In the News
Group working for racial and economic justice opens Duluth office
TakeAction, a statewide progressive organization, has offices in the Twin Cities, Grand Rapids and now in Duluth. An open house took place in April. TakeAction works on issues of racial and economic justice.
Minnesota can lead for more workplace fairness
It’s too soon to declare that the American women’s movement, begun in 1848 and revived in 1970, is gathering strength for a third wave of sweeping change. But if it is, future historians may note that this time, Minnesota was among the states that got it rolling.
That wasn’t true during two earlier waves. When women pushed for voting rights and the ability to enter male-dominated fields, Minnesota kept pace but was not in the vanguard of change.
But this month’s enactment of the Women’s Economic Security Act (WESA) vaulted this state into the lead in efforts to make work fairer and more humane for women — and along the way, for men, too. So said officials at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for American Progress, who came to Minnesota last week to praise what the 2014 Legislature accomplished (see accompanying text) and to call for more in 2015. With better protection from workplace discrimination for pregnant women, nursing mothers and parents of both genders, “You’re ahead of the curve,” said Lori Lodes, the Center for American Progress senior vice president.
Yet a gathering in Duluth last week for more than 100 Minnesotans who helped pushed WESA into law was not a victory party. Advocates for gender fairness in the workplace left the 2014 legislative session acutely aware of aims not achieved. They came to plot strategy for their own next wave.
A big part of that strategy will be to enlist more of Minnesota’s working people — men and women — to lend their voices and votes to the cause, said Dan McGrath, executive director of TakeAction Minnesota, a cosponsor of the Duluth meeting…
Women’s Economic Summit Focuses on Changes in Public Policy
Public policy changes aimed at helping women get ahead in the workforce were the focus of a women’s economic summit in Duluth today.
Featured speakers included DFL State Senator Sandy Pappas and House Speaker Paul Thissen.
In addition to the Economic Security Act, both lawmakers said the increase in the state’s minimum wage will help women and their families get a fair shot in the workforce.
Summit focuses on women’s economic security
For a state that fancies itself progressive, it’s always good to prove it.
When Gov. Mark Dayton signed the Women’s Economic Security Act into law on Mother’s Day, it placed Minnesota at the forefront of the discussion on female equality in the workplace.
Today in Duluth, that discussion advances. The “Women & Families Economic Security Summit” at the DECC is the first of three nationally, joining Harrisburg, Pa., and Orlando, Fla., leading into a June 23 summit hosted by the White House.
For Liz Olson, Duluth’s inclusion in the discussion makes perfect sense. She cited the 8th Congressional District as being home to one of the biggest pay disparities between men and women in the state, particularly on the Iron Range and other rural areas.
“This would have been a different discussion had it taken place in St. Paul,” said Olson, who is the Duluth organizing and policy manager for TakeAction Minnesota, which is hosting the summit in conjunction with the Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C., think tank.
Duluth City Council signals support for Women’s Economic Security Act
The Duluth City Council unanimously gave its blessing Monday night to a bill Gov. Mark Dayton signed into law this weekend.
Councilors Sharla Gardner, Emily Larson and Jennifer Julsrud introduced a resolution in support of the Women’s Economic Security Act.
Larson referred to the new law as “an important step in the right direction” for the state.
Liz Olson, a local organizer for TakeAction Minnesota, called the act “a huge victory for our state” and expressed her hopes that other states will follow suit.
Duluth city leaders, community members celebrate signing of Womens Economic Security Act
City councilors, TakeAction Minnesota, County Commissioners and women throughout the community gathered at City Hall to celebrate the signing of the Women’s Economic Security Act into law .
Governor Dayton signed the bill into law on Mother’s Day.
The group celebrated some of the highlights of the bill..including closing the gender pay gap , and allowing women to take 12 weeks of unpaid leave instead of the current six for maternity leave.
Currently women make up more than half of the work force in Minnesota.
Elizabeth Olson with TakeAction Minnesota says working mothers are generally the breadwinners in the family, but still make an average of 76 cents of every dollar a man makes.
Olson says the bill is a victory for the state of Minnesota, but there are still barriers holding women back.
“Women are often primary caregivers. Women in working families fall behind in our economy. but we can do something about this. The women’s economic security act was a huge step forward. We can continue where it left off and further policies that help women and working families succeed,” said Elizabeth Olson with Take Action, Minnesota.
