Labor Education Service

We are ready to kick-off MULP 23-24 tomorrow at Ruttger's Bay Lake Resort! We have over 20 members from 13 unions joining us over the next 3 days. Can't wait.

The U.S. Labor Voices Opposing Military Aid to Israel

The U.S. Labor Voices Opposing Military Aid to Israel This article was jointly produced by Workday Magazine and In These Times. As the Israeli military relentlessly bombards 2.4 million Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip and a ground invasion appears imminent, one storied, national union — the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of ...

Rather than actually supporting auto workers in their strike against billionaire CEOs at the Big Three, GOP officials are instead using the labor action to rail against electric vehicles and stoke conflict with China.

Republicans Are Using Anti-China Rhetoric to Undercut Striking UAW Workers’ Demands ​​This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and In These Times. Three and a half weeks into the United Auto Workers’ (UAW) stand-up strike against the Big Three — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — the GOP is coalescing around a talking point: that the autoworkers....

“We Can’t Eat Prestige”: Inside the Unionization of the Science Museum of Minnesota - check out the in-depth article written by Amie Stager, our Associate Editor of Workday Magazine.

“We Can’t Eat Prestige”: Inside the Unionization of the Science Museum of Minnesota The NLRB recently reinstated six workers at the Science Museum of Minnesota. Workers say the museum is still breaking labor law and failing to bargain in good faith.

Check out our upcoming community classes and feel free to share! To get more details and register, please use this link: https://bit.ly/Fall2023CommunityClasses
Cost: $50 for union-sponsored participants; $25 for participants without union support; free to anyone who cannot afford to pay.

Many sacrifice their lower backs, rotator cuffs, hands, wrists, or just the pleasure of waking up without pain… workers say there is a gap in public awareness about the pain and injury that comes with repetitive work performed over long hours. By Sarah Lazare, Editor, Workday Magazine

“Your Body Suffers”: The Unremarkable Pain of an Auto-Assembly-Line Worker This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and The Nation. Daniel Carpenter was one month past his 40th birthday when he suffered neck pain so severe that he thought he was having a stroke. “I was up north with my girlfriend at the time at a wedding,” said the autoworker, who has be...

BREAKING! UFCW 663 members at reach industry leading tentative agreement! https://www.ufcw663.org/blog/2023/09/27/ufcw-local-663-workers-at-seward-community-coop-win-industry-leading-tentative-agreement/

The 148-day writers' strike, the second longest in Writers Guild of America history, will conclude on 12:01 am PT Wednesday thanks to a vote from guild leadership that officially authorized some 11,500 members to return to work.

Writers Guild Strike to End Wednesday: Leadership Votes to Conclude Historic Work Stoppage At 148 days, the 2023 strike was the second longest in the union's history, behind only a labor action in 1988.

"Union membership will continue going down unless, realistically, we get stronger legal protection for the right to choose a union and the right to organize in the United States." --Prof. John Logan, Labor and Employee Relations, San Francisco State University

Looking at the strength, and impact, of recent U.S. union strikes | CNN CNN’s Kim Brunhuber speaks with a professor of labor and employment relations about the strength of unions in the U.S. and the impact of recent labor strikes.

“We can say, with great pride, that this deal is exceptional — with meaningful gains and protections for writers in every sector of the membership,” the WGA negotiating committee said in a Sunday night message to its members.

WGA and the studios reach tentative deal to end writers' strike Negotiators representing the Writers Guild of America and major studios reached a tentative agreement for a new labor contract, ending a writers' strike that began in early May.

Auto workers at the GM parts distribution facility in Hudson, Wis., have joined the strike effective 11 am today. Their picket line will be up 24/7 until the strike is won, and supporters from the Twin Cities are welcome to join them in on the line!

Hudson GM workers ‘just waiting to get the call’ to join Big 3 strike Autoworkers at General Motors’ parts-distribution facility in Hudson, Wis., are not on strike today, but union members say they are ready to walk if their international union directs them to the pi…

The labor movement has a special responsibility — and existential need — to defend transgender* people and their loved ones from these escalating attacks. Transgender people are disproportionately poor and working-class. They are counted among members of unions, and leaders in unionization drives. -By Amy Livingston, LES Director, and Sarah Lazare, WorkdayMag Editor

5 Things Unions Can Do To Defend Transgender Workers This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and In These Times. The right is escalating its war on transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive people’s basic right to exist in the open. On March 4, Daily Wire host Michael Knowles said from center stage at the Conservative Political Ac...

