Duluth, MN – On Friday, July 19, striking workers were on the picket line at Essentia Health, Duluth Clinic 2nd Street. Friday marked the 11th day of an open-ended strike by around 700 Registered Nurses and Advanced Practice Providers (APP) who formed a union in 2024.
The workers are demanding that management sit down with them and negotiate their first union contract, more than a year after they won their union election and formed a union. In February of 2024 the RNs at Essentia Clinics voted to join the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) and soon after, in July 2024, the Advanced Practice Providers also joined MNA.
St. Paul, MN – Hundreds attended a press conference on Monday, July 14 organized by the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) to demand ICE stop kidnapping people after immigration hearings in the federal courthouse.
The press conference was called in response to what MIRAC members witnessed a few days before while they accompanied a community member to immigration court. While there, they watched as Judge Brian Sardelli dismissed all cases. Judge Sardelli has a denial rate of 78.4% reported in 2024 compared to the national average of 57.7%.
St. Paul, MN – Local residents including members of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), Veterans for Peace and the MN Anti-War Committee (AWC) protested at the Saint Paul Board of Water Commissioners meeting on July 15 with signs reading, “Saint Paul cut the contract, free Palestine!” to pressure the board to not renew Waterfall Security Solutions contract this fall.
Minneapolis, MN – On July 11, University of Minnesota Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) gathered at Northrop Hall to disrupt a “revival show” that was being held by Five-Fold (5F) Church Apostle Kathryn Krick.
Minneapolis, MN – On June 28 Taking Back Pride (TBP) took to the streets ahead of the Twin Cities Pride (TC Pride) parade. The activists were demanding TC Pride cut ties with cops and with the corporations that profit from climate change, racism and the genocide in Palestine, and instead use its huge platform to stand against the massive wave of legal and physical attacks upon LGBTQ people, especially trans people.
TBP says TC Pride ignores the radical legacy of Pride and needs to continue fighting for LGBTQ liberation. Protesters want more than a rainbow State Fair that mainly appeals to corporate sponsors and conservative elements.
Minneapolis, MN – On Tuesday, July 8 around 300 registered nurses working at clinics for Essentia Health In Northern Minnesota began an open-ended strike. The nurses are represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) and have filed unfair labor practice charges against their boss Essentia Health. Management is refusing to bargain in good faith with the unionized workers.
Stillwater, MN – More than 80 healthcare workers at HealthPartners Stillwater clinics have been on strike since Tuesday, July 8. The workers are represented by the Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa local of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).
Heather Eggers is a medical assistant in family medicine with HealthPartners Stillwater. Eggers said, “We’re out here because there have been seven bargaining sessions, and the employer has come back with less than adequate compensation. We’re fighting for our wages over the next three years to be 5.75%, 5% and 4% and for better teaming benefits, floating benefits and other things that would help us do our jobs better.”
Minneapolis, MN – On July 3, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters published an alert laying out a plan by the United Parcel Service (UPS) to offer buyouts for UPS drivers to retire early in exchange for cash payouts. When the Teamsters sent out the alert, UPS had not yet announced the plan publicly. Then on July 4, the company announced the plan which they are calling the Driver Voluntary Severance Program (DVSP). For many drivers, taking the buyout would forfeit benefits they have accrued as part of their contract.
Minneapolis – Local 638 Teamsters tabled at the northeast Minneapolis UPS hub on Thursday, July 3. They distributed flyers on heat safety and union contract enforcement.
Minneapolis, MN – On June 26, the Anti-War Action Network (AWAN), a national network of anti-war and anti-imperialist grassroots organizations, hosted its first ever Pride webinar, tackling the important subject of pinkwashing.
Minneapolis, MN – On a rainy Monday evening, June 30, hundreds of Minnesotans lined Lake Street with signs and chants to protest the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to give sweeping power to Trump, which could ultimately allow him to end birthright citizenship.
The decision came on Friday June 27. Legal experts say ending birthright citizenship, a right enshrined by the 14th Amendment since 1868, is a direct attack on the Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court sidestepped directly ruling on President Trump’s racist order, for now.
Minneapolis, MN – Immigrant rights protesters gathered at Lake Street and Bloomington Avenue in Minneapolis June 27. This action was part of a National Day of Action called by the Legalization for All Network and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression.
Minneapolis, MN – On June 28, the Free Palestine Coalition and Minnesota Peace Action Coalition held a rally and march of over 200 people to oppose U.S. intervention in Iran and U.S. aid to Israel. The protest started in Powderhorn Park in south Minneapolis after the Minneapolis People’s Pride festival ended.
Minneapolis, MN On Monday June 26, more than 15,000 registered nurses at hospitals across the Twin Cities metropolitan area and Duluth, who are represented by the Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) voted to authorize a strike.
Edina, MN – On Monday, June 23, a crowd of Minnesotans gathered to join the People’s Action Coalition Against Trump (PACAT) for a press conference and rally against right-wing violence, held in front of the Republican Party of Minnesota Office located in Edina.
In light of the targeted assassination of State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman, and the attempted murder of Senator John Hoffman and wife, Yvette Hoffman, PACAT organized the press conference and rally to condemn the rise in violent right-wing extremism, fanned by the reactionary agenda of the Republican Party and President Donald Trump.
Minneapolis, MN – The $130,000 raised has dealt a real blow to the mortgage, so we are that much closer to paying off the Lucy Parsons Center building. Unlike the empty promises of the Trump administration, we don’t write checks that can’t be cashed. When we say something, we mean it, and we back it up with action. We said we were going to raise $100,000, so we did that and then some!
Minneapolis, MN – On June 13, over 100 protesters rallied outside the Democratic Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) annual Humphrey-Mondale fundraising dinner. Despite hours of rain, picketers chanted outside the Minneapolis Hilton hotel, demanding that DFL leaders use their power to divest Minnesota funds from apartheid Israel after almost two years of U.S.– funded genocide of Palestinians. The action was organized by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC).
Twin Cities, MN – In the early morning hours of June 14, an individual came to the door of State Senator John Hoffman in Champlin, reportedly impersonating a police officer. He shot at Hoffman and his wife, who shielded their child from the gunfire.
Then the gunman, who has been identified as Reverend Vance Boelter, went to the Brooklyn Park home of State Representative Melissa Hortman, where he shot and killed Representative Hortman and her husband.
Reportedly, police arrived at the scene and Boelter fled on foot. He reportedly left behind his vehicle, which appeared similar to an SUV squad car. In his car, authorities report they found a list of other targets, also elected officials. Hortman is a leader of the state DFL party, and Hoffman is also a Democrat.
Reverend Boelter is a Zionist with a background in private security.
St. Paul, MN – On June 11, the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), and the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC) held a joint rally at the Lake Street/Marshall Bridge over the Mississippi River to demand an end to Trump’s war on immigrants, and the militarized attacks on Los Angeles residents by local and federal law enforcement.
Minneapolis, MN – On Monday, June 9, hundreds of members, officers and supporters from unions across Minnesota came together for a rally at the Minnesota State Capitol demanding the immediate release of SEIU United Service Workers West (SEIU USSW) President David Huerta.
SEIU USSW represents around 45,000 members, including people who work as janitors, security, airport workers and in other property services jobs, which are jobs performed primarily by immigrants. SEIU represents around 2.1 million workers across the U.S., in property services, healthcare, public sector and Starbucks coffeeshops.
