Ilhan Omar stands with working families!

“American, Delta, and United made a combined $7.4 billion last year. Meanwhile, the majority of airline catering workers still earn less than $15 an hour. As a former union member myself, I stand with airline food workers fighting for fair wages and a union!” Ilhan Omar (tweet from May 28th).

Ilhan Omar is fighting for working families by sponsoring legislation like Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), introduced earlier this month. It would push back on a series of Republican-backed laws that have cropped up in more than two dozen states in the past decade.

These so-called right-to-work laws let unionized workers skip out on paying union dues if they don’t want to. Normally, every worker chips in for the cost of negotiating a labor contract, because everyone in the bargaining unit benefits from it.

The new bill would also allow workers to sue employers who illegally interfere with unionizing efforts, instead of forcing them to take all their complaints to the National Labor Relations Board, an independent federal agency that enforces collective bargaining laws. The new bill would also let the board hit employers with fines if they break the law. Right now there’s currently no financial penalty for employers who illegally fire workers who are trying to unionize, for example.

If passed, it would mark the biggest change to US labor laws since Congress gave American workers the right to unionize back in 1935*

Thanks, Congressperson for having our backs! 

*Full Article here

St. Paul: Don’t take money away from working families!

Right now, the City of Saint Paul is at the threshold of passing a minimum wage similar to the one that has already been adopted by Minneapolis.  UNITE HERE Local 17 emphatically supports such an increase to the standard of living for working families that is supported by Mayor Carter. Saint Paul workers deserve $15 One Fair Wage.

Disappointingly, the Saint Paul City Council may be considering an amendment to the Minumum Wage Ordinance that allows businesses to pay home health care and tipped workers a lower minimum wage. This lower minimum wage unfairly targets home health care and tipped workers and effectively takes money out of working people’s pockets!

This lower minimum wage is being supported by the same corporate lobbyists who are working with Republicans at the state level to pass a pre-emption law, which would take away the freedom of Cities to pass their own minimum wage ordinances. Corporations just received a windfall tax break from Donald Trump, paying home health care and tipped workers less just puts more money in their already full bank accounts. The Saint Paul City Council needs to support working families, not the already wealthy corporations!

Contact the City Council and tell them not to take money away from working families!

Sample message:
1. My name is X, I am a constituent who lives/works in your Ward
2. Please pass a strong $15 minimum wage
3. We need one fair wage that does not treat restaurant or home care workers differently.

City Council contact info:
www.stpaul.gov/departments/city-council

Elections are November 6th!

This year we are facing a vitally important election. At the federal level politicians are doing everything they can to make working people’s lives harder. Giving massive amounts of money to the most wealthy and starting trade wars that hurt American jobs are the wrong ways to help working families. At the state level, Republican Politicians have committed to forcing through so-called ‘right to work’ which is an attack on our basic freedom to join to join together in a Union!

We are proud to support candidates that stand up for our freedom to come together as a Union and fight for working families! Tim Walz, our endorsed candidate for governor said: “I am Labor, I stand with Labor, and next week we will keep Minnesota a Labor state and stop Right-to-Work in its tracks. The stakes are too high – we can’t afford to become Wisconsin.” Our endorsed candidate for State Attorney General Keith Ellison said: “We have got to make sure that in our state we have an attorney general who will stand up for workers”.  This election is too important to stay home!

Visit www.mnvotes.org to check your registration, register to vote, and find out where you vote. 

Here are the Labor-endorsed candidates for 2018:

