2024 End of the Year Report

Publish Date

Negotiations Committee  

MAPE contract negotiators are now beginning work on the 2025-2027 contract. In late July, negotiators were joined by Contract Action Team Leads (LCAT) for a training on Negotiations and Power. The LCATs will be leading the field work and action in their respective regions throughout the campaign. Negotiators participated in several exercises including being able to juggle many balls and multiple priorities. 

Last month’s Negotiations Convention brought together negotiators and Meet and Confer Chairs for discussions on agency supplemental budgets and moving the contract process forward. Some of the issues being discussed in agency Meet and Confers include on-call wages and pay differentials, overtime parity, student loan reimbursement and other matters. Achieving a better work-life balance will be one of the focuses of this contract negotiations. What else should we focus on?  

“We talked a lot about how to plan and hold our listening sessions – so, be on the lookout for information about joining a listening session in your area! We really need members to participate because we want to hear your ideas…We will start building the language after we get your input at the listening sessions," said Negotiations Co-Chair Carolyn Murphy

Negotiators want to know what you’d like to see in the contract so make sure to participate in one of the sessions in your region!  

Legislative and Political Affairs Update 

MAPE’s Political Council helps define legislative priorities, educate members and encourage members to engage in the legislative/political process. Not only does the Council set legislative priorities, it also implements strategies to organize around those priorities, political education and election work. 

Since collective bargaining agreements no longer require approval from the legislature for ratification, MAPE was able to prioritize a variety of issues this year. Engaged members are one of MAPE’s “super powers,” and members took over the Capitol for another Lobby Day on March 19th. Members met with their elected officials about issues important to them and then attended a rally in the Rotunda. 

“I am proud to represent so many amazing MAPE members. Five-thousand bills come through the Minnesota Legislature and when you come and tell me why a bill is important, it matters. Together, we can make a better and brighter Minnesota for all people.”  - Rep. Athena Hollins 

“We include the public sector as part of our accomplishments. We know if you’re not doing your job, our state can’t function. Keep organizing, lifting your voices and bringing your stories to the Capitol.” - Senator Mary Kunesh  

MAPE advocated for funding for supporting bills that strengthen and protect employee rights in the workplace, increase pension benefits, and fully fund state agencies and the supplemental agency budget requests. 

MAPE members were very effective in highlighting personal stories when they testified before the Legislature this session about issues affecting their work.  

Adding job classifications to the Correctional Employee Retirement Plan (CERP) 

Unclassified and Temporary Unclassified positions  

PELRA 

  • MAPE and partners worked to refine and strengthen worker protections under the Public Employment Labor Relations Act (PELRA). Numerous improvements were enacted to collective bargaining rights and expanded topics under which exclusive representatives could file unfair labor practices, as well as adjustments to the Earned Sick and Safe Time law.  

Paid Family Medical Leave 

  • We were able to fight off substantive benefit clawbacks to Paid Family Medical Leave. Lee Sullivan and other members have testified before the Legislature in support of Paid Family Medical Leave.  

  • MAPE fought against a surprise proposal to close the Community Addiction Recovery Enterprise (CARE) facilities in Carlton and St. Peter and convert the St. Peter facility to act as additional forensic bed space. MAPE and AFSCME held pickets at the facilities, which were successful at Carlton, but not at the St. Peter facility. In the end, we were able to get some small concessions for a more just transition for employees at CARE St. Peter, including getting labor representation on the Priority Admissions Taskforce and the Direct Care and Treatment oversight board. 

Operating adjustments to the Department of Corrections 

  • Notwithstanding the pension proposals, MAPE’s priorities for the public safety and judiciary policy areas were financial only. MAPE supported the operating adjustments for DOC to cover the cost of salary settlements and overtime.  

  • MAPE also supported an unsuccessful bonding proposal to update several prisons, including fixing H/VAC at Stillwater and St. Cloud facilities and building a permanent structure for educational programming at the Rush City correctional facility. 

2025 Legislative Session 

  • There is an unprecedented level of uncertainty surrounding the 2025 legislative session due to the election, which will largely shape the feasibility of our agenda-making across the finish line. We will continue to fight for sustainable agency funding to ensure there are enough resources for meaningful cost-of-living adjustments, fair and safe working conditions and a secure retirement. 

Here is the complete 2024 Legislative Report.

Political Highlights 

Political Action Committee (PAC): Through canvassing efforts and screening candidates, we work to elect pro-labor candidates who will support state agencies and workers, and work to make the state a better place for all of its residents. Donate to the MAPE PAC to support our pro-labor endorsed candidates.

This November, every member in the Minnesota House of Representatives is up for election. In the Minnesota Senate, there is one special election. None of the state’s constitutional officers will be on the ballot until 2026. So far, PAC members have organized more than 200 door knocks to support pro-labor candidates in 2024. Find time to join one to help elect candidates who will fight for workers!  

