As Farm Bill stalls, McCollum and Ellison join call for Crystal Sugar to end lockout
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American Crystal Sugar appears to be losing favor in Congress at a time when the company needs it most.
Sun Country pilots protest low wages, pace of negotiations
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Sun Country pilots recognize the importance of staying on schedule. They want management to bring that same sense of urgency to negotiations on a new contract with their union, the Air Line Pilots Association. Pilots picketed recently outside Terminal 2 at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport, raising awareness about the slow pace of negotiations with Sun Country – and signaling their frustration to the company about being among the nation’s lowest-paid pilots of Boeing 737 aircraft.“Compensation is a major issue for us,” said Jake Yockers, a spokesperson for Sun Country’s ALPA bargaining unit.The pilots have not seen their wage rates increase since 2005, when they agreed to a five-year contract that provided Sun Country, which entered bankruptcy in 2008, with the stability the company said it needed.The 2005 contract remains in place today, as negotiations on a new contract, which began before the last one became amendable in March 2010, have been slow going.Pilots say the airline is making money now, and they are looking to bring their compensation back in line with industry standards. Their wages, Yockers said, are roughly half of those earned by pilots at Southwest Airlines, the highest-paid 737 pilots in the country.“We’ve always helped the company out,” said Yockers, a 22-year veteran pilot at Sun Country. Continue Reading
Politics take center stage at state Building Trades convention
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One by one, DFL state lawmakers took the podium on the opening day of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council’s annual convention July 19-20 in St. Cloud. Invariably, each offered a variation on three common themes:
In Minneapolis, a picket line for striking Houston janitors
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The union representing more than 400 striking janitors in Houston is fanning out across the country this week, setting up solidarity picket lines outside buildings cleaned by contractors involved i
Workers will protest archdiocese for dissolving Catholic Spirit union
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The Twin Cities labor community will rally behind workers at The Catholic Spirit newspaper Sunday, protesting Archbishop John Nienstedt’s decision to strip 13 workers at the archdiocesan publicatio
Nurses call for ‘Robin Hood Tax’ on Wall Street transactions
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Dressed as modern-day members of the band of Merry Men, union nurses fanned out across downtown Minneapolis Tuesday, doling out bottles of water and a prescription for healing what ails the America
Archdiocese strips ‘Catholic Spirit’ workers of their union contract
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The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is moving forward with plans to dissolve the bargaining unit of workers at its official newspaper, The Catholic Spirit, when their current collective bargaining agreement expires at the end of this month. In an overhaul intended “to create a more integrated communications function,” the Archdiocesan Office of Communications will absorb The Catholic Spirit and some of its 13 workers, but not their union contract.In meetings with lawyers for the archdiocese last month, Catholic Spirit workers, represented by the Minnesota Newspaper Guild, requested the archdiocese voluntarily continue to recognize their bargaining unit within the expanded communications office. The archdiocese denied that request, prompting Guild members to send a letter to Archbishop John Nienstedt seeking clarification.“The only reason we were given for the unit disappearing so far is that the Guild unit does not fit within the central corporation’s needs,” said Chris Pierskalla, chair of the Guild’s Catholic Spirit bargaining unit. “That hasn’t been expounded upon.”The Guild is asking supporters to contact Archbishop Nienstedt and ask him to respect the Catholic Spirit workers’ request to keep their union. Continue Reading
East Metro electricians vote to authorize strike
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About 1,700 electricians in the East Metro are poised to strike if negotiations between their union and members of the National Electrical Contractors Association do not progress in the coming weeks. Members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 110 voted June 8 to reject their employers’ proposal for a new three-year contract. More than 90 percent of voting members cast “no” votes, authorizing union leaders to call a strike if they deem it necessary.The contractors’ last proposal included modest annual wage increases in each of the three years. The raises were barely large enough, however, to cover the rising cost of members’ health insurance premiums, according to the union.In the first year of the contract, employers are offering to increase hourly wages by 90 cents. That sounds good, Local 110 Business Manager Jamie McNamara said, “but the rub is our medical plan needs about 80 cents of that, plus the fact is we haven’t had a raise for two years.”The union is seeking a raise of $1.75 per hour in the first year of the contract, with 10-cent increases in each of the next two years.McNamara said Local 110 is preparing for the worst, but hopeful the two sides can find common ground.“We’re moving toward going on strike, but hopefully it won’t go there,” he said.The agreement between Local 110 and East Metro members of NECA covers about 1,700 electricians, including 500 unemployed members who are eligible to vote on contract proposals. Continue Reading