The labor movement is split on the question of cops. While union officials have signaled their tempered support for police unions, the push to expel law enforcement from the movement has grown quickly in the rank-and-file.
Organizing
Staff at Jewish Community Action Have Formed a Union
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“I remember one of the big takeaways for me was that rhetorically people who oppose unions will pretend that a union is an outside force, but the union is just a name for the commitment that you already have to your coworkers.”
Government
As GOP plays politics with infrastructure bill, tradespeople warn their jobs hang in balance
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“My brothers and sisters and their families hope lawmakers come back to the table, sit down, roll their sleeves up and do whatever is required to get this bonding bill passed … so we don’t have to tell our families we lost our jobs.”
#GeorgeFloyd
St. Paul Nursing Home Workers Want Respect for Their Essential Work, and They’re on Strike to Get it
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On a day when working people in over 25 cities across the U.S. joined a union-backed Strike for Black Lives, nursing home workers at Cerenity Humboldt Care Center in St. Paul staged a 24-hour strike, demanding a contract that reflects their essential work.
COVID-19
Teachers Unions Look Like the Last Line of Defense in Trump’s “Reckless” School Reopening Crusade
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“If Donald Trump and Betsy Devos actually listened to what we were saying—we were trying to reopen schools so we could meet the needs of kids,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “Instead, they decide to be all reckless.”
COVID-19
Excluded from unemployment benefits, hourly school workers speak out: ‘It is insulting’
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For decades, hourly school employees in Minnesota have been fighting to change a state law that restricts their access to unemployment insurance benefits, but to no avail.
Government
Flight Attendants Tell Airlines: Don’t Even Think About Concessions
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The COVID-19 crisis hit airline workers with speed and devastation. Passenger flow through TSA checkpoints fell 97 percent in March compared to a year earlier. In the months since, travel demand has only barely recovered, to 20 percent of a year ago.
COVID-19
MN Nurses Union Backs Mask Mandate
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MNA is urging state and local lawmakers to make face coverings mandatory in public places, calling it a “necessary measure to protect the public and stave off a resurgence of the vicious COVID-19 virus that has ravaged this state.”
#GeorgeFloyd
It’s Time to Make Black Lives Matter in Our Unions
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The Movement for Black Lives is encouraging union members to plan “Labor for Black Lives” actions in their communities on Friday, June 19—Juneteenth.
#GeorgeFloyd
Union President Says Minneapolis Is Trying to Punish Transit Workers Who Wouldn’t Help the Police
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In These Times spoke with Ryan Timlin, the president of ATU Local 1005, about the impact of the union’s actions on the lives of its members, and on the political climate.
#GeorgeFloyd
Minnesota Labor Can Lead The Nation as we Reimagine Public Safety Together
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‘To me, addressing the harm of policing is certainly a labor issue and we should be fighting for a labor movement free from jobs that harm and dehumanize us as workers as well as those with whom we interact. We have that opportunity in Minnesota right now.’