Up With the Workers

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Fueling the struggle

www.upwiththeworkers.org

Fueling the struggle

A few labor highlights and updates from this week.

Amie Stager
Mar 25, 2022
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Fueling the struggle

www.upwiththeworkers.org

Hello, friends! It seems like there is always so much going on…

🚨 It’s not too late to sign up for more labor skills & organizing classes!

The Labor Education Service has 3 more skills classes open: one on data practices for organizing, one on arbitration, and one on knowing your rights at work.

Check out the courses and register here.


📜 We have a tentative teacher agreement!

Teachers on the picket line outside Sheridan Elementary School Friday morning.

Today, we woke up to news that MFT 59 and Minneapolis Public Schools reached a tentative agreement! The educators and ESPs will have to look at the deal and vote on it first before it becomes a reality.

Twitter avatar for @_ericblanc
Eric Blanc @_ericblanc
BREAKING: After 18 days of striking, Minneapolis @MFT59 teachers & ESPs have won tentative agreements with the district. After weekend votes, school is expected to resume Monday Educators & families persevered through one of the longest school strikes in decades — and they won
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10:51 AM ∙ Mar 25, 2022
604Likes189Retweets

It seemed they were working overnight…

Twitter avatar for @bzosiad
Becky Zosia Dernbach @bzosiad
UPDATE: The school board canceled their closed session to discuss negotiations tonight, but a tentative agreement IS still possible tonight, both Kim Ellison and the union now say. Negotiations continue. "We just drank coffee," @greta_callahan says. (Deleted a tweet)
3:35 AM ∙ Mar 25, 2022
58Likes18Retweets

…and the baristas making the coffee to keep you fueled up are also fighting for union recognition!


☕ Another local Starbucks is organizing

A third Twin Cities Starbucks has announced their organizing efforts and are filing for a union election. The first two have their election dates: Snelling Ave St. Paul store’s election start date is April 8, and the Cedar Ave Minneapolis store’s election starts April 11.

a close up of the green starbucks siren on a cardboard background with coffee beans
Engin Akyurt from Unsplash

As a former Starbucks “partner” and barista myself, I reached out to a few workers to learn more about their organizing, work struggles, and growing consciousness. Food service and retail jobs like baristas tend to be occupied by younger people. A younger generation of progressive and diverse people are joining the workforce and discovering the false promises of working for the American dream. The baristas I talked to are aware that their working conditions belie Starbucks’ failing progressive brand and marketing, and they recognize the need to join a movement and act collectively for widespread change.

Read about the baristas here.


💟 The educators have received a lot of community support!

So many community groups and members expressed support for the educators on strike and helped them participate in collective action.

These awesome student activists came to support teachers on the picket lines.

mnteenactivists
A post shared by Minnesota Teen Activists (@mnteenactivists)

Students from Patrick Henry High School gave their opinions on the strike for the Henry News Hour March 7!

🥫 Jae Yates from Community Aid Network Minnesota spoke on the importance of mutual aid in the labor movement: 

“I and my co-founders started CAN-MN because we believe that basic necessities like food are a human right and that making sure the needs of our communities are met and the critical first step in creating the conditions for change…workers were largely abandoned during this pandemic and it was our community that stepped up during terrible conditions and nobody knows that better than our teachers. It’s easier for people to fight and be politically engaged when they know where their next meal is coming from, and that’s why we’re throwing our support behind this strike.

When we fight against bad working conditions and low wages, we all win.”

I visited CAN-MN’s mutual aid operation, where they packed and distributed orders from MFT as well as gave out free groceries to the public.

a close up of a pack of toilet paper covered in plastic
white bins with labels line the wall on top of a table next to black crates
two black crates are filled with food cans and green milk cartons

Check out their website on how to receive donations, make a donation, or volunteer shifts! If you know of any other groups providing for working people during times of need, let us know!

Leave a comment


💸 Economic justice is social justice

In February, CTUL hosted an event in a series on worker voices for Black History Month on black worker power! Organizers Eric and Tate from the Future Fighters and Defensores programs talked with Ma-Riah Roberson Moody, the First Vice President of MFT 59’s ESP chapter, about what it means to have power in the workplace as a black worker.

screenshot of Tate and Eric CTUL Black organizers in front of a red background next to a screen of Ma-Riah a Black ESP wearing a blue and white scarf

🤝 Historic union merger in the Midwest

Twitter avatar for @SEIUHCMNIA
SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa @SEIUHCMNIA
#NewProfilePic
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5:50 PM ∙ Mar 24, 2022
9Likes2Retweets

SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and SEIU Local 199 are now SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa!

👀 Watch the KIMT3 News segment on the merger.


🗓️ Save the date: UALE’s Midwest School for Women Workers!

Registration opens today! Learn more and register here. 


🗓️  Mark your calendars

The MN AFL-CIO Retiree Council has announced an in-person fundraiser for August 20!

The event will draw a crowd of retired workers, families and friends to the Sheet Metal Workers Local 10 Hall, 1610 Cope Ave., Maplewood, MN 55109. Attractions include delicious free foods, live music, games, a silent auction, hourly drawings for prizes and the pleasure of good company.


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Spring is here! We are each other’s harvest.

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Fueling the struggle

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