lobby, with hotel staff in the lead, and held a lively rally in their defense. When security guards demanded demonstrators move to the sidewalk outside, they refused, holding the lobby for nearly a half hour. The action marked a spirited start to the three-day convention that began Aug.
Workers allege the company has deployed unfair labor practices ahead of next week’s union vote.
Why we need to enforce worker protections to build the labor movement we want.
On a combined picket line outside United and Children’s hospitals in St. Paul, nurses said the crisis facing their profession demands urgency and bold action to keep nurses from leaving the bedside.
Over 400 mental health workers in the Twin Cities answered that question yesterday by going on strike for union contracts that address safety concerns and low wages in their industry.
People hear of good wages in the construction industry, but the reality can be different for those who have nonunion jobs or work for corrupt contractors.
Baristas in St. Paul won their union election today, giving Minnesota its first corporate-owned, unionized Starbucks.