MAPE holds its biggest Lobby Day ever

Not only was Lobby Day 2025 MAPE’s most successful, it also established several firsts: nearly 600 members attended the rally at the Capitol, 170 meetings with legislators and the union’s first march to the Capitol through downtown St. Paul. Gov. Tim Walz also addressed members in the Rotunda.  

“Fully funded state agencies are the best way to financially provide the programs and services Minnesotans need and deserve. We must have strong agency budgets to fund these necessary programs,.” MAPE President Megan Dayton said.  

MAPE represents more than 18,000 professional employees delivering critical services across Minnesota and is now the largest state government union.  Dayton noted a strong contract for state workers raises standards for all workers. 

“With the White House continually attacking government workers, and with unelected billionaire Elon Musk slashing government agencies and budgets daily, we need to step up and raise revenue in Minnesota to protect the programs and services we count on. 

We all must pay our taxes and it’s time the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share, too,” Political Council Chair Nicole Juan said.  

About 15 percent of MAPE members’ jobs are funded at least in part by federal dollars. 

Minnesota’s Department of Health (MDH) and public health labs are recognized as some of the best in the country. “If you want to continue to have the best, then MDH needs to be fully funded. Since 45 percent of MDH’s budget comes from the federal government, this means much of our work to improve the lives of Minnesotans depends on federal money,” Region 9 Director and Senior Epidemiologist Carrie Klumb said. “Remember, this money comes from all of us, through the taxes we pay. It is only fair that the money we put in be returned to us through programming and services.” 

Klumb said she is deeply concerned about talk of a Republican federal budget bill that favors a handful of wealthy people “at the expense of all of us hardworking, average Americans.” 

2.1 million Minnesotans are enrolled in Medicare or Medicaid, many living in rural Minnesota. Many of them are increasingly finding it harder to access medical care and this proposed budget will only make things worse. 

“We cannot let Minnesota’s budget take the hit for bad decisions in Washington,” Dayton said.  

Doug Leung is the lead for Region 5’s Contract Action Team (CAT) and works with Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) to enhance disaster resilience in all of Minnesota’s 87 counties.  

Leung, whose position is federally funded under the Stafford Act, which pays local emergency managers, said “with the ongoing attacks on federal workers, I worry about my job if FEMA is weakened. Cuts at the federal and state level impact us all, as we rely on health care and struggle with housing and student debt. We cannot have a thriving economy if young people feel they have no future.” 

“It is crucial to be active in our union. As members of MAPE, the largest state government union, we will not allow Minnesota to become like Wisconsin or Utah, where public sector bargaining has been obliterated. We must act decisively to safeguard our futures. Engaging in our Contract Action Teams is vital to building power,” Leung said. “Remember, our strength lies in our unity. Imagine the impact of achieving 80 or 90 percent membership at the bargaining table!”   

Local 2001 President Ren Olive comes from a union family and remembers growing up holding signs at rallies and seeing firsthand the effects of their mother’s union, Minnesota State College Faculty Union. 

Olive works at Rochester Community and Technical College (RCTC) in the grants office. One of the college’s largest federal grants funds the TRIO program. TRIO helps first-generation, low-income and students with disabilities succeed in college. TRIO is administered from the U.S. Department of Education, the department the White House is threatening to eliminate.    

The administration has demanded government departments and colleges get rid of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs or lose federal funding. RCTC’s TRIO program serves 250 students and employs four federally funded advisors, all MAPE members. “They are my colleagues, our union family. And now, their successful work – and our students – are caught in a political game. 

“I have a two-year-old. The Department of Education and the future of education for not only our college students, but also my child is in peril. Most of our students rely on student aid. If federal support disappears, they won’t be able to register for classes. Many are nontraditional students balancing work and family. Why are we making it harder for them to succeed?” Olive asked.  

Olive and other MAPE members participated in more than 170 meetings with state legislators on Lobby Day.  “We are stronger together. Alone, my voice will not carry far, but together, we are LOUD.” 

More than 400 members attended a training in the morning to learn more about MAPE’s contract negotiations and to prepare for conversations with their legislators. Afterward, about 200 members marched through downtown St. Paul with signs and banners. 

“Federal workers are being used as pawns. Now is the time to stand for the public workforce,” Gov. Tim Walz told the cheering crowd in the Capitol Rotunda. “On behalf of 5.8 million Minnesotans, thank you for making this the best state in the country.” 

MAPE holds its negotiations opener with Minnesota Management and Budget on April 15. Governor Walz told members he also supports fully funded state agencies because “to improve people’s lives, you have to invest in those lives.” 

“Negotiations start with respect and end with improving Minnesota. The vast majority of Minnesotans believe in what you do and respect you. You bring your skills, you invest in Minnesota,” he added.