Listening to workers
Check our latest stories and updates, including our new profile series, activism on campus, May Day celebrations, and highlights from the Labor Notes conference.
Hello, friends! Hello, new subscribers! It’s been a bit since Up With the Workers has been in your inbox, and if this is the first newsletter you’re receiving—welcome!
Check out our latest story below, and some highlights and recent news.
Supporting children means supporting childcare workers
On Monday, May 13, five childcare centers on the Iron Range serving over 300 children will shut down as part of a nationwide Day Without Childcare. They will hold a press conference in Mountain Iron, then travel to St. Paul to join other childcare providers and workers from across Minnesota.
Amanda Maass is a childcare provider and involved with Kids Count On Us, a worker center dedicated to worker organizing and legislative protections for the essential workers. Isa’s interview with her is the first story in a new series we are calling the Greater Minnesota Listening Project: Iron Range Daycare Worker on Organizing for Better Care for Children.
#KnowYourRights
As reports of the discovery of mass graves in Gaza made recent headlines, nine student activists, including a member of AFSCME 3800, were arrested for “trespassing” on public land as part of a protest movement that swept across U.S. universities. Since then, the student solidarity movement has grown, and students are demanding divestment from and a ban of weapons companies on the University of Minnesota campus. The university sent a statement Thursday morning in response to the demands after meeting with student representatives. The students are continuing to put pressure on the Regents after the university disclosed its investments in companies based in or doing business with Israel.
Clerical workers at the university with AFSCME 3800 put out a statement condemning the arrests. The Grad Labor Union-UE 1105 and Teamsters 320 put out a joint statement in response to building closures affecting workers. The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota released a statement from executive director Deepinder Mayell:
“Students and faculty at public universities who express political opinions, criticize foreign governments, or speak out in favor of any cause or movement have a First Amendment right to express themselves.”
Immigrant rights are workers rights
On May 1, workers and community members from over 40 organizations and unions marched down Lake Street in South Minneapolis in celebration of May Day, a day for expressing solidarity with working class movements across the globe. Read about the origins of the holiday, which are rooted in police brutality of protest, here.
At the march, it was also announced that the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59 ESP chapter filed their ten-day strike notice, and less than 24 hours later they reached a tentative agreement. Teachers in Lakeville, Minn., also filed their intent to strike on April 30 before reaching a tentative agreement on May 6.
#LaborNotes2024
Speaking of May Day, one of my highlights from the Labor Notes conference was a tour of Chicago labor history. My personal favorite was the Haymarket Martyrs Monument at the Forest Home Cemetery, commemorating the lives lost and origins of the international holiday. I also enjoyed the Packingtown Museum in The Plant, a former meatpacking factory that is now a collaborative research center for small, local food businesses.
Check out more highlights below.
Isa from Workday Magazine facilitated a panel on some of the big contract battles of 2024, which included stories from the flight attendants who have authorized national strikes with AFA, workers at the University of California pushing for better pay and working conditions with CWA, and film and TV crew members with IATSE.
Thank you to everyone who stopped at our Labor Education Service table! It was so good to see a solid presence of labor educators from all over the U.S.
Workers rallied for Palestine outside of the hotel Friday night, where some were arrested and released a few hours later. They continued to display their solidarity during panel discussions and speeches throughout the weekend.
Community classes
If they’re not on your radar yet, the Labor Education Service has some community classes coming up. One is on earned sick and safe time scheduled for May 14, and the other is on the history of the “right to work” for May 29. Be sure to register!
Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more. Up, up with liberation!