Workday Magazine (https://workdayminnesota.flywheelsites.com/author/tsuperadmin/page/250/)
When President Obama convenes a White House forum next month to consider ways to create jobs, he should consider a program that worked successfully for Minnesota in the 1980s, a noted labor economist says.
Prompted by concerns about the spread of swine flu, the Obama administration is openly endorsing paid family and medical leave for workers. The proposed legislation would help millions of workers who currently sacrifice pay if they stay home sick.
In 1983, a typical union member was a white man, often working in a factory. One of every two unionists had a high-school diploma, at most. Twenty-five years later, that’s all changed.
Seniors living in Anoka County got help with fall yard work Sunday from a group of union volunteers and elected officials.
The Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, the second-largest union of state employees, has endorsed Speaker of the House Margaret Anderson Kelliher for governor.
In 1905, William Bradley and Fred Henion, two railroad workers from Northeast Minneapolis, attended a conference in Chicago that led to the founding of the Industrial Workers of the World. Now, more than a century later, the IWW has opened an office steps away from where Bradley and Henion used to work.
At age 91, retired Sheet Metal Workers Local 34 member Butch Kumagai qualifies as a member of the “the Greatest Generation” — the name journalist Tom Brokaw gave to the generation which grew up during the Great Depression, fought in World War II, and then built post-war America.
Members of Health Care for America Now will hold a rally and potluck Thursday in St. Paul to thank the four members of Minnesota’s Congressional delegation who voted for the Affordable Health Care for America Act.
Unions in Minnesota and across the country are praising U.S. House passage of historic health reform that will expand coverage and cut costs.
