Howdy friends!

It’s been a while since Up With the Workers has been in your inbox. What a year 2024 was! If you’re a newer subscriber—welcome! This newsletter is from Workday Magazine, a publication of the Labor Education Service. We’re based in Minnesota and we cover labor news in Minnesota and Midwest states, along with national and international issues that affect workers, like climate change and U.S. militarism.

If you’ve been a subscriber, thank you! We’ve learned a lot about worker power and the labor movement this year. Right now, as workers have been taking collective action against some of the most powerful corporations during the holiday season and ahead of an incoming federal administration set on being hostile to workers and worker protections, we expect a lot of changes ahead. Please let us know what you want to see from us in 2025! But for now, some expression of gratitude for the work we were able to do in 2024.

Before we recap, here’s some information about an upcoming class on January 15 from 3-4:30pm with Workday Magazine editor Sarah Lazare and SEIU Local 26.

Subcontracted workers are some of the most highly exploited workers in our society, a reality that is enabled by a matrix of laws and structures that keep them isolated and vulnerable. We will look at secretive—and widespread—contractual provisions that are frequently used to keep these workers down, and we’ll examine how workers are fighting back.

This class might interest you if:

• You're a temp or contracted worker, or you organize alongside such workers.

• You're a union researcher who wants to learn more about contracts in childcare, building management, and temp agency fields.

• You're a member of a union that is trying to organize contracted workers.

This class is online. You can register here, and there is also a free option.

Thank you for another year of covering worker stories.

It is a privilege and an honor to be covering workers and their stories and struggles. Check out some of the stories we found most impactful from 2024.

Over the summer, Isa and Amie worked on the Greater Minnesota Worker Listening Project, a profile series on union and non-union workers in Greater Minnesota and other rural communities. We profiled seven workers and organizers that live and work outside of the Twin Cities Metro area.

Other notables from Amie include Minnesota’s labor