Minneapolis North Siders demand transit improvements
Minneapolis’ North Side is not getting its fair share of transit amenities, despite having a heavily transit-dependent population, a group of residents told Metropolitan Council representatives over the weekend.
At a packed meeting on Saturday in the offices of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change (NOC), bus riders said that north Minneapolis lacks adequate shelters — particularly heated ones — and that increased fares have strained already tight budgets.
“Riders notice the drastic difference between service and amenities in other parts of the city like Uptown and the south side,” said NOC’s transit organizer, Michael McDowell, who has been surveying transit riders. “And how the service is significantly better and they have more amenities at their stops than [in] north.”
Dayton signs law to give women a better workplace
Gov. Mark Dayton rang in Mother’s Day Sunday by giving final approval to a package of bills aimed at improving conditions for women in the workplace.
The Women’s Economic Security Act, comprised of nine separate pieces of legislation, won legislative approval last week with bipartisan support. It forces about 1,000 state contractors to certify that they pay men and women equally for similar jobs, extends parental leave from six to 12 weeks and requires employers to make new accommodations for expectant and new mothers.
Dayton signed the bill surrounded by women at an event at the governor’s reception room. Women’s groups fought hard for the package.
“Nothing else like this is happening in the nation,” said Lee Roper-Batker, president of the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota. “I have to tell you the nation is watching and cheering … right now.”
The Revolt of the Cities
During the past 20 years, immigrants and young people have transformed the demographics of urban America. Now, they’re transforming its politics and mapping the future of liberalism.
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Minneapolis is a city with a richer history of progressive activism than Pittsburgh. In 1948, Mayor Hubert Humphrey presented that year’s Democratic National Convention with its first civil-rights platform plank. For decades, Minnesota came closer to an American version of Scandinavian social democracy than any other state.
In recent decades, however, both the city’s and state’s demographics and economy have been transformed. The white share of the city’s population declined from 86 percent in the 1980 census to 64 percent in 2010. Minneapolis is home to the largest Somali community of any city except Mogadishu and the largest Hmong community outside Laos. “We’re ahead of any other state in equitable income and health—if you’re white,” says Dan McGrath, who heads TakeAction Minnesota, a progressive political organization of 45,000 members, which, like New York’s Working Families Party, functions chiefly as an electoral organization. “Minnesota’s way down the list when you include people of color. Four out of ten Minneapolis residents are people of color. We won’t have an economy 30 years from now if only half our minority students graduate high school.”
Minnesota makes history with largest minimum wage hike
Gov. Mark Dayton signed into law the largest minimum wage increase in state history Monday, giving raises to more than 325,000 Minnesotans and making good on a signature Democratic pledge during an election year.
The move to a $9.50 base hourly wage catapults the state from one of the lowest minimum wages to one of the highest once it is fully phased in by 2016. The state’s base wage will be tied to inflation starting in 2018, ensuring the buying power of the state’s lowest-paid workers keeps better pace with the cost of living.
“Minnesotans who work full time should be able to earn enough money to lift their families out of poverty, and through hard work and additional training, achieve the middle-class American dream,” the DFL governor said, surrounded by legislators, workers and labor leaders at a ceremonial bill-signing in the State Capitol rotunda. “These are people, good Minnesotans all over the state, who just want to work and get paid something that is fair.”
The sharp wage hike puts Minnesota at the forefront of a major initiative by President Obama, who has failed to persuade Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 and instead is pressing his case state by state. The first wave of increase starts Aug. 1, when Minnesota’s minimum wage rises to $8 per hour.
“I applaud Governor Dayton and the Minnesota Legislature for increasing their state’s minimum wage and giving more hardworking Minnesotans the raise they deserve,” President Obama said in a statement.
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Minnesotans who are making the state’s minimum wage say the raise will alleviate some of the financial strain of living on so little.
“I have always been in this struggle to earn a better wage,” said Lucila Dominguez Velasquez, who works in the cleaning industry. “The cost of food, of rent, public transportation have always been going up.”
Rachel Shelton [TakeAction Minnesota leader], of New Hope, worked for years at or near the minimum wage.
“Fifty to $100 a month might not seem like a lot to most people, but it helps to pay your food and helps to pay your rent on time,” said Shelton, 49. “It means a lot. It can save you a lot of sleepless nights, because it is always such a struggle.”
Transit equity means more than light rail
The debate surrounding Southwest light-rail transit (SWLRT) shouldn’t be confined to rerouting freight rail and shallow tunnels. Wouldn’t we be better served by figuring out how light rail can be a catalyst for equitable transit across the 16-mile corridor? A discussion like that would help cork the fight over rail alignment and transform it into one that is far more constructive and economically beneficial for the region — and most notably for Minneapolis.
