Workday Magazine (https://workdaymagazine.org/category/policy/page/34/)
The Great Recession that hit the U.S. starting in December 2007 may be bottoming out. But there’s still a long way to go for recovery, especially for workers, the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute says.
Union leaders reacted with deep sadness to the death Tuesday of U.S. Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy, of cancer at age 77. Several unionists said workers could best memorialize him by enacting his last two great causes: Universal affordable health care and the Employee Free Choice Act.
The St. Paul City Council and the Ramsey County Board have passed labor-backed resolutions calling for use of American-manufactured steel in public-works projects funded by economic stimulus dollars. Similar resolutions are in the works in Minneapolis and Hennepin County.
Gov. Pawlenty’s budget ax fell hard on the people of Minnesota Friday with another $14 million in cuts to public services, in areas ranging from transit and education to food inspection.
Union retirees from across Minnesota attended the annual convention of the Minnesota State Retiree Council, AFL-CIO, on Wednesday. They celebrated successful political action efforts last year and looked ahead to new challenges.
Construction jobs have dropped in nearly every U.S. community, but Minnesota is among the hardest-hit, according to an analysis released at this year’s convention of the Minnesota Building & Construction Trades Council. Unions participating in the convention said government must act to restart the industry and restore jobs.
The most major piece of labor legislation in decades is quickly being eclipsed by the congressional debates on health care reform and Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation.
On July 24, the federal minimum wage rose from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour, an increase of 70 cents or just over 10 percent. For full-time minimum wage workers, the raise amounts to about $28 a week.
Union members in Chisago County are organizing public support for a national power company’s plans to develop a natural gas-fired electric plant in Lent Township, which, if approved, could mean hundreds of new building trades jobs.
Saying the economy is so deep in recession it needs another federal government financial jolt, the AFL-CIO Executive Council voted Tuesday for “a second installment” economic stimulus – even though a top Obama administration official told them, in so many words, “not just yet.”