MN Newspaper Guild: CTUL Staff Ratify First Contract

Nearly two years after winning union recognition, the frontline staff at Minneapolis-based worker center CTUL have ratified a first contract as members of the Minnesota Newspaper and Communications Guild/CWA Local 37002.

CTUL — Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en la Lucha (the Center for Workers United in Struggle) — organizes among low wage workers to win better working conditions.

CTUL staff decided to unionize to have a greater voice in the organization, attain better work-life balance, and ensure better working conditions.

The 28-month contract will bring 6 percent wage increases over the course of the contract and revises the salary system to a flat-rate for bargaining unit employees. 

CTUL strategic campaigner Kali Suchy, a member of the union negotiations team over the last nine months, was especially proud of the time off they won.

CTUL’s first contract will include unlimited sick time, which Suchy said was “important to come out of people’s experiences with COVID… having that in a contract is really big.”

The bargaining unit includes 13 members.