Organizing and Membership 

In 2024, the Organizing Council (OC) focused on doing a few things well by narrowing its scope. It expanded its recruitment efforts, added training for stewards and helped coordinate issue campaigns. The year saw continuous progress in mobilizing members and addressing organizational challenges through new training methods and integration with other committees.  

The OC joined forces with the Employee Rights Committee to rejuvenate our steward trainings to better meet the needs of the new post-pandemic workplace. The  Organizing as a Steward Trainings (OST) have been very popular.  

  • The first training in May laid out how stewards can start to bridge the gap between enforcement and organizing. Stewards also learned how to plan and implement issue campaigns and direct actions in the workplace.   
  • OST’s second training last month kept the momentum up with “Building Your Dream Team,” focusing on assembling effective teams. 
  • The third OST will be held on Nov. 1 and concentrate on mobilization strategies.  

Members have been engaged in several grassroots organizing campaigns this year.  

Student Loan Reimbursements 

  • The OC took a proactive approach in 2024 by launching discussions with Meet and Confer Chairs at various agencies regarding student loan reimbursement. A coordinated campaign strategy is in development with communications staff, aiming to unify efforts across state service. 

32-hour Workweek 

  • What would you do with an extra eight hours each week? 

  • Several MAPE locals are researching the idea of a 32-hour workweek and recently held an Organizing Summit. In the last century, worker productivity has increased by 400%, yet we workers have seen few of those gains. Instead, we’re asked to do more at work than ever before. 

  • Hundreds of companies around the world have piloted the 80-100-100 model: 80% of the time, 100% salary, 100% productivity. The vast majority of these companies have realized that it works and made the change permanent. More U.S. companies and organizations are beginning pilots.  

Membership Drives 

Over the past year, the Organizing Council (OC) has spearheaded multiple statewide membership initiatives and experimented with new ways to support and encourage local leaders to take action and engage members. 

During a membership blitz in February, MAPE leaders for the first time used a combination of texting and the Microsoft Teams platform to reach out to non-members during a membership blitz and collected nearly 100 new union commitments. A second successful membership was held in July to highlight MAPE’s 4.5% COLA increase, negotiated by our Negotiations Team last year.  

The Membership Secretary Collective was rebooted in response to interest from officers at New Officer Training early in the year. The Membership Secretary Collective is considering another recruitment effort for later in the year. 

Looking Forward

  1. Plans for future trainings are already underway, with the OC looking to further refine its curriculum and continue expanding its reach. The November 1st mobilization training will set the stage for further member engagement and participation. 

  1. The OC aims to maintain momentum in recruitment and collaboration with committees like Meet and Confer, Negotiations and the Political Council. 

  1. The OC will spend 2025 coordinating with issue campaigns and will help develop and execute the large-scale recruitment and organizing effort to educate, train and recruit new MAPE members. 

A full Organizing Council report is available here.

Meet and Confer Chairs Committee 

Meet and Confer teams are working with employee teams at their agencies and the Organizing Council and their hard work is resulting in some big wins!  

  • The Student Loan Reimbursement campaigns are starting to take off throughout state government. So far, agencies reaching TA on student loan reimbursement include Pollution Control, Public Utilities Commission, Revenue, Transportation and Veterans Affairs. The Departments of Human Services and Labor and Industry are also close to finalizing plans.  

  • Recent Dept. of Revenue employee engagement surveys had highlighted a clear and compelling need for personalized career support. So, Revenue recently became the first agency to offer a suite of services to support the career development needs of its employees. Employees are able to schedule one-on-one personalized coaching sessions and access digital resources tailored to Revenue employees.     

  • More than 500 employees petitioned the Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR) and employees are now able to take advantage of vacation accrual credit language negotiated in MAPE’s 2023-2025 contract. DNR agreed to remove its five-year cap on vacation accrual credit and implement the contract language.  

Employee Rights Committee (ERC)   

This was the first year Regional Steward Directors worked with their Representational Teams to coordinate new steward retreats, Steward Retreats 2.0, in their regions. More than 200 stewards in 18 regions have participated in their regional retreats so far, with three more regions working to coordinate their retreats. Steward Retreat 2.0 was designed to better meet the needs of the new post-pandemic workplace.  

The Employee Rights Committee (ERC) also worked with the Organizing Council on Organizing as a Steward Trainings.

“The goal was to start utilizing the power that our stewards have. They are the face of MAPE for a lot of our members and people know them as leaders. They are engaged in doing the organizing work already through their knowledge of the contract language, this was another way to utilize our stewards in a different way.”  - MAPE Vice President Angie Halseth 

The third Organizing as a Steward Training will be held Friday, Nov. 1. All stewards are invited to attend.  

