Messages to mobilize working-class voters and other labor news • Minnesota Reformer

Sit in on the Break Room, where we round up weekly workers’ news from Minnesota and beyond. This week: Workers vote for the economy; Minnesotans can leave work to vote early; Trump’s visit to McDonald’s sheds light on minimum wage debate; A Missouri elementary school was named after its parent; and Boeing workers rejected the second tentative agreement.

Workers vote for the economy

As they knock on doors and urge their members to rally workers to the polls, union leaders in Minnesota are relying on pro-worker policies passed by Democrats who have controlled state government for the past two years.

“The trio gave us a lot of things to talk about,” said Hannah Alstead, political director for Teamsters Joint Council 32, which represents more than 85,000 workers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas.

He listed a list of new state laws, including unemployment insurance for hourly school employees; the Warehouse Worker Safety Act, which aims to protect workers at Amazon and similar warehouses; Refinery Safety Act; banning so-called captive audience meetings in which management forces workers to listen to anti-union speeches; patient and safe gained time; and paid family medical leave.

The Teamsters are focusing their efforts on competitive state House races, supporting Twin Cities suburban Democrats like Zack Stephenson, Brian Rains, Jen Fox and Lucia Wrobleski.

But they also let their members know they approve of the Harris-Walz ticket. Teamsters International has refused to endorse a presidential candidate and released a poll showing a majority among its members support Trump. But that announcement was followed by many Teamster locals and joint councils throwing their weight behind Harris.

Alstead said they are reminding members of Gov. Tim Walz’s record supporting unions and President Joe Biden’s signing of the bill preventing pension cuts for nearly 350,000 Teamsters.

SEIU Minnesota State Council Executive Director Brian Elliott said they are on track to have 300 staff and members knocking on doors or working phones in Minnesota and Wisconsin. They’re talking about preserving the gains they’ve made with the Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board, which would raise wages and paid sick leave for all nursing home workers.

“I get more questions from our organizers about earned sickness and safe time than anything else,” Elliott said.

Polls suggest that these economic messages resonated best with voters, perhaps even popular enough for a year. Former union leader and independent populist will win A U.S. Senate seat in ruby-red Nebraska.

Working Class Politics and the Jacobin Center published results A recent poll of Pennsylvania voters found that Vice President Kamala Harris’ most popular hypothetical message talked about lowering prices, opposing corporate interests and taxing billionaires.

While the populist economic message outperformed messages about immigration and abortion, the least popular message focused on Trump being a convicted criminal and a threat to democracy. This line of attack stands out clearly in Harris’ campaign — and, for obvious reasons, two four-star generals serving in the Trump administration (john kelly And Mark Milley) calls the former president a “fascist.”

Grain of salt: The ideological group’s poll concludes that the ideological group’s message is the best, but that poll’s findings — based on a survey of 1,000 eligible voters in Pennsylvania — are consistent with numerous other voter surveys that show the economy is the biggest concern for voters. Gallup poll finds democracy top issue for democrats.

Dustin Guastella, a research associate at the Working Class Policy Center and operations director of Teamsters Local 623, wrote: Guard Harris said she was concerned that her campaign was wasting the final days of the election by focusing on Trump rather than a message that would resonate more strongly with voters.

“Every ad or conversation about the Trump threat means one less opportunity for Harris to focus on popular economic policies,” Guastella wrote.

Minnesota workers can take time off work to vote early

minnesota workers have the right to leave work Voting on Election Day on November 5, or voting early due to changes in the law in 2023. While workers can only vote for as long as they need, employers are not allowed to deduct a worker’s wages, personal leave or vacation for this period.

According to the Secretary of State, employers cannot deny or interfere with a worker’s rights, including where they choose to vote.

Minnesota has among the nation’s most pro-voter laws; allows early voting, same-day registration, no-excuse absentee voting and helps increase voter turnout in the state highest in the country Approximately 80% of eligible voters will vote in 2020.

Trump’s visit to McDonald’s draws attention to low minimum wage

Former President Donald Trump spent nearly 15 minutes wearing an apron and serving fries at a suburban Philadelphia McDonald’s over the weekend in an attempt to burnish his image with working-class voters (and sell more products).

A reporter later asked Trump: supported increasing the minimum wageIt’s been stuck at $7.25 an hour at the federal level and in Pennsylvania for 15 years. He objected: “I’m thinking about that too. These people work hard. They are wonderful. And I just saw something… a beautiful process.”

To critics, this was classic Trump: working-class perspective, plutocrat policies.

This led Vice President Kamala Harris to conclude: come out for supportRaising the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.

During the campaign, Harris frequently emphasized her middle-class roots and talked about the following issues: Experience working at McDonald’s at universityAccording to the fast food giant, 1 in 8 Americans will work at some point.

A majority of Americans say they support raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, Pew Research finds survey in 2021 — Before inflation became a central issue in national policy and before minimum wage-related ballot measures were consistently adopted, including red states.

The primary school was named after Veli

CBS News He told a heart-warming story About an elementary school in Swedeborg, Missouri, named after the school’s superintendent, Claudene Wilson.

For the past 30 years, Wilson has mopped elementary school floors but also rode the school bus, supervised lunch, mowed lawns and changed light bulbs. Doing all this frequently led to him working 12 hours a day, and he said it was worth it for the kids.

“Children, children are in your hearts,” he said.

Students say he was a much-loved presence and a role model.

“That’s what everyone wants to be, you know,” student Alex Lein said. “This is what I want to be.”

Boeing workers reject contract offer and extend strike

Unionized Boeing workers, who have been on strike for nearly six weeks, rejected a second interim deal on Wednesday that would see wages rise more than 35% over four years but did not include the restoration of a defined benefit pension plan that was frozen a decade ago.

“How do they expect someone to stay at the company unless they have some sort of retirement plan or better investments?” Boeing worker Darryl Shore told New York Times.

The International Union of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents about 33,000 striking Boeing workers, said 64 percent of voters rejected the offer, sending the two sides back to the bargaining table.

Bloomberg reported The strike forced Boeing to suspend work on its most popular jet, the 737, as well as the larger 767 and 777, further straining the airline as it tries to recover from a door-blow-off debacle earlier this year. Hours before the union vote, the company reported a $6 billion loss and announced earlier this month that it would have to cut its workforce by about 10%.

The stalemate has also affected the Biden administration. Labor Secretary Julie Su traveled to Seattle last week to meet with union and Boeing leaders.