Meet Amy Mueller, MAPE’s Statewide Secretary

MAPE Secretary Amy Mueller grew up in a labor family, but her father didn’t discuss the union much with his family. Mueller’s election as statewide Secretary gives her a chance to change that pattern with her own family, husband Myles and stepdaughter Addison.  

“For us as union activists, if we don’t tell other people how important it is to be part of a successful union, how are we going to get other people to join us?” Mueller asked. 

After working as a tax collector for 13 years, Local 401’s Amy Mueller decided to share some of the leadership skills she had gained at the Department of Revenue with MAPE as a statewide elected officer. “What interested me the most about the statewide Secretary position was the opportunity to make things more formalized and consistent. It brings people on a journey to learn how we’re doing things and why it’s important. My work on drafting the meeting minutes provides a past, present and future of what we’re doing,” Mueller said.  

Mueller recently completed her master’s in public administration and has undergraduate degrees in communications studies and psychology. She said now that she has completed her degree she has “found my affinity to read again,” and is enjoying Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You’d Rather Cancel by Loretta J. Ross. The author writes a lot about cancel culture and says it’s an ineffective way to deal with change. Instead of cancelling you should be calling in. Mueller interprets this to mean, “build relationships with those who do not agree with you, as it is better to learn our differences than to let them divide us.” 

Mueller says she has learned a lot about building relationships, especially with those you never thought you’d be in a relationship with. “As a psychology major, I’ve studied what drives people to behave and act in certain ways. When you put in the time to get to know someone you are learning what life events and decisions contribute to how someone presents themselves.” 

“This is a valuable tool for doing our one-on-one conversations with potential members. Gaining members, we won’t all agree on the same thing – we must be balancing what we do with what we say. If you think about the seesaw or scales of justice, you should not be lower than your counterparts, you should be equal with them. When you are more fortunate than others, you don’t build a higher fence, you build a bigger table for everyone to have a seat at,” she added.   

In her free time, Mueller enjoys spending time with her family and doing crafts. “I just tried doing diamond art and understand why people don’t do it again after their first time,” she joked. “I enjoy painting with acrylics anything that interests me. Landscapes are not my forte – I like to paint as a freedom of expression and more as de-stressing.” 

She also admits she has received a long book list of labor and union related recommendations from members that she is looking forward to reading.