MAPE stewards summit for strategy, perspective-sharing

Nearly 200 MAPE stewards attended the two-day Great Steward Get-Together summit last month. Stewards discussed how to refine their role within the union and whether their roles should expand to include organizing, negotiations and strike readiness. Friday focused on a best practices panel, while breakouts held on Saturday paired metro and Greater Minnesota stewards together to better understand regional perspectives and challenges. 

“The room was packed – it was great seeing that many stewards come out and were engaged,” Region 2 Steward Director Wanda Fortune-Stiffin said. “The discussion on our roles as stewards was important. We're there for the members to handle their contract issues. If you have capacity, you can organize or be a negotiator. We have to do our work first. If you have a busy region like mine, it can be hard to split your time and still get your work done.”  

“We need more stewards, but they do need to know our training teaches you the base of the contract work. If you’re going through the contract and see something that needs to be changed, then you can submit a proposal. Much of our work deals with discipline and leave with Paid Parental Leave, State leave policies – everyone is confused, including MMB,” she added. 

Many participants said they found the discussions pairing metro and Greater Minnesota stewards especially interesting and helpful. “I liked the fact we were broken out by regions, and some regions have different ways of doing things and we can all learn from each other,” Region 4 Steward Co-Director Cara Hofreiter said.  

Hofreiter pointed out that some regions have large steward groups working with members in a handful of agencies and other regions working with numerous agencies have multiple challenges, and miles, to overcome. 

“I liked the breakout session where we talked about what the stewards’ role should be in organizing and negotiations. There is no one-size-fits-all. Individual stewards can tailor their roles. Most stewards need to be able to do contract work, but if organizing or negotiations are your strengths, get involved," Hofreiter said.

She said she also enjoyed the discussion about whether stewards should be involved in politics. “There is a difference between being political and being partisan. We are inherently political; fighting for labor is a political thing and legislators are responsible for funding our jobs at state agencies. We can work on issues that are common ground. It is important to recognize that,” she added.  

MAPE President Angie Halseth, who is resigning her presidency at the end of her term in June, recalled how nervous she was when she initially became a steward and then Local 1303 Vice President because “we know the work we do for our members is important. I wanted to provide support for people during their darkest and scariest times,” Halseth said. “It really feels like you’re doing something good and the gratitude you get from those members is all worth it.” 

As leader of the Employee Rights Committee (ERC), comprised of Regional Steward Directors from each of MAPE’s 21 regions, Halseth had some specific goals for the ERC around trainings, arbitrations, recruiting new members and building out the overall number of stewards. MAPE is up to 420 stewards from 396 last September.  

In addition, under Halseth’s leadership, the union has added additional offernings for steward education, including Organizing as a Steward and Contract Training for Stewards to the existing Basic and Advanced Steward Trainings.     

“This Steward Summit has been Angie’s dream event for us to come together, recognize the areas where we need more support and structure, and to turn our hopes for our union into goals and actions,” ERC Vice Chair Ariel Johnson said.  

She continued, “Angie has been an inspiration with her humor and dedication ensuring that we, as stewards, are best prepared for representing our members. It comes from having big dreams for our union and from pouring her heart and soul into MAPE even in times of uncertainty, conflict or outright nonsense from MMB. Still, Angie has never given up. President Halseth’s dedication to MAPE teaches us to be the light in the darkness, and is a reminder that if there’s a will, there will be a way. I hope as stewards, we can carry on this message that no matter how challenging things might seem and how uncertain life may be, you don’t have to fight alone.”