The UAW on Friday targeted distribution centers, not production plants. The three strikes that began at plants Ford, GM and Stellantis plants one week ago will go on, the union said.

Strikes against automakers spread to 38 locations in 20 states, Stellantis and GM are targeted The president of the United Auto Workers said Friday the union will expand its strike against major automakers by walking out of 38 General Motors and Stellantis plants in 20 states.

Mainstream media coverage of the UAW strike has implied that workers’ demands stand in conflict with achieving climate goals. That’s BS. This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and In These Times. - by Sarah Lazare, Editor.

Stop Letting Auto Companies Pit Workers Against the Environment This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and In These Times. In recent media coverage of the United Auto Workers’ stand-up strike against the Big Three car makers — Stellantis, Ford and General Motors — a false narrative is circulating: that the walkout is in conflict wi...

"Last night’s announcement by UAW President Shawn Fain that the union would initially only strike at three non-strategic plants has confused many in the labor movement. The announcement comes as the Biden Administration has stepped in to stop the strike from spread and protect its $15 billion investment in transitioning the auto parts industry to make electric vehicles."

As Biden Scrambles to Save Suppliers, UAW Limits Strike’s Impact Last night's announcement by UAW President Shawn Fain that the union would initially only strike at three non-strategic plants has confused many in the labor movement. The announcement comes as the Biden Administration has stepped in to stop the strike from spread and protect its $15 billion...

The strike strategy, developed under the leadership of reform challenger Shawn Fain, was defined by its element of surprise. The union did not publicly reveal the strike targets until 10:00 p.m. on September 14, two hours before the contracts jointly expired. The UAW calls this approach a ​“stand-up strike,” which is ​“a new approach to striking." By Sarah Lazare and Jeff Schurke. This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and In These Times.

UAW’s Surprise Strike Strategy Kept Stellantis in the Dark, Company Confirms This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and In These Times. Workers walked off their shifts on September 14 at midnight to cheering crowds, as the United Auto Workers launched its first simultaneous strike against the ​“Big Three” automakers — Ford, General Motors and Ste...

Members of the United Auto Workers union began picketing at a General Motors assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri; a Ford factory in Wayne, Michigan, near Detroit; and a Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio.
It is the first time in the union’s 88-year history that all three companies were targeted simultaneously.

Workers strike at all 3 Detroit automakers in a battle for a bigger share of industry profits About 13,000 U.S. auto workers have stopped making vehicles and headed for the picket lines. Their leaders have been unable to bridge a giant gap between union demands in contract talks and what Detroit’s three automakers are willing to pay.

Earlier today, UAW President Shawn Fain announced that the union would schedule a strike rally for Friday in Detroit ... The rally will help the UAW rally public support as it appears “very likely” that the union will strike this week. Instead of striking all Big Three at the same time, the UAW will instead target specific locals.

UAW Prez Says Big 3 Strikes Will Be Targeted – Strike Rally... Folks,  I just got back to Pittsburgh and wanted to give yinz a quick update on what increasingly looks like a series of strikes that will happen at some locations of the Big Three automakers beginning this Thursday at midnight.  Earlier today, UAW President Shawn Fain announced that the union...

April Clark was among 14 original members of the union’s bargaining team. She is leaving her position after 8 years of service, and her departure will mean more than half those elected leaders are no longer with PPNCS, after management slapped all 14 with “final written notices” four months into the bargaining process. The nonprofit’s already high turnover rate – a reason workers cited as a factor in forming their union – has climbed to 44% since contract negotiations began, according to organizers.

April Clark was among 14 original members of the union’s bargaining team, and her departure will mean more than half those elected leaders are no longer with PPNCS, after management slapped all 14 with “final written notices” four months into the bargaining process.

