Overcoming a four-year struggle to gain union representation, Missouri home health care workers celebrated a victory this week when the state’s Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal to a lower court decision upholding a 2010 election in which the workers voted to form a union.

Since Aug. 1, 2011, 1,300 American Crystal Sugar Co. workers have been locked out of their jobs in five sugar beet processing plants in Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa. The locked-out workers are members of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM). More than 20 children and grandchildren of the locked-out workers gathered in East Grand Forks, Minn., to write letters to American Crystal Sugar CEO Dave Berg and the board about how the lockout is affecting them, their families and community. 

Watch the YouTube video in the post: "AFL-CIO: Children Speak Out Against the American Crystal Sugar Company Lockout (BCTGM)."

Sign the petition to end the lockout: aflcio.org/endthelockout.

When Susan dePasquale, a former AFSCME member in Cleveland, heard that 1,300 workers at American Crystal Sugar had been locked out from their jobs for more than a year, she immediately volunteered her support.

I was just very moved by what I heard…I wanted to do something. Instead of sending well wishes, I thought I’d write a check.

Help locked-out American Crystal workers. Please donate to the BCTGM Lockout Action Fund, care of  the Minnesota AFL-CIO, 175 Aurora Ave., St. Paul, MN 55103.

The decision by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) yesterday that upheld last December's decision by an administrative law judge (ALJ) that the Mine Workers (UMWA) fairly won the representation election at Big Ridge Inc.'s Willow Lake coal mine in Harrisburg, Ill., is a tremendous victory for miners, says UMWA President Cecil Roberts.

This is a cross-post from Crystal Greed, the blog for workers locked out of their jobs at American Crystal Sugar plants in Iowa, North Dakota and Minnesota.

Beet growers who own Crystal Sugar—the cooperative that’s been locking 1,300 workers out of their jobs for the past 13 months—haven’t had to walk through a picket line on their way to work each day.

Until now.

In a major win for nurses, patients and three Texas communities, registered nurses (RNs) in El Paso, Corpus Christi and Brownsville gave final approval to contracts yesterday in first-ever collective bargaining agreements, reports National Nurses United (NNU). 

True Value should take back the 2011 Supplier of the Year Award it gave North American Salt, says United Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard, because North American operates a salt mine in Louisiana that has received safety and health citations for serious violations and been shut down temporarily by the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA). Some 100 workers at the company’s Cote Blanche mine in Louisiana are USW members.

Michael Frank headed over to a rally in East Grand Forks, Minn., last night, one of many he’s taken part in over the past year. Frank, along with 1,300 other workers, was locked out of the American Crystal Sugar factory a year ago, and last night’s event was part of the workers’ ongoing efforts to urge the sugar beet processing company return to the bargaining table.

“They don’t want to sit down with us,” said Frank, a 33-year veteran with with company and currently day warehouse foreman. “We didn’t do anything to deserve this.”

Machinists (IAM) District 8 in Joliet, Ill., and Caterpillar Inc. reached a tentative contract agreement late Tuesday and members are now voting on whether to ratify it. Workers have been on strike against the heavy equipment maker since May 1.

The proposed six-year contract contains many improvements over previous offers, said District 8 Business Representative Steve Jones.

Kudos to Florida nurses, members of the National Nurses United (NNU), on a fantastic new contract!

This out this morning from PR Wire:

Registered nurses at 10 Florida hospitals that are a part of the nation's largest for-profit hospital chain, Nashville-based HCA, have achieved their first collective bargaining contract with important improvements in patient care protections and enhanced professional and economic standards. Together, these provisions will help keep experienced RNs on staff at the bedside, National Nurses United (NNU) announced today. NNU is the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the U.S., with 170,000 members.