After decades of misclassification and one failed union vote in 2017, the Timberwolves and Lynx audio-visual crew won their union—making them the second audio-visual union in Minnesota professional sports.
Midwest
The Power of Sugar Beets: Long-time Labor Organizer on Politics in the Red River Valley
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As sugar beet harvesting season comes and goes in the Red River Valley, a labor organizer and leader reflects on worker power in the region.
Art
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.
Midwest
Can a National Strike Save a Closed Plant? A Town Depends On It.
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The UAW is calling up locals to stand by workers in Belvidere and hold Stellantis to its promises.
Minnesota
“I Know My Worth”: What it Takes to Unionize the Service Industry
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Despite the popularity of unions being at a record high, workers in the food service industry face an uphill battle when it comes to fighting for collective bargaining rights. Hospitality unions and workers are trying to change that.
Book Review
Labor’s Reckoning: What We Can Learn From the Cold War History of the AFL-CIO
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An interview with the author of ‘Blue-Collar Empire,’ a forthcoming book that uncovers the AFL-CIO’s Cold War-era involvement in undermining left-wing and anti-imperialist labor movements abroad.
Community
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
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
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.
Minnesota
How Academia’s Over Reliance on Contingent Faculty Hurts Workers and Students’ Quality of Education
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Adjunct and contingent faculty make up the majority of instructional staff at colleges and universities today. Faith Ericson explains what that means for these highly qualified and underpaid workers and the role of liberal arts education outside of major city centers.
Minnesota
“Finally Somebody’s Fighting For Us”: Grocery Store Workers are Fed Up
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How grocery store workers in Greater Minnesota fighting for better pay and working conditions are sticking together and transforming their union.