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

By |

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

By |

“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.

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”

By |

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.

History
John See in his office at the University of Minnesota.

An Interview with John See: Labor Historian and Video Innovator on Nearly 40 Years of Service to the Minnesota Labor Movement

By |

In October 2023, John See worked his last day at the Labor Education Service (LES) after a 39 year tenure. His office was a treasure trove of Minnesota union history—adorned with vintage Teamsters trucker hats, retro pins from the 70s, and a constant stack of VHS tapes digitizing onto one of the half dozen monitors where he was often seen fervently editing videos and coordinating audio visual work for major conventions. While See’s office may be cleared from the nearly four decades of ephemera, his legacy and dedication to Minnesota’s labor movement continues. 

See concluded his career with a massive, archival project. He digitized thousands of tapes of the public access program, Minnesota at Work, which aired from 1984 into the early 2000s, featuring workers speaking about their lives and working conditions, working with Randy Croce, Howard Kling, and the late Martin Duffy. Along with Minnesota at Work, many different kinds of programs have been archived.

Minnesota

Billionaire Pohlad Family Accused of Using Anti-Worker Construction Contractors

By |

This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and The American Prospect. The Minneapolis-based billionaire Pohlad family has a national profile, as the owner of the Minnesota Twins and the 75th-richest family in the United States. And the Pohlad Family Foundation has cultivated a progressive image for its stated commitment to “housing stability” and “racial justice,” with a special focus on reducing racial disparities. But the Pohlad family empire of dozens of businesses includes a real estate development firm called United Properties. The Minneapolis/St.