Posts Tagged ‘Organized Labor’
Seize the Beans!
Raise Your Voice Seize the Beans! By Peter Molenaar On August 1, 2022, a two-day strike commenced at the corner of Cedar Avenue and 47th Street. Starbucks workers had coalesced in their newly formed union, Starbucks Workers United (SBWU, SEIU) to demand negotiations. Here is a taste of their colorful pickets: Seize the Beans of Production! LIVING WAGE NATION NOW! and Union Coffee Tastes Better!. “This strike is a warning”, said strike captain Ethan Tinklenberg, “it sends a signal to management that we are capable of doing this.” We are told that management has systematically cut workers hours, changed opening and closing times, and has in recent memory, fired workers for resisting. Tinklenberg added: ”We are sick of management doing illegal things.” Indeed, Starbucks founder and on-again/off-again CEO Howard Shultz has a history of anti-union behavior. Naturally, this fact found its reflection in several picket signs. Some examples: Wanted for Union Busting and Unfair Labor Practices: Howard Shultz, Billionaire! And Howard Shultz: You Have to Bargain in order to Bargain in Good Faith! Emily Mahoney from the bargaining committee put it this way: “If the bonus that Howard Shultz granted himself were divided equally among his employees, we would all receive about $5,000 extra per year, which would certainly help us pay our rent.” When contacted for this article, Jen Lenz, an organizer with SBWU, was philosophical in her response. She stated: “It’s necessary to recognize that the Starbucks Workers United movement owes its success to those that came before it and those that will come after… it is one component of a larger movement.” To which she added: “It is also critical to acknowledge the United State’s complicity in the subjugation of the developing world, as the raw materials used in the production of Starbucks goods are [...]
Nurses Putting Patients Before Profits
Pickets ready to strike from the 2010 Nurses Strike / Photo from facebook.com/MinnesotaNurses Minnesota Nurses Association Authorizes Strike By HARRY, RN, MNA Union Steward On August 15th, the nurses of Minnesota’s union hospitals voted to authorize a strike. Here’s why: The world recognized the COVID pandemic as a war, the biggest global health crisis since the Black Plague. Healthcare workers, nurses in particular, were fighting on the front lines. But despite surviving this horror, and despite the hospitals sometimes lauding us, nurses were not given a hero’s parade. We got no GI Bill or significant wage increase for being battle-hardened survivors. Instead, we continue to face unprecedented workplace violence and a choice by hospitals to choose profits over patients. The Minnesota Nurses Association has been negotiating new contracts for nurses, the first new contracts since the pandemic. The hospitals that employ us, including Abbott Northwestern and Children’s Minneapolis, are not taking us seriously. It is a myth that there is a shortage of nurses. In fact, there are enough registered nurses to man Minnesota’s hospitals, but there are not enough RNs willing to work in unsafe conditions. The reason nurses are burnt out is not because we are underpaid. We are tired of seeing our patients injured because of institutional policies that shun safe practices. Quite simply, the pandemic made our patients sicker. This requires more, better trained staff. Yet RNs are so fed up that we see huge turnover rates. More than 47% of healthcare workers are expected to leave the field by 2025. Given that it costs about $82,000 to train a new RN, it is hard to imagine that taking steps to retain existing staff would not be profitable. But instead, the hospitals brazenly contradict their actions in public. During the deadly hospital shooting last year in Buffalo, MN, hospitals said they condemn gun violence, but when the union asked a hospital [...]
Random alley News July ’22
SEIU mental health workers and allies on the picketline in front of Abbott Northwestern Hospital for a one-day strike on May 24, 2022 Credit- SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa Nurses at Abbott Northwestern Hospital and other metro-area hospitals held informational pickets on June 1. / Minnesota Nurses Association Written or compiled by LINDSEY FENNER 100 Percent of Cristo Rey’s Graduating Class of 2022 Accepted Into College: For the twelfth year in a row, the Jesuit High School in Phillips West will be sending all of its seniors to college. The private Roman Catholic school, which was established in 2007, is part of the “Cristo Rey Network” of 38 schools around the US that prepare low-income students of color for post-secondary education. Congratulations graduates! Minimum Wage Increases July 1 in Minneapolis: On July 1, 2022, the minimum wage in Minneapolis is going up to $13.50 at small businesses and $15 at large businesses. The Minneapolis minimum wage ordinance defines small businesses as 100 or fewer employees and large businesses as more than 100 employees. Tips and gratuities do not count toward payment of a minimum wage. The City’s Department of Civil Rights oversees enforcement of the municipal minimum wage and wage theft prevention ordinances, and workers are encouraged to report violations online at www.minimumwage.minneapolismn.gov -City of Minneapolis South Minneapolis Tenants Go on a Rent Strike to Protest Safety and Maintenance Issues: Five families who live at 3100 Bloomington Avenue South announced on May 25 they would be withholding May rent to protest unsafe and unhealthy living conditions. Residents are supported by United Renters for Justice - Inquilinxs Unidxs por Justicia, a tenant-led housing justice organization. The property was formerly owned by landlord Stephen Frenz, who in 2016 was sued by tenants, lost his rental license, and later went to jail. The new owners of the building say they are not affiliated [...]
