Minnesota
An in-house audio-visual camera operator on the job at a Minnesota Timberwolves home game at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

Audio-Visual Crew for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx Win Union

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On December 10, workers from the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx in-house audio-visual crew’s votes were counted and the workers won a union. With an estimated 80% of the 50 workers submitting ballots, the final vote count was 24 in favor of the union and 17 against. The workers are now a part of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 745. 

This win makes the Timberwolves/Lynx audio-visual workers the second audio-visual union in professional sports in Minnesota, following the unionization of the Minnesota United FC’s audio-visual crew in 2022, also with IATSE Local 745. 

The audio-visual, in-house crew films and projects the Minnesota professional basketball teams’ home games within the arena, including replays and close-up shots, fan shots, promotions, graphics, and more. Their work supports the basketball team’s overall success by energizing the crowd and supporting the overall experience of fans at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis. The fight is far from over, explains Josiah Wollan, a camera operator for the Timberwolves and Lynx.

Art
Kira Ross is a member of ATU Local 1005 and Metro Transit’s first black woman mechanic. Ross is photographed while working at the Haywood Garage in Minneapolis, posing next to a tool box. 

Still Lives of Workers in Motion

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“Archive in Motion: The ATU Workers of Metro Transit”, a photography exhibition, is on display at the East Side Freedom Library, in St. Paul, Minn. featuring the photographs of Leslie Grant and Jeffrey Skemp of the workers of Metro Transit. The exhibit features film photographs of various transit workers, represented by Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1005, honoring the essential work they do and the importance of public transit in bringing people together in a shared public space. 

The exhibition includes portraits of the workers while on the job, as well as still-life photographs of objects bus operators carry with them, photos and scans of archival finds and everyday transit ephemera, and the architecture that makes up the transit system—from the mundane yet necessary infrastructure, to the wooded landscapes of the Twin Cities urban parks. 

Leslie Grant, a photographer and professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and Jeffrey Skemp, photographer and poet, began the project on Metro Transit by contacting ATU Local 1005. The union then invited the photographers to join a meeting and present the project to the union members.

Community
Workers and local labor community come together to commemorate Bloody Friday in Minneapolis. On July 20, 1934, the Minneapolis police attacked and opened fire on picketers in the streets of the Warehouse District. Police shot 67 strikers and killed two, Henry Ness and John Belor.

The 90th Anniversary of the 1934 Truckers’ Strike Honors Minneapolis’ Militant Labor History [VIDEO]

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Descendants Honor 90th Anniversary of Ancestors’ Militant Labor Strike from Unicorn Riot on Vimeo.This video was produced in collaboration with Unicorn Riot and Workday Magazine. On July 27, workers, descendants of the strikers, and the local labor community came together at Wabun Park in Minneapolis to honor the 90th anniversary of the 1934 Truckers’ Strike that brought Minneapolis to a standstill and served as a spark for radical and militant labor struggle across the country. 

The strike lasted about three months, as Teamsters Local 574 truckers demanded a fair wage and official recognition of the union. The trucking companies had the support of the Citizens Alliance, an anti-trade union organization that sought to break the strike. The strike’s impact reverberated throughout the city, bringing much of the Minneapolis economy to a halt. 

After reaching an agreement, the trucking companies did not honor the terms and workers returned to the streets. On July 20, 1934, the Minneapolis police attacked and opened fire on picketers in the streets of the Warehouse District.

Immigration
Dina Velasquez Escalante, a meat packer and union steward, poses for a portrait in St. James, Minn., while repping her union, UFCW Local 663.

Dispatch From a Meat Packing Factory: “If We Unite as Workers, We Have the Power”

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Read a Spanish-language version of this interview here. Dina Velasquez Escalante is a poultry worker in southwest Minnesota. She spends her workdays inspecting the chicken millions of Americans eat every day. She looks for tumors, stray bones and organs, and removes bile. After six years of hard work and cultivating expertise on almost every position on the line, she’s now in the laboratory testing samples of poultry to ensure the highest quality. 

As a union steward with the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 663 at Butterfield Foods in Butterfield, Minnesota, Escalante is also tasked with ensuring her fellow workers receive fair treatment and safety on the line.

Immigration
Dina Velasquez Escalante, empacadora de carne y delegada sindical, posa para un retrato en St. James, Minnesota, representa a su sindicato, UFCW Local 663.

Informe de una planta empacadora de carne: “Si nos unimos como trabajadores, tenemos el poder”

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Este artículo también está disponible en inglés. Traducción de María Uhlmann

Dina Velasquez Escalante trabaja en una planta avícola en el sudoeste de Minnesota. Su día de trabajo consiste en inspeccionar el pollo que millones de estadounidenses consumen a diario. Lo que busca son tumores, huesos y órganos, además de retirar la bilis. Luego de 6 años de trabajo intenso, y de adquirir experiencia en casi todos los puestos de la línea de producción, ahora se encuentra en el laboratorio analizando muestras de pollo para asegurar la mejor calidad.

Minneapolis Federation of Teachers 59 at the Minnesota State Capitol while on strike in 2022.
Minnesota

Minnesota Unions Push for Bill Extending Unemployment Insurance to Striking Workers

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Catina Taylor has worked as a special educational assistant for the past 25 years in Minneapolis Public Schools. She’s a member of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers 59 (MFT 59) and President of the Education Support Professionals (ESPs). In 2022, Minneapolis teachers went on strike for three weeks. Taylor was on the picket line—she remembers not being able to feel her feet in the cold. Although she looks back fondly on the “historic” strike, she adds that it was a financially difficult time for many members. 

Going on strike is one of the most powerful tools workers have, but can be a difficult choice for workers to forgo weeks of pay in the hopes of making greater gains for the long term.