Nearly every other day an elected official or business leader touts “equity” and “reducing racial disparities” as priorities in public pronouncements. Rarely do they actually turn their words into action to really improve people’s lives. We think just such an opportunity now exists for those working to resolve turf warfare over SWLRT.
Facing Race award winners overcome hardships to make a difference
I’m an easy-sell for a make-a-difference story, particularly when it comes to race, education and employment.
Like the bold stunt on the national stage by Sy Stokes, an African-American student at UCLA who used spoken word, hard statistics and video last fall to chide the white majority, especially officials at the University of California Los Angeles, for the low 3.3 percent of African-American males in the school’s graduate and undergraduate programs, as well as for a lack of financial aid for these students.
“No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible,’’ charged Stokes in his lyrical video, which attracted 1.9 million views and sparked discussion around the country.
Confronting race is also what the local Facing Race Ambassador Awards April 7 are about. The idea is to “lift up and celebrate” people who are striving to end racial disparities, says Carleen Rhodes, president and CEO of The St. Paul Foundation, which will honor five “anti-racism advocates” at a free event open to the public.
Receiving the highest Facing Race Ambassador Awards are two working to limit disparities in employment and education: Minnesota Award recipient Justin Terrell, Justice 4 All program manager for TakeAction Minnesota who led the effort to put job applicants with a criminal background on a level playing field, and East Metro Award recipient Jada Sherrie Mitchell, a Tartan High School senior who played a key role in developing a student-mentoring program to help reduce the academic achievement gap.
Janice Rettman faces re-election challenger Lori Stee for DFL endorsement
Lori Stee, a former manager with the nonprofits Project for Pride in Living Enterprises and Rebuild Resources, will challenge longtime Ramsey County Commissioner Janice Rettman for the DFL Party endorsement Saturday.
Rettman and Stee will vie for Democratic-Farmer-Labor support during an endorsing convention at the Washington Technology Magnet School, 1495 Rice St., in St. Paul The convention will open at 9 a.m.
Stee is a former campaign manager for state Rep. Rena Moran, DFL-St. Paul, and has the support of St. Paul City Council members Kathy Lantry, Russ Stark, Dai Thao and Dave Thune, as well as the influential organizing group TakeAction Minnesota.
Face It! You Can’t Change Society Without Addressing Racism
Growing up on the east side of St. Paul, Minnesota, Renee Zschokke was surrounded by racism, but didn’t even know it. Her crime-ridden neighborhood, enveloped in violence she fell victim to for a period of time, sparked a desire in her to pursue a career in criminal justice, in order to “lock up the bad guys.”
“I just wanted my communities to be safe,” she said.
But throughout her time in college and her job afterward as a state county employment counselor, Zschokke realized that crime isn’t so simple.
“If people aren’t granted housing and jobs, they just go back to doing what they have to do to survive,” she said. “It’s not as simple as coming down to the individual.”
As a counselor with limited resources for her clients, who are mostly black men, Zschokke said she wanted to do something to fight what she saw as structural racism. She realized that explicitly talking about race might be the missing key needed to resist these systematic barriers.
Talking openly about race has never been an easy way to organize for change, but Zschokke found an organization, TakeAction Minnesota, which is trying to do just that.
How Pro-Austerity Groups Lost the Deficit Wars
t’s debt ceiling time and the US economy is once again on the brink, held hostage by extremists hell-bent on forcing cuts to Medicare and Social Security.
Oh wait. That was last year.
In 2014, for the first time in three years, the vote to extend the nation’s debt ceiling did not bring the US to the brink of default in a high-stakes game of slash and burn.
Last week, the House voted to raise the government’s borrowing limit until March 2015 without any conditions. In fact, if the Speaker had his way, he would have tied the vote to the repeal of cuts to military retirement pensions. The Senate concurred, sending a clean debt ceiling bill to the President’s desk.
It was a striking turnaround for the forces of austerity. One of the biggest losers? The Campaign to Fix the Debt, the $40 million AstroTurf austerity group, financed by Pete Peterson and other Wall Street big wigs, and fronted by Maya MacGuineas, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson.
Call it Alan Simpson’s last harrumph.