June Random alley News
By LINDSEY FENNER Ingebretsen’s Nordic Marketplace Named Minnesota’s Family-Owned Small Business of the Year: Friend of the alley newspaper and 100-year old Lake Street small business Ingebretsen’s was honored by the US Small Business Association as part of National Small Business Week in May. Four generations of Ingebretsens have owned the retail business celebrating Scandinavian culture which includes a gift shop and butcher shop, as well as cultural education classes. The current co-owner, Julie Ingebretsen, has been active in mentoring new immigrant business owners along Lake Street. Congratulations Ingebretsen’s! East Phillips Park Basketball Court Getting Redone: The basketball court will be repaired, resurfaced, and restriped. According to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, the work should be done by June. Eighteen courts, from basketball and tennis to bike polo, are being redone in parks throughout Minneapolis. Check minneapolisparks.org/courtrepairs to see if your favorite court will be impacted. Funding for the project is through the 20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan, which increases capital, maintenance, and rehabilitation funding for Minneapolis Parks. CTUL, Construction Workers, Call on Twin Cities Developers to Join the Fight Against Labor Abuse: Construction workers with Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL) and allies want the largest Twin Cities developers to join the Building Dignity and Respect Standards Council (BDR). Under the worker-driven council, developers would sign agreements to uphold standards such as safe working conditions and fair pay, as well as workers protections from wage theft, human trafficking, and abuse. The construction industry in the Twin Cities has struggled with human rights violations. According to a 2019 report by BDR, construction workers commonly experience labor abuse such as wage theft, dangerous working conditions, discrimination, retaliation, and labor trafficking. Most recently [...]
May Random alley News 22
Nellie Stone Johnson/ Hennepin County Library Special Collections By Lindsey Fenner The Women’s Environmental Institute Is Offering Free Classes for Phillips Folks: WEI offers a variety of courses and workshops on gardening, farming, herbalism, food preservation and more. People who work, live, play or pray in Phillips can take these events for free. Most classes are at the Amador Hill Farm Campus in North Branch. Check out the class schedule and learn more about the Women's Environmental Institute: w-e-i.org. Contact Jerry at jerry@w-e-i.org for more information on how to get free registration. Urban Farm Veto Upheld by City Council: On March 24, the Minneapolis City Council upheld Mayor Frey’s veto of CM Chavez’ motion supporting the East Phillips Urban Farm by a vote of 7-6. Although CM Chavez said he hoped to bring a new motion forward at the next full council meeting on April 14, no motion was made. According to the East Phillips Neighborhood Institute, the community group organizing the Urban Farm, they are in negotiations with the City of Minneapolis with a meeting scheduled for April 26. So far EPNI has rejected various proposals from the City. One would require the organization to come up with $14 million by this summer to purchase the full site. Another proposal would sell EPNI 2.9acre of the site for $1 but would include the demolition of the Roof Depot building. Midtown Farmers Market Opens Saturday May 7 at Renovated Plaza: After three years at a temporary location, the Midtown Farmers Market will be returning to Lake and Hiawatha at a new civic plaza. The project was a collaboration between Hennepin County, Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board, the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization, and the developers of the newly built apartment complex near the plaza. The new plaza is next to the Lake Street/Midtown Light rail station. The Market is open Saturdays May-October from 8am to 1pm and Tuesdays June-October 3pm-6pm. Vendors accept [...]
Random alley news April ’22
By LINDSEY FENNER Allina Proposing a New 10-Story Surgical Care Center at Abbott Northwestern Hospital All Youth Programs and Sports Are Free This Summer at Phillips Parks: The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) has made activities free for ages 17 and under in Minneapolis neighborhoods within “census-designated Areas of Concentrated Poverty (ACP).” This includes activities in East Phillips Park, Phillips Park, Peavey Park, and Stewart Park in the Phillips neighborhoods. Other area parks with waived fees for youth include: Central Gym, Elliot Park, Painter Park, Powderhorn Park, Whittier Park. The program applies to 17 parks throughout Minneapolis through at least the end of 2022. The funding for this project comes from a gradual increase in the Park Board property tax levy and City of Minneapolis allocations from the American Rescue Plan Act, the COVID-19 Stimulus funding passed by the Biden administration in 2021. How it Works: Visit minneapolisparks.org/register to browse all MPRB programs online via the ActiveNet platform. People can also drop by or call their local recreation center to ask about upcoming programs and sign up. Youth program registration will be free for anyone with a Minneapolis address on their ActiveNet account at one of the 17 sites. Allina Proposing a New 10-Story Surgical Care Center at Abbott Northwestern Hospital: At the February 24 City of Minneapolis Planning Commission Committee of the Whole meeting, Allina presented a proposal for a new 10-story “surgical and critical care pavilion” along with changes to traffic access to the hospital campus. The new building, located in the middle of the two-block hospital campus between approximately Chicago and 10th Avenues, and 26th and 28th Streets, adds approximately 500,000 sq ft of space. This building project is in the preliminary stages of City approval. Allina will need to complete an environmental worksheet and traffic study and go through a [...]
