St. Paul City Council to consider resolution against corporate personhood

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The St. Paul City Council will consider a labor-backed resolution opposing corporate personhood at its meeting Wednesday. Council Member Dave Thune, who authored the resolution, said he expects it to pass. Organizers with the Move to Amend coalition in St. Paul are planning a rally and press conference at 3:40 – 10 minutes after the Council is scheduled to vote on the resolution – in the City Hall lobby.Pushing cities like St. Continue Reading

Unions give bonding, stadium bills one last push before Monday’s votes

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Union members swarmed the Minnesota Capitol in a last-ditch effort to drum up support among lawmakers for two bills that, together, would create tens of thousands of jobs for union members in the struggling construction trades.The bills – one to build and repair the state’s infrastructure and another to finance construction of a new Vikings stadium downtown Minneapolis – are scheduled to receive votes on the House floor Monday, according to House Speaker Kurt Zellers.Until those votes take place, union leaders said, the full-court press at the Capitol will continue.“The message to our members is to call your legislators and tell them they need to do what’s right for Minnesota and put some people back to work,” said Harry Melander, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council.More than 100 union members, many wearing hard hats and fluorescent safety vests, gathered outside the House chambers Thursday. They chanted “Build it!” as lawmakers walked in and out of the room.Meanwhile, union lobbyists were busy scheduling one-on-one meetings between workers and their representatives to discuss the importance of passing a construction-jobs package before the session ends.“This isn’t about getting into anyone’s face today,” Melander told union members in a brief rally on the Capitol steps. “But we are going to talk to our legislators, and we are going to tell them that this is the time when they need to start taking care of the people’s business. And one of those items of business is putting people back to work on the tens of thousands of jobs they can create.”Gov. Mark Dayton has pledged support for both the infrastructure-jobs bill and the new Vikings stadium, but Zellers and Republican leaders in the Senate said it would be up to the governor to round up the majorities necessary to get the bills to his desk.Zellers said he would support the infrastructure-jobs bill, but would not push for the stadium package because Dayton had not compromised with Republicans on their priorities, including tax cuts for corporations.“At every turn, our priorities have either been disrespected … or dismissed,” Zellers said. Continue Reading

Workers demonstrate outside Verizon Store in Roseville

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Workers and their supporters from across the Twin Cities staged a demonstration outside the Verizon Store in Roseville Thursday afternoon as part of the Communications Workers of America’s “Verizon National Day of Action.” The demonstration drew more than 30 people, who held signs and banners warning consumers about Verizon’s corporate greed.About 45,000 union members at Verizon, based on the East Coast, have been working without a contract since the previous agreement with the company expired in August 2011, resulting in a two-week strike.Workers called off the strike when Verizon agreed to abide by the terms of the previous agreement while negotiating a new one. But so far, those negotiations have gone nowhere, with the company insisting on steep concessions from its workers, including cuts to their health care insurance and pension plans – even benefits for job-related injuries.Although Verizon claims it cannot afford the benefits provided in the current union contract, the truth is the company is turning record profits.The company is so profitable, in fact, that CEO Lowell McAdam recently tripled his annual compensation, from $7.2 million to $23.1 million. And while the company claims it needs to strip its union workers of their pensions and health benefits, Verizon’s top executives have taken home $258 million over the last four years.“We’re concerned about Verizon’s corporate greed,” said Lawrence Sandoval, a CWA district representative. “They’ve made a tremendous amount of money. Their CEO is making tremendous amt of salary. Continue Reading

Workers crowd State Capitol for first hearing on Right to Work

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As state lawmakers at the Capitol held the session’s first hearing on a proposed Right to Work (RTW) constitutional amendment today, hundreds of workers from across the state – and across the political spectrum – demonstrated in opposition to the controversial measure, calling it unsafe, unfair and unnecessary for Minnesota.Spectator seating for the 8 a.m. Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee hearing filled up quickly, as did three overflow seating areas established to accommodate the crowd. Many workers watched the proceedings, which lasted more than three hours, from outside the hearing room. Inside, the unrelenting chant of “Just vote no!” buzzed in the background, drowning out testimony as staffers and spectators entered and exited.As expected, members of the committee voted 7-6 in favor of the RTW amendment, referring it to another Senate committee for review. As senators exited the hearing room, workers showered the senators who voted “yes” with chants of “Shame on you!” and “We’ll be back!”The outburst of opposition, demonstrators said, is an indication of what’s at stake for Minnesota’s public safety, the state’s economy and the middle class if RTW becomes law.“Today, working Minnesotans showed there is sizable opposition to this reckless amendment that puts Minnesota’s high quality of life at risk,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson said. “Plain and simple, the more people hear about this amendment, the more they realize that it is a bad deal for middle class Minnesotans.”Testimony reveals confusionSenators listened to two hours of testimony from economists, business owners and union members during the hearing. Continue Reading