Coalition Building Workgroup 

Members of MAPE’s Coalition Building Workgroup have been supportive of striking park employees, workers at Kim’s Restaurant in uptown Minneapolis and showed solidarity with the St. Paul Federation of Educators at a rally in support of a strong contract this year. Workgroup members consider opportunities to show solidarity with labor and community partners. Members also make decisions about which worker campaigns to support with endorsements and financial contributions.   “We may not have the same contract but we have the same fight,” Workgroup member and Region 1 Director Claudia Hochstein said.    

MSOP Workplace Safety Organizing Team 

Members at the Minnesota Sex Offenders Program (MSOP) in Moose Lake have formed a workplace safety organizing team. A dozen members were joined by nearly 20 other union members to address serious staffing and safety issues at the Minnesota Sex Offenders Program (MSOP) in Moose Lake during an informational picket in Duluth in June.  

MSOP security staff is down to about 65 percent of desired levels and therapy staff is down to 55-60 percent of desired levels. Several times recently the facility operated with eight fewer people than is typically considered a minimum safety level of acceptable staffing.  

MAPE members continue to try to work with management on safety and staff retention and recruitment plans.   

Union Operations

The Operations team has been under water this year, literally and figuratively. MAPE Central suffered a water leak that left many building spaces inhabitable. The Operations team did an impressive job overseeing multiple crews involved in the cleanup of massive water damage. 

Despite this building chaos, the Operations team still was able to oversee multiple crews involved in the cleanup of massive water damage to the MAPE central building, they were also able to manage the reconfiguration of the first-floor office space to useable office and meeting room space.  

The Operations team administered the union’s fall and special elections, updated and streamlined processes for administration along with providing support for countless meetings and trainings, both virtual and onsite, including officer trainings, membership activities, Lobby Day, Delegate Assembly and the Colleague Support Network. In addition, the team managed hundreds of orders for member merchandise. Team members also conducted multiple technical trainings for staff on Microsoft tools and updated MAPE’s phone system to Zoom phone.  

Human Resources 

There are several staffing changes since the last Delegate Assembly. MAPE Statewide Secretary Kristin Kirchoff-Franklin is now working for members fulltime as MAPE’s new Field Director. Suzanne Al-Kayali was promoted to Director of Operations, and Paige Hietpas and Lis Springer have joined the team as Operations Specialists. 

Big Plans for 2025 

Restructure 

MAPE now represents 18,000 employees. We are exploring a shift in our structure to better align with remote work trends and member needs. We are embarking on an exciting restructuring journey, aimed at better aligning with the evolving needs of our workforce and the changing nature of our workplaces. Organizing is more important than ever and it has become more challenging since many workers are now teleworking and not in the office full-time.   

As we grow, it’s important to look at our processes. What can we do to make MAPE stronger and more nimble? We’ve spent the past six months talking with members across the state, finding out what’s working and what needs to work better. Our goal is to energize and optimize this union – and we can’t wait to get started! 

Biggest Organizing Campaign Yet 

While the number of workers we represent,18,000, is increasing, engagement is slipping as we lose longtime members faster than we can bring in new ones. Our new $1 million organizing campaign is about investing in ourselves and building a union that inspires new members to join and engage. Bringing in 1,200 new members will increase membership to 70%, grow MAPE’s power, financial stability and strength at the bargaining table. It will also pay for itself.  

We will empower members to grow within the labor movement through organizing, training and community building while creating a strong leadership pipeline for long-term success. Our current technology is outdated, hindering our ability to organize effectively. We need to modernize our systems to create a flexible and dynamic infrastructure that supports member goals. Improvements will include tools for communication, organizing and event management. 

Beyond recruitment, we must ensure members feel supported and valued throughout their journey with MAPE. This includes providing opportunities for growth, leadership, and meaningful contributions. Through these infrastructure investments, we will strengthen our membership by putting rank-and-file engagement at the heart of our union.  

Colleague Support Network 

In January, MAPE will launch a new pilot program for Department of Corrections (DOC) employees called the Colleague Support Network (CSN). The program is designed for employees working in correctional facilities, often in very demanding, stressful and dangerous positions. Peer support is a core value of our union and combatting and addressing how trauma affects staff and supporting them through trauma-informed care is the basis for this program. Training will begin in a few weeks for program leads at facilities in Stillwater, Oak Park, Shakopee and Lino Lakes.  

Local Events

Local hosted a variety of events in 2024 including parades, picnics and the State Fair. The largest event was the St. Paul Saints game with 1,500 tickets reserved for MAPE members and their families. Nine Locals coordinated this event including 201, 401, 501, 701, 801, 901, 902, 1001 and 2101. The goal is for it to be an even bigger event next year!

Let us know what is happening in your Local so we can feature it in the newsletter. Send news ideas to Ashley Erickson. You can submit pictures and videos via our DropBox.