CTUL is a worker-led organization where workers organize, educate and empower each other to fight for a voice in their workplaces and in their communities. They partner with other organizations and leaders to build a movement to win racial, gender and economic justice. They identify the root causes of injustice and work to shift the balance of power between those who have it and those who don’t to improve the lives of our communities for present and future generations.

Over the past 15 years, CTUL has forged a new path for worker leadership development in the Twin Cities, opening new spaces where low-wage workers of color have a voice in their workplaces and in their communities. CTUL seeks to strengthen its work building a multi-racial organization. CTUL has a vision of organizing the most marginalized workers in our economy to directly confront the elite corporations and 1% that control our economy, make demands, and win concrete and structural changes for communities across the metro area. Through worker-led campaigns with CTUL, workers have:

• Worked in coalition to win increased wages and benefits for hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers through the $15 minimum wage in Minneapolis, and Earned Sick & Safe Time in Minneapolis and St. Paul;
• Transformed the retail janitorial industry, making the Twin Cities the first metro area where the industry is unionized;
• Recovered over $2 million in unpaid wages and damages in cases of wage theft; and
• Won long-term changes in their workplace that bring over $7 million in additional income per year into the poorest communities in the metro area.