Northwoods Socialist Collective

  For the past couple of weeks IBEW Local 242 has been picketing the Kwik Trip on U.S. Hwy 2 in Superior (across from the McDonald's). The picket wasn't against Kwik Trip, but against Jolma, a contractor that Kwik Trip had hired. Jolma is a union contractor, but they subcontracted the electrical work of the project to a non-union sub-contractor. Fortunately the matter was resolved this Friday and the picket is over. We salute IBEW Local 242 for taking a stand, and congrats on the win!

After a 12 hour negotiation session with a mediator, the AFSCME Local 66 negotiating committee and the City of Duluth have reached a tentative agreement.  This eleventh hour agreement came just before the city workers were about to go on strike.  The tentative agreement will now be voted on by the membership of the union.

We hope this message finds you well and in good spirits. As a fellow advocate for workers’ rights, we are reaching out to seek your solidarity and support during a critical time for the members of AFSCME Local 66 . Our union represents almost 500 City of Duluth employees. Our work is critical to the functioning of Duluth. We provide safe drinking water; maintain the sewer system and the lift bridge; fix water main breaks, gas leaks, and furnaces; run the libraries; maintain parks; and so much more. We are core services. After extensive deliberation and good-faith contract negotiations, our members have made the difficult decision to take collective action to address long standing issues that remain unresolved.

The workers at Woodland Starbucks in Duluth went on strike today. It was part of a rolling series of strikes that Starbucks Workers United has been doing across the country. The strikes have been triggered by the company dragging its feet in contract negotiations and refusing to offer a decent wage increase. Over 300 stores across the country were on strike this Christmas Eve, which is one of the busiest days of the year for the company.  It's believed that the strike in Duluth though was the coldest one of them all!   We commend the brave workers at the Woodland Starbucks for taking a stand.  We support you 100%.  We have photos and videos of the picket posted on our facebook , instagram and tiktok pages. Stay tuned for  future actions that you can plug into to support these workers in their fight for a fair contract!

On December 10, city workers in Duluth voted to authorize a strike.   This vote comes after months of frustrating negotiations with the City.   Despite the fact that the City found money recently to give significant raises to the police, and City Councilors, it has been dragging its feet in offering a fair wage to city workers represented by AFSCME Local 66.   Also at issue is the overwhelming workloads that many workers are having to endure, creating serious risk of burnout.

The strike at the Essentia Health Clinic in Deer River has begun!  Despite snow and cold temperatures the pickets went up first thing this morning.   The workers are represented by the Service Employees International Union.  They have been engaged in a tough contract fight with Essentia for several weeks, and had gone out on a five day strike back in early November.  This unfair labor practices (ULP) strike however is an open ended one.