Work & Money
Biden signs bill that staves off railroad workers strike
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday signed into law a resolution intended to avert a freight rail strike, based on an agreement reached between some rail unions and freight rail companies. Several unions did not agree with the deal passed by Congress because it lacked paid sick leave, but Democrats have said the alternative […]
U.S. Supreme Court to review Biden student debt relief plan in February
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday it will hear oral arguments in February over a legal challenge by six Republican-led states to the Biden administration student borrower relief plan. Until the arguments are heard and the court issues a ruling, the $400 billion Biden plan is on hold due to a nationwide injunction […]
U.S. Senate averts freight rail strike, but bid to include worker sick leave fails
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted to codify an agreement the White House brokered between rail unions and freight companies in order to avoid a catastrophic rail strike, but fell short of enough votes to include paid sick leave for workers. The Senate backed the rail deal on an 80-15 vote and rejected […]
15,000 Minnesota nurses to strike beginning Dec. 11
The union representing 15,000 nurses in the Twin Cities and Duluth area on Thursday announced a strike beginning Dec. 11, the second strike in recent months. Nurses at 12 hospitals in the Twin Cities and at two Essentia Health hospitals will strike until Dec. 31, while nurses at St. Luke’s hospitals in Duluth and Two […]
Nebraska senator’s year-round 15%-plus ethanol bill has oil backing
LINCOLN — The U.S. Senate, with volatile gasoline prices top of mind, is inching toward a bipartisan deal after a years-long push for year-round sales of ethanol blends of 15% or more. Bills to codify the change have shared support from agricultural organizations and biofuels boosters, including the congressional delegations from ag states like Minnesota, […]
U.S. House votes to avert calamitous rail strike, but Senate prospects murky
The U.S. House moved Wednesday to avoid an economically disastrous nationwide rail strike, voting to codify an agreement that members of some unions had already rejected and separately add paid sick leave that workers had demanded. The two-track approach allows Democrats to avert a strike that could cost the U.S. economy up to $2 billion […]
Nurses at Moose Lake clinic reach tentative deal while 15,000 others vote on second strike
The union representing about 50 nurses at Essentia Health’s Moose Lake Clinic reached a tentative agreement with the health system on Monday after two years of negotiations. The nurses at Moose Lake called off their strike authorization vote, but 15,000 other union nurses at hospitals across the Twin Cities and Duluth area began voting on […]
More than $37 billion in disaster aid under scrutiny in congressional lame duck
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration wants Congress to approve more than $37 billion to help communities throughout the country recover from various natural disasters, including Hurricanes Ian, which battered Florida and the Southeast U.S. in late September, and Fiona, which hit Puerto Rico. The supplemental funding request comes on top of a $9 billion COVID-19 […]
15,000 Minnesota nurses will vote on second strike
Union leaders representing 15,000 nurses at hospitals across the Twin Cities and Duluth area said Thursday they will take a second strike authorization vote — after a three-day strike in September yielded little progress. “Our hospital leadership have failed,” said Minnesota Nurses Association President Mary Turner during a news conference. “They have failed to solve […]
What labor unions want from a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party trifecta
In his victory speech on election night, Gov. Tim Walz acknowledged his union backers and the legacy that’s in the name of his party: Democratic-Farmer-Labor. “This is a union state,” he said. Labor unions spent millions to secure Walz’s re-election and help his party take control of the House and Senate for the first time […]
Studies show gains against childhood hunger were lost after child tax credit ended
A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association confirmed previous research that food insecurity increased substantially after the expiration of federal child tax credits on Jan. 15, 2022. The study looked at the period between January and July of this year in a series of national surveys, and found a nearly 25% […]
Biden student debt relief plan thrown out by Texas judge; new applications halted
WASHINGTON — Late Thursday a federal judge in Texas struck down the Biden administration’s student debt relief plan, ruling that the program is unlawful, in a blow to 16 million student debt borrowers already approved for relief. The U.S. Department of Education now is no longer accepting applications for the program, according to the student […]