Minneapolis, MN – Morning rush hour drivers into downtown Minneapolis were greeted by several banners across the interstates reading, “Jobs not war” and “Recruiters lie people die.” This was the start of Zero Recruitment Day (ZRD), where more than 150 people protested at six military recruiting sites in Minnesota.

Minnesota shocked the world when pro-wrestler Jesse Ventura stole the governor's race from behind. Sure, my governor can beat up your governor, but what does the election of Jesse Ventura mean for poor and working people in Minnesota?

Minneapolis, MN – The Minnesota Welfare Rights Coalition has issued a call for all progressive organizations to sign a declaration against the five-year limit on welfare. It is reprinted below.

Minneapolis, MN – On August 22, low income families across Minnesota held protests to mark the fourth anniversary of the signing of the federal welfare “reform” law. Member groups of the Minnesota Welfare Rights Coalition protested in four cities around the state, to call for an end to the five-year limit on public assistance.

Minneapolis, MN – “After our strike two years ago, we were ready to sit down and negotiate a good contract this year. But U of M management started off by undermining our negotiating committee and attacking me as local president because we have stood up for our members and for justice,” said Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800 and co-chair of the Clerical and Health Care workers’ negotiating committee.

Management Overestimated Costs But Won't Lower Rates

Minneapolis, MN – “Workers at the University of Minnesota are being ripped off. The administration is stealing $6 million from us and we want it back,” said Kelly Ryan, an executive board member of AFSCME Local 3800, the clerical workers' union at the University of Minnesota. The unions are fighting to get back $6 million that the administration is overcharging workers for health care. They have come together in a new coalition called University Unions United.

Minnesota – As of January, 40,000 public sector workers in 129 local unions across Minnesota are now in one statewide union, AFSCME Council 5. Council 5 is a merger of three previously separate state union bureaucracies.

Minneapolis, MN – After a 45-day strike, Twin Cities transit workers reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, April 13. Despite vocal opposition in the media by some members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, the contract was ratified with 72% voting in favor. The final scorecard was clear – retiree medical benefits were eliminated and wage increases were only 1.5% over three years. While there were some gains from the employer’s final pre-strike offer, the union was able to get back only a portion of the millions of dollars the employer saved by not operating buses during the strike.

Minneapolis, MN – After months of negotiations with the Metropolitan Council, 2200 Twin Cities bus drivers, dispatchers, maintenance and clerical workers went on strike at 2:00 a.m., March 4. The transit workers, members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, last struck in 1995.

Minneapolis, MN – More than 700 strikers and their supporters demonstrated here, March 12, to demand justice for workers on strike against Metropolitan Transit. The action was organized jointly by AFSCME Local 3800, a local of University of Minnesota clerical workers who were on strike themselves just months ago, and transit workers of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005.

Minneapolis, MN – After months of negotiations with the Metropolitan Council, 2200 Twin Cities bus drivers, dispatchers, maintenance and clerical workers went on strike at 2:00 a.m., March 4. The transit workers, members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1005, last struck in 1995.

Minneapolis, MN – “After striking for 15 days, we came away with a stronger, fighting union and we won some real gains for clerical workers at the University of Minnesota,” said Phyllis Walker, President of AFSCME Local 3800, the clerical workers union at the U of M. Clerical workers at the University of Minnesota went on strike from Oct. 21 to Nov. 4, 2003 against huge health care cuts, a proposed wage freeze and to win key job security provisions. This was the first strike at the University of Minnesota in 60 years.

Minneapolis, MN – At the beginning of October, clerical workers at the University of Minnesota said no to a wage freeze and skyrocketing health care costs, and voted to go on strike. The clerical workers’ union, AFSCME Local 3800, is leading a fightback to stop the university administrators from balancing the budget on the backs of the lowest paid workers and students.

Phyllis Walker, president of AFSCME Local 3800, delivered the following speech in Detroit Sept. 12 to hundreds of labor activists attending a conference organized by the publication Labor Notes. AFSCME Local 3800 represents nearly 1800 University of Minnesota clerical workers, 93% of whom are women. As we go to press, Local 3800 has announced its intent to strike against a concessionary contract proposal.

Minneapolis, MN – University of Minnesota workers have won some real victories, and look forward to winning more.

St Paul, MN – On Oct.1, 28,000 members of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) started striking for better health benefits and wage increases. This is the largest public employee strike in MN state history, and one of the most prolonged strikes of public workers in U.S. history.

Minnesota saw a wave of dramatic anti-war protests at military recruitment centers, April 23. The call of the Twin Cities based Anti-War Committee for April 23 to be Zero Recruitment Day was taken up by a host of anti-war groups that joined together, visibly opposing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, exposing recruiter lies and preventing military recruiting that day.

Minnesota – A broad coalition has formed to demand that the Minnesota legislature take concrete steps to protect low-income and working Minnesotans from the effects of the snowballing economic crisis. The Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bail Out brings together union members, welfare rights organizations and others.

St. Paul, MN – The Salvadoran community and supporters gathered here on the evening of March 15 to watch election results and celebrate a historic victory for the left in El Salvador. On March 15, Mauricio Funes and Salvador Sanchez-Ceren were elected president and vice-president of the small Central American country. Funes and Sanchez-Ceren are from the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), the leftist political party that led an armed liberation struggle in the 1980s, and became an electoral political party after the Peace Accords ended El Salvador's civil war in 1992.