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In August, National Peoples Action kicked off the “CEO Summer” (Corporate Evil Outing) in fifteen cities and towns. Take Action Minnesota dropped a huge banner across from a Fix the Debt gathering, while in Chicago, clergy, IIRON, and ONE Northside targeted General Electric for its failure to pay taxes and urged Senator Dick Durbin to stiffen his spine and do more to support Social Security. Vocal New York descended on the home of Verizon board member Hugh Price, calling on Verizon to pay its taxes and stop lobbying for harmful budget cuts.
Raising Minnesota’s minimum wage expected to be hot issue
Scott Coykendall lost a $63,000-a-year job a few years ago, had one for a while at around $17 an hour, and for the past few months has worked full time at Domino’s for the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
The Robbinsdale man, 43, is divorced, sharing custody of two school-age kids, living in a two-bedroom place for $919 a month, and he’s been struggling.
He’s had to borrow money and sell some of his stuff. He’s been using the food shelf and Toys for Tots, organizations he used to donate to. He’s also been buying groceries a day or two at a time because he can’t scrape up enough for a week or two’s worth.
“We eat over at my mom’s a lot,” Coykendall said. “It’s demeaning.”
Coykendall secured a higher-paying job this week, which should help.
But the experience he’s had trying to make ends meet on minimum wage is the kind of thing state lawmakers have in mind when they talk about the need to bump it up.
“Minnesota workers are working hard and not able to survive (and) support themselves,” said state Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, sponsor of the minimum-wage bill in the House. “It isn’t really a question of how we compare to other states; it’s a question of whether people who are working full time should live in poverty.”
Humphrey Public Affairs panel agrees: King’s Dream remains a dream, not our reality
The 1964 Civil Rights Act became law 50 years ago, and the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs this year is hosting a series of events to commemorate the historic legislation. Last week’s panel discussion at Cowles Auditorium with local civil rights activists was the beginning.
Roy Wilkins Center for Human Relations and Social Justice Chair Dr. Samuel Myers characterized the January 23 event, cosponsored by the center and the African American Leadership Forum, as “a critical discourse and discussion about how far have we come and where we need to go.”
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The five panel members — which included Julia Freeman of the Organizing Apprenticeship Project, Empower MSP’s Mark Robinson, U of M junior political science student Kenneth Eban of Students for Education Reform-Minnesota, Kandace Montgomery of TakeAction Minnesota and Anthony Newby of Neighborhoods Organizing for Change — each spoke on Dr. King’s “Dream” as well.
Legislators are put on the spot to ‘raise the wage’
Raise the wage to at least $9.50 per hour, indexed to inflation, was the message area senators and representatives received from more than 80 residents Saturday, Jan. 25 at the Itasca County YMCA. Legislation to increase the minimum wage passed both the Minnesota House and the Minnesota Senate during the 2013 session, but in different forms. The House version calls for $9.50 an hour while the Senate bill tops out at $7.75. This critical issue will be back before the legislature in 2014. Senators Tom Saxhaug (D-Grand Rapids) and David Tomassoni (D-Chisholm), along with state representatives Tom Anzelc (D-Balsam Township), Carly Melin (D-Hibbing), John Persell (D-Bemidji), Jason Metsa (D-Virginia) and Joe Radinovich (D-Crosby) addressed citizen concerns about raising the wage at the forum.
Families are struggling to put food on the table and pay the rent, according to Kathleen Blake, Northern Minnesota Organizer for TakeAction Minnesota.
Pro: Should the minimum wage be raised?
On Jan. 1, more than 2.5 million low-paid workers throughout the country got a raise. Unfortunately, none of these workers lives in Minnesota.
Thanks to minimum-wage increases that took effect on New Year’s Day in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, those who do the hard work of cleaning office buildings, serving food, and providing care for the elderly received a modest pay raise.
Four of these states — New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island — approved minimum-wage increases last year while the remaining nine were the result of states adopting a key policy reform known as “indexing,” which calls for automatic minimum wage increases each year to keep pace with the rising cost of living.
Last spring, Minnesota had the chance to join these 13 states by passing legislation to raise the minimum wage, currently stuck at the federal level of $7.25 per hour, or $15,000 for a full-time, year-round worker. Legislation in the Minnesota House also would have established automatic annual increases so the state’s minimum wage would keep pace with the rising cost of living.
When lawmakers return to St. Paul in late February for the next legislative session, they would do well to reflect on the opportunity our state missed by failing to pass a minimum-wage increase last year.
Nation’s New Mayors Revive Big-City Liberalism
Like all newly elected politicians, the class of mayors being sworn in as the year begins has made many grand promises.