CWA president: Restore democracy, and economic justice will follow

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Speaking to hundreds of progressive activists in St. Paul on Saturday, the highest-ranking officer of the Communications Workers of America outlined an aggressive vision for building “a grassroots movement for democracy like we’ve never seen in this country.”Larry Cohen, president of the 700,000-member CWA, employed the rhetoric of Occupy Wall Street to fire up the crowd. He railed against the influence of corporate cash in politics, and he linked the labor movement’s effort to build economic justice with the Occupy’s call for democratic renewal.CWA President Larry Cohen said grassroots programs are key to achieving economic justice. (Photo by Michael Moore)“Today we find ourselves with the only so-called democracy in the world controlled by the 1 percent,” Cohen said. “Our union and many others used to talk about the middle class. Continue Reading

Campaign spreads Occupy Wall Street’s message to the suburbs

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In a perfect world, Mike Adair would have plenty of time to join the Occupy Wall Street protests. But in this world, the Eagan resident’s time is occupied by the demands of his small business, his master’s degree program and his four children. “That stuff covers 99 percent of my time,” Adair said.Instead of trying to bring working Minnesotans like Adair to the Occupy movement, a new campaign spearheaded by Working America is trying to bring the Occupy movement to people like Adair.Chase Brandau, an organizer with the “9 Demands of the 99 Percent” campaign, said Occupy’s central message of growing income inequality resonates with members of Working America, an organization that gives a voice to workers who do not have a union on the job.“We saw a need to get the message of Occupy – the demands of the 99 percent – out of the singular location downtown Minneapolis, and to expand the message to other areas in the state and the suburbs, in particular,” he said. “A huge amount of people aren’t able to go downtown and pitch a tent or go to the rallies.“There’s a lot more support for this, and that’s what we want to show.”To that end, Brandau and Working America member Sue Evarts of Eagan spent a cold Saturday in January criss-crossing the city streets of Burnsville and Eagan, visiting members like Adair and dropping off lawn signs that read, “I may not be marching on Wall Street … but I stand with the 99%.”Evarts, an out-of-work biology professor, said she volunteered to help distribute the signs because she wants her suburban neighbors to know the Occupy movement has broad support – that it can’t be dismissed as a group of complainers who “need to take a shower and get a job,” she said.Brandau and Evarts’ first stop was the home of Lloyd Hansen, who eagerly accepted a yard sign. (Hansen will have to display it in his window for now, though, until his yard thaws.)“Wall Street is a great danger to the country,” Hansen said. Continue Reading

‘The 99%’ calls on Wells Fargo to pay its fair share of taxes

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Workers briefly occupied the Wells Fargo tower downtown St. Paul Tuesday, shaming the giant bank for using loopholes in the corporate tax code to avoid paying its fair share. The rally, timed to coincide with the opening day of the Minnesota legislative session, concluded with a march to St. Paul RiverCentre, where the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce was holding its annual “Session Priorities” gala dinner for state lawmakers.The protest march, organized to spotlight the “priorities of the 99 percent,” was planned by SEIU Local 284, which represents 8,000 school service employees statewide, and the advocacy group Minnesotans for a Fair Economy.“At the beginning of the legislative session, Wells Fargo and the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce will tell state legislators how to vote to protect the agenda of the top 1 percent,” the organizers said in a statement before the event. “Minnesotans who have had enough of such skewed priorities and corporate irresponsibility will assemble this afternoon to speak out.”Wells Fargo has accepted more in federal tax subsidies than it has returned to the government in tax payments, protesters said. Continue Reading