Work & Money
Starbucks union loses first election in Minnesota
Workers narrowly voted against unionizing at a Starbucks store in Minneapolis on Tuesday, dealing the first defeat in Minnesota to Workers United, the union organizing employees at hundreds of stores across the country. So far, three of the four Starbucks stores to hold elections in the state have voted in favor of unionizing. “It’s been […]
Workers seek union at Twin Cities’ largest property management company
Desk attendants and caretakers working for the Twin Cities’ largest residential property management company announced their intent to unionize on Wednesday, joining the groundswell of labor organizing that’s rippling through the service sector. If successful, the union could include more than 250 FirstService Residential employees stationed at dozens of developments across the Twin Cities metro […]
As insulin costs soar, diabetics say a $35 cap on co-pays is not enough
WASHINGTON — Lacy Mason was a 21-year-old graduate student in Atlanta when she started rationing her insulin. As a Type 1 diabetic, she needs to take insulin every day for survival. But when the cost surged to $960 a month, Mason could no longer afford it. She had aged out of Medicaid and her student […]
Report: Minnesota’s biggest cities lead in advancing worker rights
While the federal government in recent years has fallen down on the job of protecting workers’ rights and improving the fortunes of low-income workers, cities like Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth are increasingly leading the way. That’s according to a new report published Monday by the Economic Policy Institute, the Harvard Labor and Worklife Program […]
For Twin Cities downtowns, it’s evolve or bust
The Dayton’s Project was announced to great hoopla in 2018, promising to bring life to one of downtown Minneapolis’ most iconic properties. A developer team was going to rehab the 120-year-old building into a mixed-use office, retail and food hall, marking a resurrection for the mothballed department store. It was welcome news because Dayton’s holds […]
U.S. House Ag panel mulls safety net changes in farm bill amid soaring costs
WASHINGTON — Members of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee are considering how to help farmers struggling with rising costs for fertilizer, fuel, seeds and chemicals — the unfortunate harvest of the war in Ukraine, strains on the global supply system, inflation and severe weather. A panel of the committee heard from agricultural economists Thursday, […]
3rd Starbucks in Minnesota votes to unionize
A third Starbucks store in Minnesota is unionized after the National Labor Relations Board tallied workers’ votes on Monday with 12 voting in favor and five against. The election at the St. Anthony store — at 3704 Silver Lake Road — is the latest success in a wave of unionization efforts across the country. Workers […]
Advocates for $15-an-hour federal minimum wage press Biden for a meeting
WASHINGTON — The Poor People’s Campaign is urging President Joe Biden to meet with low-income workers before the organization’s march on Washington, D.C., on June 18 to advocate for a $15 federal minimum wage. “What we cannot do is be silent anymore,” Rev. William Barber II, the co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, said during […]
Vilsack offers integrated plan for domestic food production
The Biden administration has set aside billions of dollars to help the nation’s food supply chain recover from the coronavirus pandemic — and, more recently, the looming global effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and on Wednesday, it announced new funding and a comprehensive overview of how those initiatives mesh. “A transformed food system […]
JBS Swift Pork faces wrongful-death claim that cites new congressional report
The family of an Iowa meatpacking plant employee who died from COVID-19 is suing JBS Swift Pork, alleging the company and other industry leaders ignored years of warnings about the threat a pandemic might pose to their workers. The federal lawsuit is brought by the family of Luciano Sican-Soloman, a 23-year employee of the JBS […]
Minnesota nurses attack hospital executive pay amid union negotiations
The Minnesota Nurses Association has come out swinging against hospital executives as they negotiate new union contracts for some 15,000 nurses at 15 hospitals in the Twin Cities and Duluth. Union nurses began picketing 11 Twin Cities hospitals on Wednesday — a day after their contracts expired — and launched a public ad campaign blaming […]
USDA relaxes conservation program rules to boost crop production
Agricultural landowners who are not renewing their agreements this year with the federal government to keep their land out of production have the ability to put that land back to work earlier, a potential boost to wheat and other crop production amid global shortages, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday. Those who have land […]