Posts Tagged ‘Organized Labor’
Let’s get smart
Raise Your Voice By Peter Molenaar As it happened, I was assigned to do strike support work for the Anne Sullivan unit of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers strike. ON STRIKE FOR LIVING WAGES, ON STRIKE FOR MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORTS, ON STRIKE FOR SAFE STABLE SCHOOLS… I would hold up these picket signs on behalf of those needing a break. 33rd and Lake Street was the site. The Sonora Grill was our sanctuary. Passing motorists registered their honks in support. From the standpoint of justice, our teachers are defending our schools from the threat of corporatization. Moreover, they demand adequate funding and respectful remuneration for mental health staffers. Why? Hey, our kids have been traumatized by a pandemic in combination with stark images of police brutality. Looking beyond… Harmoniously, it is the unionized sector of the nursing trades which advances MEDICARE FOR ALL. This program would eliminate the labor redundancies inherent in the regime of private [...]
February Random News
by LINDSEY FENNER Phillips-area Cultural Malls Receive State COVID Relief Grants: At the end of 2021, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) awarded funds of up to $300,000 each to twelve “cultural mall operators” throughout Minnesota, including the four listed below in the Phillips area. The $3 million program is part of the $70 million Main Street COVID Relief Grant packages passed by the State Legislature in 2021. To qualify, facilities had to have 50% or more tenants identifying as Black, African American, Asian or Pacific Islander, Hispanic, Latinx, American Indian, Alaska Native, or other racial or ethnic minority. Support our vibrant Phillips businesses here: 24 Mall, 912 E 24th Street Midtown Global Market, 920 E Lake Street JigJiga Business Center, 1516 E Lake Street Mercado Central, 1515 E Lake Street New Workers Unionize at Allina’s Abbott Northwestern Hospital: 220 lab workers at Abbott have recently voted to [...]
Why I Voted to Strike
3,500 Hennepin County workers will walk out in February unless a last minute deal is made, and I will be one of them. By LINDSEY FENNER photo by Jayne Mikulay photo by Brad Sigal photo by Brad Sigal Editorial note: AFSCME Locals 34 and 2822 reached mediated tentative agreements with Hennepin County and withdrew their “intent to strike” after the February print edition of the alley went to press. Hennepin County AFSCME members will be voting on this proposed offer in the first week of February. As you may have read in last month’s alley, Hennepin County AFSCME workers in Locals 34 and 2822 voted to reject Hennepin County’s last contract offer and authorized a strike. In mid-January, our negotiation team went back to the table with the County and received the exact same offer our memberships already voted to reject. After this latest insult and show of bad faith, our locals filed an intent to strike on January 19. If a last-minute deal can’t be made, we [...]