After ‘unprecedented’ disrespect from Planned Parenthood, union plans to escalate contract campaign “They’ve never seen an employer make a proposal to undo so many substantial pieces of progress already won through the bargaining process,” health educator Elizabeth Wolfe said.

Wearing a red United Auto Workers (UAW) t-shirt, Anastasia Gibson, 48, is warm and polite, quick to flash a broad smile. But her anger rises when she talks about her sacrifices to Ford, which made $10.4 billion in profits in 2022. Gibson works 10-hour shifts and injured her back on the job in 2021. ​“They don’t value anything we do. They want us to get as many cars off the line as we can.” - by Sarah Lazare, Editor, WorkdayMagazine. This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and In These Times.

Exhausted, Injured and Angry: Autoworkers Are Ready to Strike This article is a joint publication of Workday Magazine and In These Times. CHICAGO – Wearing a red United Auto Workers (UAW) t-shirt, Anastasia Gibson, 48, is warm and polite, quick to flash a broad smile. But her anger rises when she talks about her sacrifices to Ford, which made $10.4 b...

The vote doesn’t mean there will be a work stoppage yet — but it does empower the union’s leaders to call a strike if they deem it necessary. “They need to increase the wages to make these jobs enticing. There’s a lot of frustration that they’re not doing that — that’s the roadblock for Metro Transit’s hiring right now,” Local 1005 president Ryan Timlin said.

Metro Transit workers vote to authorize strike Hundreds of members of the union that represents Metro Transit workers in the Twin Cities have authorized a strike. The vote doesn’t mean there will be a work stoppage yet — but it does empower the union’s leaders to call a strike.

Most Americans—77 percent—now believe unions are good for their members (up 11 percent since 2009), with 61 percent saying unions are good for the economy and 57 percent saying unions are helpful to the companies for whom they work. That’s the general public—not Democrats, not union members.

The NLRB’s Recent Decisions Are Good News for Workers But while both are worth celebrating, there are still no shortcuts to the hard organizing work needed to win life-changing contracts.

Way to go!!

CONGRATULATIONS Molly Muller FOR BEING THE FIRST WOMAN TO WIN THE WESTERN STATES REGIONAL APPRENTICE CONTEST🎉🎉🎉

BREAKING: The Building Dignity & Respect Week of Action begins today!! If you want to show your with construction workers, share this post & join our march on Sept 12. RSVP link: https://bit.ly/Sept12March

A Q&A with Rose Roach, the new national coordinator for the Labor Campaign for Single Payer, which wants to take health care off the bargaining table by establishing a single-payer health care system in the U.S.

Why Do We Let Our Bosses Control Our Health Care?

* Registration deadline is extended to September 15. This is an interactive and fun! program. Through six wide ranging in-depth sessions scheduled over eight months, participants study working people's movements- past, present, and future- while learning together how workers succeed in building a more just and equitable society. Questions? 612-624-5020. https://z.umn.edu/MULP2023-24

Minnesota Union Leadership Program Minnesota Union Leadership Program (MULP) 2023-2024 Through six in-depth sessions scheduled over eight months, participants study working people's

Because- Ribs for a cause!

September 16, 2023 - 4800 Hamline Ave N, Arden Hills, MN 55126. Doors open at 1 p.m.; rib tasting from 3-5 p.m.

Organizers on a three-union campaign to unionize Delta’s U.S. workers put the number of potential recruits at over 50,000 — a figure that, if the drive is successful, could set a promising example for cross-union runs at behemoths like Amazon. “We haven’t seen an organizing campaign on this scale” before, said Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research at Cornell University. “This is the fight.”

Rather than fight each case one by one, a worker’s center, three labor unions and community groups tried a new approach. Last fall, they began a campaign in Minneapolis-Saint Paul to stop mistreatment of all construction workers, union or not, on their own.

In Minnesota, a New Model Challenges the Widespread Mistreatment of Construction Workers Union and community coalition target major developers whose subcontractors stiff workers and allow dangerous conditions, signaling possible national strategy.