Governor & Lieutenant Governor

Tim Walz & Peggy Flanagan

United States Senate

Amy Klobuchar

Tina Smith

Attorney General

Keith Ellison

Secretary of State

Steve Simon

State Auditor

Julie Blaha

United States Congress

District 1: Dan Feehan

District 2: Angie Craig

District 3: Dean Phillips

District 4: Betty McCollum

District 5: Ilhan Omar

District 6: Ian Todd

District 7: Colin Peterson

District 8: Joe Radinovich

Minnesota Senate

District 13 (Special Election): Joe Perske

Minnesota House

District 1A: Stephen Moeller

District 1B: Brent Lindstrom

District 2A: Michael Northbird

District 2B: Karen Branden

District 3A: Rob Ecklund

District 3B: Mary Murphy

District 4A: Ben Lien

District 4B: Paul Marquart

District 5A: John Persell

District 5B: Pat Medure

District 6A: Julie Sandstede

District 6B: Dave Lislegard

District 7A: Jen Schultz

District 7B: Liz Olson

District 8A: Brittney Johnson

District 8B: Gail Kulp

District 9A: Alex Hering

District 9B: Stephen Browning

District 10A: Dale Menk

District 10B: Phil Yetzer

District 11A: Mike Sundin

District 11B: Tim Burkhardt

District 12A: Murray Smart

District 13A: Jim Read

District 13B: Heidi Everett

District 14A: Aric Putnam

District 14B: Dan Wolgamott

District 15A: Emy Minzel

District 15B: Karla Scapanski

District 16A: Tom Wyatt-Yerka

District 16B: Mindy Kimmel

District 17A: Lyle Koenen

District 17B: Anita Flowe

District 19A: Jeff Brand

District 19B: Jack Considine

District 20A: Barbara Dröher Kline

District 20B: Todd Lippert

District 21A: Lori Ann Clark

District 21B: Jonathan Isenor

District 22A: Maxwell Kaufman

District 22B: Cheniqua Johnson

District 23A: Heather Klassen

District 23B: Jim Grabowska

District 24A: Joe Heegard

District 24B: Yvette Marthaler

District 25A: Jamie Mahlberg

District 25B: Duane Sauke

District 26B: Tyrel Clark

District 27A: Terry Gjersvik

District 27B: Jeanne Poppe

District 28B: Thomas Trehus

District 29B: Sharon McGinty

District 30A: Sarah Hamlin

District 30B: Margaret Fernandez

District 31A: Bradley Brown

District 31B: Sue Larson

District 32A: Renae Berg

District 32B: Jeff Peterson

District 34A: Dan Solon

District 34B: Kristin Bahner

District 35A: Bill Vikander

District 35B: Kathryn Eckhardt

District 36A: Zack Stephenson

District 36B: Melissa Hortman

District 37A: Erin Koegel

District 37B: Amir Malik

District 38B: Ami Wazlawik

District 39A: Ann Mozey

District 39B: Shelly Christensen

District 40A: Mike Nelson

District 40B: Samantha Vang

District 41A: Connie Bernardy

District 41B: Mary Kunesh-Podein

District 42A: Kelly Moller

District 42B: Jamie Becker-Finn

District 43A: Peter Fischer

District 43B: Leon Lillie

District 44A: Ginny Klevorn

District 44B: Patty Acomb

District 45A: Lyndon Carlson

District 45B: Mike Freiberg

District 46A: Ryan Winkler

District 46B: Cheryl Youakim

District 47B: Donzel Leggett

District 48A: Laurie Pryor

District 48B: Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn

District 49A: Heather Edelson

District 49B: Steve Elkins

District 50A: Michael Howard

District 50B: Andrew Carlson

District 51A: Sandra Masin

District 51B: Laurie Halverson

District 52A: Rick Hansen

District 52B: Ruth Richardson

District 53A: Tou Xiong

District 53B: Steve Sandell

District 54A: Anne Claflin

District 54B: Tina Folch

District 55A: Brad Tabke

District 56A: Hunter Cantrell

District 56B: Alice Mann

District 57A: Robert Bierman

District 57B: John Huot

District 58A: Maggie Williams

District 58B: Marla Vagts

District 59A: Fue Lee

District 59B: Raymond Dehn

District 60A: Diane Loeffler

District 60B: Mohamud Noor

District 61A: Frank Hornstein

District 61B: Jamie Long

District 62A; Hodan Hassan

District 62B: Aisha Gomez

District 63A: Jim Davnie

District 63B: Jean Wagenius

District 64A: Kaohly Her

District 64B: Dave Pinto

District 65A: Rena Moran

District 65B: Carlos Mariani

District 66A: Alice Hausman

District 66B: John Lesch

District 67A: Tim Mahoney

District 67B: Jay Xiong

We Are Fighting Together!

