President’s Corner: December 2022

December is traditionally a time when we look back over the year, celebrate our accomplishments and begin making goals about what we hope to achieve next year. MAPE members have accomplished much together this year, and I am confident 2023 will be even better.

For the first time in a decade, we will have a pro-labor Governor, House and Senate in just a few weeks. MAPE members helped make this happen by knocking on thousands of doors and making thousands of phone calls. It is the first time we will have a pro-worker government since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Janus v AFSCME.

In addition to election work, we put a new focus on organizing this year. The Organizing Council coordinated MAPE’s latest and most extensive effort, MAPE-tober. After three years of teleworking for many members, MAPE-tober asked members to visit other MAPE-represented employees’ homes and initiate a conversation about our contract, the upcoming election, contract negotiations, and the importance of joining a union. The month-long campaign netted over 100 new members and 65 Contract Action Team (CAT) leaders. We are planning more organizing campaigns like this next year.

The Legislature passed our contract earlier this year, and our Negotiations Committee is now gathering speed and working on the 2023-2025 contract. The team is beginning to evaluate issues and proposals and will release a platform soon. Now is the time to get engaged – join a CAT and talk with co-workers who are not members. We need a high membership to be strong at the bargaining table.

MAPE fought for bonus pay for frontline workers for more than a year. Members worked hard to keep Minnesotans safe and state government running during the pandemic, and we were proud to have helped secure $500 million in payments while serving on the Essential Worker’s Pay Task Force.

We can also celebrate that support for labor unions in the U.S. is 71 percent – the highest since 1965. Here in Minnesota, we have our highest union membership in 14 years. Minnesota ranks sixth highest among all states, with its percentage of union-represented workers at 17.1 percent. We have supported and worked closely this year with our union siblings in the teaching and nursing professions who either walked the picket lines or came close to doing so because management offered disrespectful contracts.

Our union has a busy year ahead of us, with our priority on reaching a tentative agreement on our contract. We must also go on the offensive at the Legislature and shift from our defensive survival mode in the post-Janus world to be creative and fight for what we can win at the Capitol. We will work on issues benefitting our union members and all Minnesotans, like paid family and medical leave, fully funded state agencies to provide necessary services to millions of Minnesotans, universal health care and the right to collectively bargain. We must increase our organizing efforts to win these big fights and be ready to move quickly.

I hope you can rest and relax with family and friends this holiday season because it will be all hands on deck in 2023! Our MAPE family wishes you and everyone in your family a season of peace, hope, and good health.

In solidarity,