CTUL members who work in construction have partnered with local and national experts in workplace standards to establish the BDR Program - an independent monitoring program that protects workers’ rights and brings dignified conditions to the workplace. Sign the petition: https://fb.me/e/5Y05OsxKz

Nurses at St. Joe’s negotiating for their next contract have been alerting the hospital and state government—through personal pleas and formal complaints—to the extreme levels of understaffing they say they’re experiencing. But there has been a disturbing lack of response to their complaints, they say, alongside retaliation for speaking out. - by AMIE STAGER

“We Are Drowning”: Nurses Say Illinois Hospital Plagued With Unsafe Staffing Nurses warn Ascension St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet is failing to comply with a 2021 Illinois law to ensure safe staffing. Now, they’re fighting for improvements at the bargaining table.

Please read this important statement from . It responds to the main finding in our article, and includes a host of additional information and insights, based on their years of research and organizing.

WWJ Statement on Worker Death at MDW2 Amazon Cross-Dock Facility in Joliet Joliet, June 27, 2023 – Warehouse Workers for Justice (WWJ) has been engaging with MDW2 workers since we received news of the worker fatality on Friday, June 2. On Friday, June 9, workers hosted a...

La clasificación errónea de los trabajadores puede parecer un error administrativo. Pero en la industria de la construcción puede resultar en robo de salarios, intimidación, y demora de asistencia médica, en caso de lesiones o accidentes en el trabajo.

Demora de asistencia médica, robo de salarios: El costo humano de la clasificación errónea de los trabajadores. Este informe fue traducido del inglés por Maria Uhlmann. Read this article in English. En 2022, José Alfredo Gómez, trabajador de la construcción, afirma que se cayó desde el segundo piso de la casa en que trabajaba. Un grupo de hombres en una embarcación en un lago cercano se percató, y llam...

"On August 8th 1982 a line drive foul ball hits a four year old boy, Jonathan Keane, in the head at Fenway Park. Jim Rice, realizing in a flash that it would take EMTs too long to arrive and cut through the crowd, sprang from the dugout and scooped up the boy.
"He laid the boy gently on the dugout floor, where the Red Sox medical team began to treat him. When the boy arrived at the hospital 30 minutes later, doctors
said Jim's prompt actions were instrumental in saving the boy's life. Jim returned to the game in a blood-stained uniform. A real badge of courage.
"After visiting the boy in the hospital, and realizing the family was of modest means, he stopped by the business office and instructed that the medical bill be
sent to him.
"The spring following the incident, Jonathan was asked to throw the ceremonial first pitch for the Red Sox's home game opener. He gladly accepted and had the opportunity to reconnect with Rice."

Tommy Carden is an organizer with Warehouse Workers for Justice (WWJ). He says, “From day one, Amazon has tried to make it seem like it wasn’t their fault, it’s all preexisting conditions, it’s all non-work related. And now we’re learning someone thought it was … dehydration.” - by Sarah Lazare and Jeff Schuhrke

Amazon Says a Worker’s Death Was Not Work-Related. But a 911 Call Appears to Contradict the Company’s Narrative. A 911 call, obtained through a FOIA, only cites dehydration as the possible cause of the fatal medical emergency.

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 663, together representing more than 2500 grocery workers at Lunds & Byerlys across the west metro area announced an overwhelming membership vote that authorizes union members of the bargaining committee to call for Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strikes should it become necessary. Next bargaining session set for today.

UFCW Local 663 Essential Grocery Store Workers Vote Overwhelmingly to Authorize ULP Strike at Lunds & Byerlys’ Stores - UFCW 663 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJune 23, 2023 Contact: Jessica Hayssen, 651-261-8559 Minneapolis, MN –Today, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 663, together representing more than 2500 grocery workers at Lunds & Byerlys across the west metro area announced an overwhelming membership vote that a...

Registration is OPEN: Be the Light-Sisters In Leadership. Aug 2-5, 2023 in Nashville,TN. Women from all over the country and beyond learn the skills and knowledge needed to play leadership roles in their organizations. Meet and network with other labor women from around your region and beyond.

ULAE Southern School For Women Workers - ULAE Southern School For Women Workers UALE sponsors 4 regional “women’s schools”. These residential programs typically last between 4 and 5 days, and include classes and workshops on a variety of labor-related topics. Women from all over the country and beyond learn the skills and knowledge n...