News
Media reports related to the ESFL
Twin Cities Business: The Hospitality Industry Sees Renewed Push For Unionized Labor
By Dan Niepow | September 2, 2020 Seemingly out of the blue, a new labor movement has emerged in the Twin Cities’ hospitality industry. Late last month, Tattersall Distillery became the first craft distillery in the nation with a unionized labor force. Shortly...
WCCO: State Workplace Safety Commissioner Ousted In Partisan Senate Vote
By Bill Hudson | August 13, 2020 It is the state agency responsible for protecting the safety and wages of 3 million Minnesota workers. But suddenly, the Department of Labor and Industry is caught in a political squeeze that cost the commissioner her job. Labor...
Workweek Radio: WW 7-19-20 Confederate Monuments, Knights Of Labor & Working Class History With Peter Rachleff
July 19, 2020 Professor Peter Rachleff talks about the the Confederate Robert E. Lee monument in Richmond, Virginia and how it was built to solidify support for racism and the continuation of the exploitation of African Americans. He also talks about the role of the...
KTSP: ‘Conversations about Racism and the Road to Equality:’ Dr. Peter Rachleff interview
July 15, 2020 Dr. Peter Rachleff sat down with KSTP's Brandi Powell to discuss white privilege, what it means and why it's important to understand its effects. "You didn’t have to navigate certain dangers in the neighborhood in order to get to school. You didn’t have...
Metropolitan State University: East Side Assets: A Spotlight on the East Side Freedom Library
By Sarah McVicar | May 12, 2020 Institute for Community Engagement and Scholarship Peter Rachleff is a man on a mission: To inspire solidarity, advocate for justice and work toward equity for all. It may sound ambitious, but Rachleff has pursued it wholeheartedly here...
Union Advocate: Lessons from labor history can inform our movement during COVID-19 crisis
By Peter Rachleff | May 4, 2020 COVID-19 is the biggest crisis of our lives, and workers are on the front lines. Large, profitable employers expect workers deemed “essential” — those in healthcare, grocery stores, food production, and shipping, among others — to risk...
Sahan Journal: Worthington Pork Plant Employees Say Tight Working Conditions, Non-Stop Pace Made COVID-19 Outbreak Inevitable
By Joey Peters | April 28, 2020 Last week, after at least 26 workers at its Worthington, Minnesota, pork processing plant tested positive for COVID-19, JBS USA announced that it was idling the plant. Now, a handful of workers are speaking out about conditions there....
Pioneer Press: House District 67A candidate forum goes virtual Thursday
By Frederick Melo | April 23, 2020 In this corner, it’s former school teacher and nonprofit founder Hoang Murphy for House District 67A. And in this other corner, it’s school worker and community organizer John Thompson for House District 67A. And in the audience?...
Workday Minnesota: Strikes Surge Nationwide
By Michael Moore (Union Advocate) | March 3, 2020 Some 4,000 Twin Cities janitors walked off the job Feb. 27 for higher wages, paid sick days and other demands. HealthPartners brought 1,800 nurses, technicians and other caregivers at its metro-area clinics to the...
Pioneer Press: Literary calendar: Week of Feb. 2
By Mary Ann Grossman | February 2, 2020 HARLEM RENAISSANCE: Literary Lights reading series celebrates Black History Month by honoring the Harlem Renaissance, with writers Hawona Sullivan-Janzen, Brenda Brown Bell, James Bernard Short, A. Rafael Johnson, Mary Moore...