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“It’s not news that there are Democrats being elected in major American cities,” says Dan McGrath, executive director of TakeAction Minnesota, a progressive social justice organization. “It is news that there’s a new brand of progressive Democrats being elected in these cities that are pushing a different agenda than we’ve seen in the past.”
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All mayors have to collaborate, says McGrath, the TakeAction Minnesota director. The question is whom they choose to collaborate with.
He notes that Betsy Hodges, the new mayor of Minneapolis, has made a point to engage with people of color and immigrants who are “not considered traditional power players in City Hall.
“I’m absolutely heartened by the fact that there’s a lot more talk about the problem of wealth inequality in our world,” McGrath says. “I’m even more heartened that there are elected leaders like Betsy not just paying it lip service but creating and aligning grassroots movements to make change.”
The 25 Best Progressive Victories of 2013
Minnesota makes the list! Click here to see the full edition.
- Ballot Box Triumphs: New Yorkers elected progressives Bill de Blasio as mayor by a landslide, chose Letitia James as public advocate, and put a majority of progressives and liberals on the City Council, with pledges to address the city’s widening inequality, gentrification, and police abuses. This progressive surge didn’t just happen. It reflects a decade of patient and effective work led by the Working Families Party of New York. Minneapolis voters elected City Council member Betsy Hodges–a longtime activist with the progressive grassroots group Take Action Minnesota who called on people to “free ourselves from the fear that keeps us locked into patterns of inequality”–as their new mayor. Another longtime Take Action Minnesota member, Dai Thao, became the first Hmong city council member in the St. Paul’s history. In Boston, State Rep. Marty Walsh, a long-time labor leader, became the city’s next mayor. Seattle voters elected socialist Kshama Sawant to the City Council. And in Bridgeport, the Connecticut Working Families Party and its allies took control of the School Board, ending the reign of privatizer-in-chief Paul Vallas.
- Minnesota Shows the Way: Under Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Democratic majorities in both the state House and Senate (the first time this has occurred since 1978), Minnesota showed a path to high road economic recovery. The state turned a deficit into a surplus with tax increase on the wealthy, passed a Homeowner Bill of Rights, in-state tuition for undocumented students, “banned the box” to prevent unfair barriers to ex-offender unemployment, repaid money taken from the schools, and granted bargaining rights to home care and childcare workers. In May, Dayton signed an economic development bill that mandates that 1.5 percent of Minnesota’s electricity must come from solar by 2020. The state will also invest in community-owned solar gardens and pay consumers for the extra electricity their panels produce. The same month, Dayton signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. Each victory was made possible by a vigorous organizing effort by grassroots progressive groups and their allies in government. Key to these victories is Take Action Minnesota, a broad coalition of consumer, environmental, labor, community, civil rights, and other organizations. May also saw another Minnesota milestone. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, the founder of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress, announced that she won’t run for re-election from her suburban district outside Minneapolis. The previous November, she barely won her last campaign despite outspending her Democratic opponent, Jim Graves, by a huge margin. Graves threatened to run again in 2014 and Bachmann, running scared, choose to give up her seat rather than risk defeat. Minnesota serves as a mirror image to its neighbor, Wisconsin, which under the sway of a right-wing Republican governor and legislator has pursued a different course that focuses on slashing government services and destroying unions.
New law will help ex-offenders get job interviews
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Those with criminal records in Minnesota will have a better chance of getting to the interview phase of the hiring process, under a new law that will go into effect next year.
Gov. Mark Dayton last week signeda measureknown as the “ban the box” bill, which will prohibit most employers from asking about a prospective employee’s criminal history on the application form.
“People need a chance to really talk in person, to really tell their story,” Kissy Mason of Minnetonka told KARE.
Mason was among the ex-offenders who met with lawmakers to build support for the bill, which passed with large majorities in both chambers of the legislature.
A college graduate with a solid work history, Mason does well in job interviews. But still dreads seeing this question on job applications:
“Have you ever pled guilty or no contest to a crime, been convicted of a crime, had adjudication withheld or prosecution deferred?”
Rallying to ‘Raise the Wage’
The sub-zero temperatures on Saturday, Dec. 7, did little to dampen the spirits of those who chose to spend a portion of the evening standing by the Big Chair on Pokegama Avenue in Grand Rapids with signs calling for a rise in minimum wage. The roughly dozen people who stood on the busy corner holding signs reading “Raise the Wage” didn’t seem to mind the unforgiving weather, instead simply focusing on their message.
