When Vice President Harris chose Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate this summer, it put Minnesota in the spotlight. Americans digging into Walz’s record are getting a fresh look at what the governor and labor-endorsed majorities in our Legislatures – the so-called “trifecta” – have accomplished in just two years. They are seeing what can happen when elected leaders like Gov. Walz, leaders who share our union values, put working people and their families first: historic investments in infrastructure and public education, expanded family leave benefits, and the programs that help crack down on wage theft. And they’re inspired to see a state moving forward, not backward.
And make no mistake about it, Donald Trump and JD Vance want to take the country backward. It’s all spelled out in their Project 2025 Agenda, which would threaten our union contracts, limit our freedom to join a union and undercut our wages. Trump and Vance may claim to be on workers’ side, but Trump proudly stands with greedy, union-busting CEOs like Elon Musk – and he even praised Musk for firing striking workers. Trump and Vance claim to care about union members, but they are really just in it for themselves and their rich friends. They want to cut our pay, eviscerate our retirement, take away our health care and destroy our unions, just so they can dole out more tax giveaways to the wealthy and well-connected. Harris and Walz have walked on picket lines with workers. Trump crosses them.
Under Gov. Walz’s leadership, our state has become the gold standard for state governments aiming to do right by workers, and it’s exciting to see the governor celebrate his pro-worker, pro-union agenda on the campaign trail. The governor and labor majorities in the Legislature have been bold since taking power in 2023, delivering on campaign promises to guarantee workers have paid family and medical leave benefits and expand access to earned sick and safe time. Minnesota has banned anti-worker noncompete clauses and anti-union captive audience meetings. New laws have strengthened protections for meatpacking and warehouse workers, improved wages and working conditions in nursing homes and expanded collective bargaining rights for educators, university workers and others.
Now, many of the legislators who helped put Minnesota on the path to being the best state for workers are on the ballot. Labor’s majorities in the State House and in the State Senate, thanks to a special election, are at stake on Nov. 5. Lawmakers who had our back at the Capitol need union members to have their backs at the polls. That’s why union volunteers across the state, working through our regional labor federations and the Minnesota AFL-CIO, are leading the way to mobilize tens of thousands of voters. We’re knocking doors, making calls and talking to co-workers about the need to defend the progress we’ve made in Minnesota – about the need to elect labor-endorsed candidates up and down the ballot.
With so much at stake, it truly is one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and union members are well positioned to make a difference. People all over the country are realizing unions are the single best tool we have to stand up to the historic inequity and corporate greed we are up against. Every day, more workers are seeing past the lies and the well-funded anti-union campaigns from corporate America and deciding to come together. Unions are more popular with the public now than at any time since the mid-1960s. By talking to friends, family members and co-workers, union members can cut through all of the misinformation and focus on what matters this election – our freedoms, our union rights, racial and economic justice, and our democracy. So please vote on or before Nov. 5, and find out how you can get more involved in the Labor 2024 campaign at aflcio.mn/labor2024.
– Kera Peterson is president of the Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, which brings together over 100 affiliate unions representing members in Chisago, Dakota, Ramsey and Washington counties.
Union Advocate 