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• Nearly 20 years later, the Hormel strike lives on
  Almost 20 years after a strike at the Hormel meatpacking plant divided the town of Austin, Minnesota, some parts of the community are still angry. On a hot August day in 1985, more than 1,000 workers filed out of the Hormel plant. Members of Local P-9 were protesting shrinking wages and plant safety problems. Some people involved remember that time like it was yesterday.January 29, 2004
• The State of the Unions
  Unions in the United States are working hard to make up ground they lost in the changing realities of the modern work world. At one time, half of American workers were in a union. Now the number is just one in eight. Minnesota Public Radio's Mainstreet Radio team examines "the State of the Unions," in this series looking at how unions have changed their organizing strategies.January 27, 2004
• Getting old isn't what it used to be
  The older population is on the rise state and nationwide. One of the fastest growing demographics in Minnesota consists of people age 65 and up. Those seniors occupy an increasingly large chunk of the workforce.January 26, 2004
• State of the Unions
  Unions in the United States are working hard to make up ground they lost in the changing realities of the modern work world. At one time, half of American workers were in a union. Now the number is just one in eight. Minnesota Public Radio's Mainstreet Radio team examines "the State of the Unions," in this series of stories looking at how unions have changed their organizing strategies.January 26, 2004
• Some good signs amid a rough 2003 for Northwest
  2003 was a year of major changes for Northwest Airlines. Some were forced upon the carrier, including a distant war and a respiratory disease that led many travelers to stay home. Others were part of a conscious effort to adapt to a changed industry, and many analysts say Northwest is now stronger than many of its competitors. Nonetheless, executives are still calling for the one change they say will make all the difference: wage cuts for employees.January 23, 2004
• Wal-Mart opponents long on ideas, short on leverage
  Minneapolis and St. Paul have many amenities, but neither city has a Wal-Mart. That will probably change this spring, when a Wal-Mart opens in the Midway area of St. Paul. The opening faces few, if any, obstacles, but community activists are marshalling their forces nonetheless. They say if they can't make Wal-Mart go away, they want to at least make it a better neighbor.January 23, 2004
• With strike averted, life goes on at Mesaba
  Mesaba Airlines is back in business. The airline and its pilots narrowly averted the first strike at a U.S. air carrier since 2001. A final marathon negotiating session this weekend yielded a pilot's contract both sides say they're happy with. Travelers and leaders in greater Minnesota are breathing a sigh of relief that air service from Mesaba will continue. Nonetheless, the industry realities that brought the dispute to a head remain.January 12, 2004
• Last regional airline strike made for "economic warfare," but its outcome encourages Mesaba pilots
  Late Friday night, pilots for Eagan-based Mesaba Airlines could walk off the job. The strike would ground 600 daily connecting flights for Northwest Airlines. The last airline strike in the U.S. was also at a so-called "regional carrier." In 2001, 1,350 pilots stopped flying for Comair, in a three-month strike that cost Delta Airlines hundreds of millions of dollars.January 9, 2004
• Mesaba pilots pay dispute reflects turmoil in the industry
  Mesaba Airlines and its pilots union face a strike deadline Friday at 11:01 p.m. A walkout would ground about 600 daily flights Mesaba operates for Northwest Airlines. Negotiations continue over issues including wages, work rules, and job security. The dispute reflects the upheaval in the airline industry since 2001.January 9, 2004
• How much would a pilot strike hurt Minnesota towns?
  Small towns are bracing for a Mesaba Airlines pilot's strike. For many Minnesota communities, Mesaba provides the only commercial link to the nation's air transportation system. Without the airline, passengers face a long drive to a larger airport. Small airports and businesses stand to lose money every day the carrier is grounded.January 8, 2004
• Bush: Illegal immigrants should be able to work in U.S.
  President Bush says the U.S. should allow illegal immigrants to work legally in the U.S. if they can prove they have a job. Critics from opposite ends of the spectrum disagree with the Bush plan. They say it doesn't go far enough, or that it rewards illegal immigration.January 8, 2004
• LTV's workforce is back at work
  Northeast Minnesotans feared a mass exodus when LTV Steel closed its Hoyt Lakes iron mine and taconite plant. But that hasn't happened. Most of the former workers are back on the payroll, and still in ortheast Minnesota.January 6, 2004
• Tech downturn means big job losses in Rochester
  The manufacturing boom of the 1990s brought thousands of high-paying jobs to communities around the state. But since the recession began in 2001, many of those jobs have disappeared. The technology sector has been one of the hardest hit. Rochester, home to a massive IBM plant and more than four dozen technology companies, lost one-fifth of its manufacturing jobs.December 9, 2003
• Minnesota's employment picture is improving
  Minnesota's economy added 8,500 jobs in October -- the biggest gain since February, 2000. The state's jobless rate held steady at 4.6 percent, as layoffs continue at a high rate, and as more people enter the workforce to begin a job search. Even so, state officials calls the job gains impressive.November 18, 2003
• Steel ruling creates political dilemma for Bush
  The Bush administration faces reprisals from European Union countries and China if it maintains steel tariffs in face of the World Trade Organization ruling that they're illegal. Is the U.S. facing a trade war or an opportunity to correct bad policy?November 12, 2003

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