Solidarity is More Than a Strategy

I hope you had a chance to rest over the long weekend. After a 70+ hour week of contract bargaining, I’ve been catching up myself, on sleep, on reflection, and on everything this tentative agreement represents. In this column, I want to share how we got here, what we fought to protect, what we’re still fighting for, and how members made it possible. 

Just a few days before we reached the agreement, it felt out of reach. Given how this round began, with the Governor’s team signaling austerity at every turn, reaching any agreement required relentless pressure and sustained solidarity. 

We can be incredibly proud of what we fought off. The health care take-backs alone were brutal. And we can still recognize that we wanted more. 

A lot of us wanted more movement on wages. Many of us, myself included, wanted meaningful, enforceable protections on telework. We brought forward a strong, practical proposal grounded in real member experience. The Governor’s management team refused to negotiate it. That still makes me angry, as I know it does for many of you. We didn’t walk away with everything we deserved. But we held the line on critical protections, made real gains, and left with solidarity intact. That matters, and it sets us up for what we do next. 

We began preparing months before the fall election narrowed labor’s political margin in the state Legislature. Before we saw the full picture of what the budget forecast, the national election, and the political calculus would mean for labor in Minnesota. 

Even then, we knew this round would be hard. This was my fourth time at the table, but I didn’t fully anticipate how deep we would have to dig just to hold the line on wages, health care, and what it even means to be a union in 2025.  

Setting the Stage  

Our negotiations team started meeting last summer, well before the world we were walking into revealed itself. We knew the budget would be tight, but we didn’t yet grasp how hard the political winds would blow against us. Still, we prepared. We organized. We built trust, and we got ready to fight.  

Contract bargaining has always been where I feel most connected to our union. It's where organizing, contract enforcement, and policy all come together. Over the past half decade, we’ve become a more democratic, member-led union where members now speak directly to the proposals and contract language that shape their working lives. I hoped this year we’d deepen that transformation, and we did. I also hoped we’d build on our solidarity with our AFSCME siblings, and we did that, too. 

Of course, there were real fears. I worried the Governor’s team would try to isolate us. I worried they’d use political pressure as cover to walk back progress. I worried members might lose faith in the process or the power of our union. But what gave me confidence was the team itself. Led by Negotiations Co-Chairs Carolyn Murphy and Sean McIntyre, our negotiators set the priorities, and they stayed grounded in them. 

Early Sessions & Strategy  

The State’s tone was clear from day one, and it was a disappointment. MMB came to the table with some of the most overtly anti-worker proposals I’ve seen in my time doing this work. The posture was neither neutral nor respectful. It felt punitive. For days, there was no meaningful movement on health care, telework, or even basic technical cleanup.  

That early posture told us everything about the administration’s approach to labor this year. We have a governor who talks about holding a union card, but the way his administration handled negotiations contradicted those values. Proposals to freeze steps, strip out Paid Parental Leave, and dump thousands of dollars in health care costs onto workers made it clear they were ready to balance the budget on the backs of the people who kept this state running through a pandemic.  

The scope of the fight ahead became painfully clear. The election results. The budget forecast. MMB’s opening proposals. SEGIP projections. We knew what we were up against. 

Three members gave powerful testimony about the impact of those health care proposals. One lined up her medications, one by one. Just three totaled $30,000 a month. Without our contract, she said, she couldn’t afford to keep working for the State. 

Right after that, hundreds of members lined the hallway, forming a quiet gauntlet that MMB had to walk through. We stood quietly, wearing blue and green, holding signs and holding space. I cried. That moment reminded me why I do this work. Because this work is human. It’s personal.  

That same day, we swapped shirts. MAPE wore green, AFSCME wore blue. It confused people in the best possible way, and it sent a message that we are not divided. Not in strategy. Not in spirit. Not at the table. 

That energy carried us through the final days of bargaining. It made a difference. 

Protections and Stability 

To fight off concessions in a year like this is a real testament to our members. You filled the rallies. You showed up at the negotiations site. You stood shoulder to shoulder in the hallway. This was a contract campaign in the truest sense, and our members made it possible.  

We protected health care. We secured meaningful across-the-board increases. We kept Paid Parental Leave in the contract. We stood firm with our AFSCME siblings. And we didn’t let go. 

We won structure and stability in a year when MMB came in swinging with some of the most aggressive anti-worker proposals we’ve ever seen. 

Is it everything we needed? No. Especially not on telework. The Governor’s refusal to engage on even the most basic protections still sits heavy with me. We brought data, stories, and solutions. And they refused to deal. 

Still, our team was relentless. Our members were powerful. And this contract, imperfect as it is, is the result of years of organizing, a week of unshakable solidarity, and thousands of people who refused to be ignored.  

It happened because of you. Because you showed up. Because you stood in the hallway in blue and green. Because you shared your stories. Because you trusted each other to lead. Because we organized. 

I know some of you are still angry. I am, too. I know some of you are struggling with how to vote. That’s okay. That's part of being a member of a democratic union. 

That’s the work of democracy in a union like ours, not agreement for its own sake, but showing up for hard fights and hard choices. 

With that in mind, I encourage each of you to vote on the Tentative Agreement Aug. 1-7. Whether you’re considering a “yes” to ratify or a “no” to authorize a strike, casting your vote is a powerful way to use your voice as a member. 

Solidarity is more than a strategy. It is the only thing that gets us through.  

In solidarity,  

 

 

 

Megan Dayton  
MAPE President