Solidarity Corner

Minnesota 15 - The Minnesota 15 have two court hearings this week, and supporters are very welcome to show up to both. On Tuesday at 1:30 p.m., there will be a hearing on the court order that has cruelly banned the defendants from communicating with each other. On Thursday at 2:30 p.m., there will be a court hearing on matters related to the discovery process which has so far revealed a massive DHS-led surveillance operation on unions, activist groups, churches and many others in the Twin Cities 

AFGE Locals 1969 + 3669 - The Star Tribune reported last week on a big decline in staffing at the Minneapolis VA Hospital. Overall staffing went down by 13% from 2024 to 2025, and the departure of several anesthesiologists has led to the cancellation of several open heart surgeries recently. The VA, a rare example of socialized medicine in the US, has long been a target for privatization through divestment. Recently, the AFGE has won several court victories reinstating their contract, which Trump had ripped up on “national security” pretenses. 

Education MN- Rock Ridge Public Schools - Educators in the Rock Ridge district (Virginia and Eveleth in the Iron Range) finally have a TA after 407 days of negotiations! 

Teamsters Local 320- Chisago County - 49 clerical workers for Chisago County overwhelmingly voted to keep their union last week. These workers are one of the two units of county employees currently on strike with Local 320, along with social workers. It sounds like this challenge was brought by workers who crossed the line- I’m sure that their bosses were also leaning on them to do this. This is the longest strike by county employees in Minnesota history, and it is good to see these workers beat a decert. 

UFCW Local 663- Seward Co-op- Three of the four food co-ops in Minneapolis have their contract negotiations in the next six months. In 2023, a worker-led effort brought the contracts into closer alignment, with Seward setting the wage pattern for the other contracts to meet. This year, workers there just got a TA on a new contract that wins much lower healthcare costs. 

UNITE HERE Local 17- Delaware North- Delaware North, the concessions operator for Target Field, has given workers a final offer after many negotiations and two one-day strikes. The deal would raise workers wages higher than minimum wage (progress!) but would still refuse to give workers healthcare, and removes a previously agreed-to article on subcontracting. Sounds to me like the company is mad that AG Keith Ellison called them out for working with a bogus temp agency disguised as a charity. The KSTP article says that Local 17 has filed charges for regressive bargaining, and will send the offer out for a vote.