MAPE and AFSCME kick off negotiations partnership with joint town hall

“MAPE is proud to be co-hosting this joint town hall with our AFSCME siblings. AFSCME and MAPE decided to bargain hand-in-hand this past negotiations cycle and we've banded together again for work on our upcoming contract,” MAPE Statewide President Angie Halseth said. “We started working on the 2027-2029 contract earlier than past years because we want MMB and other to see the power of solidarity early on.” 

Halseth and AFSCME Council 5 Executive Director Bart Andersen cautioned members about entering another challenging budget cycle on both national and state fronts,  

“This administration was causing chaos in our state long before Metro Surge, we all remember the state worker layoffs – or threats of layoffs – last year. And the administration repealed the collective bargaining rights and terminated the contracts of nearly one million federal workers.”   

The Big Beautiful Bill passed by Congress last year, cut hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid and food programs for those needing them most and instead put the money in the pockets of those who needed it least: billionaires and millionaires.   

The union leaders pointed out our current contract expires June of 2027 and they expect management to try to hike health care premiums and deductibles, cut wages and freeze steps, threaten layoffs and enhance layoff language, gut seniority language and pit our unions against each other.  

The shared health care policy is a huge uniting issue in our contract. “I rely on health insurance to survive and to live a life of dignity. Thousands of state workers and our families rely on the health care coverage that union workers fought for over decades, That insurance was not simply handed to us out of generosity, rather, workers organized for it, we sacrificed for it and we all stood together and fought for it over many decades,” ADACME member Jess Shimek said.  

Last year, MMB tried to shift $4,500 annually in health care costs onto members. There were more hospital and clinic closures. But together, our unions fought back the most aggressive health care cost increases in recent memory. State employees expect more of the same this contract cycle. “But the good news is we’re not going to let that happen. We are not powerless. We are union members and are state workers with collective bargaining rights. There is real power in being part of a collective force,” Shimek added. 

MAPE Negotiations Committee Co-Chair Sean McIntyre admitted our contract agreement wasn’t perfect. “But it was progress. It was protection. And it’s proof that when members organize, we win.” 

AFSCME Local 4001 President and President of AFSCME’s State Employee Policy Committee Joel Hoffman said contract fights are not won only at the bargaining table. “They are won in our workplaces. They are won through our organizing. They are won through solidarity. And they are won when workers are educated, mobilized and united together.” 

“We are continuing to strengthen relationships and solidarity between unions because we know when workers move together, we are stronger together and the employer will not divide us by union. They won’t separate us. Let’s be clear: no one is coming to save us except our own union families working together,” Hoffman said. 

In addition to the town hall, there are a series of joint activities already planned: worksite visits, joint communications and messaging, negotiations will emphasize constant collaboration throughout the bargaining cycle, insurance coalition and bringing other unions to show solidarity and highlight our power.  

Regional negotiators may be the ones at the table during contract negotiations; however, Contract Action Teams, or CATs, play an equally important role in sharing information and encouraging active and direct participation in actions and events. MAPE began developing its CATs in 2021 and AFSCME formed its first one last year.  

According to Brent Mason, a MAPE CAT leader and steward in the Department of Natural Resources office in Bemidji, “Showing solidarity is important and plans are already underway to build out our joint union partnership. All workers will be given information about strike readiness, negotiations and what to expect. Members will be updated on what’s coming in bargaining and health care based on what is happening at the legislature, federal level and economy.” 

Gabe Perkins, MAPE Meet and Confer Chair for the Dept. of Transportation, emphasized “We will only win if we stand together, Even in the face of a challenging negotiation cycle, we are committed to keeping what we have and advancing where we can. We, of course, are going to negotiate in good faith and our hope is we can come to a fair agreement. However, we might need to withhold our labor to protect what we currently have in our contract or to fight for what we have earned and deserve.”  

MAPE Region 19 Negotiations Representative Jovae Priebe reminded members as state employees, we’re in a unique position to be able to say who our “boss,” the governor, is. This means state employees have to get involved and show up on Election Day or early voting.  

State workers must get involved in the upcoming elections. We must vote, actively support pro-labor candidates, sign up for campaign door knocks and phone-banking and talk with our legislators about fully funding state agencies so Minnesotans can get the services and programs they need and deserve.  

Dozens of members submitted questions ranging from wages, health care and artificial intelligence to planning for a possible new administration and the best ways to involve other unions in our bargaining plans.  

“I have never seen such unity among AFSCME and MAPE members. We are united. We will do what we need to do to get a fair contract. When we organize and work together, we are unstoppable,” Halseth said. 

“When we fight, we win,” Andersen concluded.