Minnesota’s 2018 elections are incredibly important for ALL working people if we want to preserve our freedoms and fight for a better life. In June the Supreme Court issued a decision in the Janus v AFSCME case that is nothing more than an attack on working people. Right to Work threatens our freedom to join together as working people and fight for what we deserve! This year, Local 17 members will need to stand together to keep our strong contracts and to educate others around us about the importance of those contracts how the Union works for all of us.

Election season is heating up and soon we will begin making phone calls, knocking doors and talking to our co-workers about the upcoming election. Your new Union leadership will be making every effort to get all of Local 17’s members involved in our Democracy. For the first time in many, many years we will be in shops with voting information! At our member picnic (August 22nd) we will be registering members to vote and have signups for Election Volunteer shifts.

Please come to the picnic, and learn how you can fight to protect your freedom, pay and benefits!

Local 17 Members Fight Tip Penalty!

On Monday, April 16th Rep. Joe McDonald (R-Delano) brought legislation (HF 4061) before a House Committee to cut pay for tipped workers and allow their employers to pay less than minimum wage otherwise known as a Tip Penalty. Local 17 members turned out to let them know that a tip penalty isn’t right!

Local 17 servers spoke about the importance of their jobs to their family. All of these servers have been able to raise a family, go to school and live a comfortable life based on their hard work. They let the Committee know that they deserve a fair return on their work!

Local 17 Political director Wade Luneburg shared the history of a Tip Penalty in Minnesota with the Committee. Workers fought against the tip penalty and Minnesota repealed it in 1984! Wade let them know that we are proud to support working families and implored them not to take Minnesota backwards!

All working people deserve a fair return on work and Local 17 will stand against the legislature’s attempt to take money away from working people!

Fight Tip Penalty!

All working people deserve a fair return on our work!

On Monday, April 16th Rep. Joe McDonald (R-Delano) is bringing legislation (HF 4061) before a House Committee to cut pay for tipped workers and allow their employers to pay less than minimum wage otherwise known as a Tip Penalty. We have to turn out to let them know their attack on working people isn’t ok!

Meet with UNITE HERE! Local 17 Members at 12:45 pm outside of Room 10 in the State Office Building. (100 Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd St Paul) and we will go into the hearing room as a group to stop lawmakers from taking away tipped workers’ freedom to earn a fair return on their work!

RSVP HERE

Working Families Will Not Be Silenced by Supreme Court Case!

Last week, the US Supreme Court heard a case that would limit public sector workers’ freedom to join together and negotiate for a fair return on their work.

What the corporate-backed groups who brought this case forward don’t understand is that no matter how much they attack us – working people won’t be silenced. Just take a look at West Virginia where educators stood up to corporate special interests – who for too long have not respected the important work educators do every day. West Virginia teachers finally said enough is enough and went on strike for 9 days to improve their classrooms and their students’ lives.

We’ll stand together against the rich and powerful for a better life for your family and my family and every working family. Because we do the work. We pave the streets. We drive the buses and walk the beats. We are working people. We won’t be shoved aside. We are Minnesota’s Labor movement, and we will not be denied.

If you feel the same way that I do, please like and share this Facebook post to show your friends and family that working Minnesotans won’t be silenced.

2018 Will Be A Make It Or Break It Year For ALL Unions

This year our Union will be facing potentially huge challenges.

Late in February the Supreme court will hear a case that could affect our freedom to come together and negotiate a fair return on work. The outcome could largely defund and diminish our power. This would make it it even harder to organize more workers into the union.

To maintain our Union, we will need to stand together to keep our strong contracts and to educate others around us about the importance of those contracts how the Union works for all of us.

We will work with elected officials to pass laws that support working people and their families. In 2018, we will need to be more active than ever in the political process. In Minnesota, we need to elect a new Governor that will continue Governor Dayton’s fight for our freedom to come together in our Union! We will also have to be active in a number other state races so our allies at the Capitol in St. Paul can support us as well.

Corporate lobbyists, the wealthiest 1% and CEOs have friends in Washington D.C., the White House and Congress who are hurting working people, immigrants and families. We have opportunities to send two Senators and several Congress people who will fight for working families back to Washington.

You need to step up and be involved in this process! Check back here on how you can be involved in your shop or in the community to affect change for working people.