But the main event was held a block away in Brewed Awakenings Coffee House. Organized by the Itasca Working Families Alliance and TakeAction Minnesota, attendees of the rally filled the café to hear Representative Rick Nolan speak about his views on minimum wage laws in this country, as well as from state representatives Tom Anzelc (D-Balsam), John Persell (D-Bemidji), Joe Radinovich (D-Crosby), and Jason Metsa (D-Virginia).
Ten better ways to respond to Minnesota’s budget surplus
Minnesota’s projected $1.086 billion budget surplus is a sign that the tax and budget solutions of the 2013 legislative session are paying off. By returning the state to its traditional high-road approach, Gov. Mark Dayton and the Legislature have proved that a people-centered budget is good for both the economy and the state’s finances.
While this undoubtedly is a positive sign, it is not the final word. The governor will not offer a supplemental budget until after the February 2014 forecast, and a lot can change between now and then. Recent February forecasts have adjusted November forecasts by anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion.
Still, let’s assume our surplus remains. Our first priority must be paying back the debts previous legislatures incurred: repaying $246 million to our schools and $15 million to the state’s airport fund. What to do with the remaining $825 million, however, deserves more reflection.
Northlanders join nationwide call to raise minimum wage
Duluth, MN (NNCNOW.com) – Fast food workers across the country want the federal minimum wage raised from $7.25 to $15 per hour.
They say the current rate is not enough for a person to live on.
At a rally event at the Community Action Center in Duluth, low income workers shared personal stories and discussed how raising the minimum wage in Minnesota will positively impact Duluth–area families and the local economy.
Itasca Working Families Alliance and TakeAction Minnesota to hold rally
Itasca Working Families Alliance and TakeAction Minnesota will hold a Rally to End Poverty Wages in Minnesota on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m. in Grand Rapids. The rally will be preceded by a march from the Angel of Hope Park at 5:30 p.m., across the Pokegama Avenue Bridge and to the Big Chair, before moving inside to Brewed Awakenings Coffee House at 6 p.m.
An area resident will give the perspective of trying to survive on minimum wage. Other speakers will include U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan, State Senator Tom Saxhaug, Rep. Tom Anzelc and other area elected officials.
26 Arrested as Workers Continue to Call for Better Wages in St. Paul, Minneapolis
Protesters continued calling for better wages on Black Friday in what organizers are calling the largest strike of its kind in Minnesota.
So far, 26 people were arrested while practicing non-violent civil disobedience during the march in St. Paul, according to protest organizers.
They have been cited for blocking traffic during Friday morning demonstration at intersection of University and Snelling, according to St. Paul police.
Retail cleaning workers, contracted to work at more than 40 stores in the Twin Cities, walked off the job in an unfair labor practices strike.
Hundreds march to protest poverty wages
On a day when shoppers across Minnesota are embarking on an annual holiday spending spree, hundreds of low-wage workers gathered to march and call for higher pay.
The group, which includes members of OurWalmart, CTUL, SEIU Local 26, Minnesotans for a Fair Economy, Greater Minnesota Worker Center and TakeAction Minnesota among others, stretched out for blocks while making their way down University Avenue Friday afternoon.
Organizers say the march comes on the heels of a strike by retail workers at the Brooklyn Center Walmart and another by cleaners at Target in downtown Minneapolis.
Protestors believe the week-long series of actions underlines a growing anger among workers on the low-end of the wage scale, and the need for corporations and lawmakers to step up and take action to raise wages for the state’s working class.
Workers march University Ave. in St. Paul to protest low wages; 26 arrested
Hundreds of people marched down University Avenue in St. Paul’s Midway neighborhood Friday to protest low pay for retail workers.
The demonstrators marched through the area, including the parking lot of the St. Paul Walmart store, in a demonstration calling for better worker wages and a hike in the state’s minimum wage.
The rally stopped traffic on University Avenue and ended with a sit-in at the intersection of University and Snelling Avenues.
26 arrested in Black Friday protests over low retail wages
Police arrested 26 protesters on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul on Friday after hundreds marched for better wages for janitors and retail employees.
The Black Friday protest was one of several around the country in which protesters used the highly visible start to the holiday shopping rush as a stage from which to broadcast their claims that retail pay isn’t enough to live on.
The Midway-area rally was organized by St. Paul-based TakeAction Minnesota and the Service Employees International Union.
