State Capitol dedicates a ‘place and space’ for Nellie Stone Johnson – and all she represents

November 22, 2022 by

Family of Nellie Stone Johnson, who died in 2002, got the first look at a new statue honoring her legacy.

A new statue unveiled in the Capitol yesterday celebrates the legacy of Nellie Stone Johnson, a towering figure in Minnesota’s labor, political and civil rights history. 

After a ceremony that included music, a video remembrance and speeches from the honoree’s colleagues and admirers, Gov. Tim Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan joined the youngest members of Stone Johnson’s family in pulling a drape off her statue, installed just north of the rotunda.  

It is the Capitol’s first new statue in six decades and the only to honor woman of color. Flanagan boasted that Minnesota is the first state government in the U.S. to authorize the installation of a statue in its Capitol honoring a Black woman. 

“Now when our students are visiting the Capitol, they are going to see and learn about the legacy of Nellie and all she represents,” Flanagan said. “They are going to see themselves reflected in the people’s house in a way they haven’t before.” 

Born in Lakeville in 1905, Stone Johnson herself accomplished many “firsts” during her lifetime, including a successful bid for a seat on the Library Board in 1945 that made her the first Black person elected to citywide office in Minneapolis.  

A powerful figure in the Farmer-Labor movement, Stone Johnson helped lead its eventual merger with the Democratic Party in the 1940s. Candidates often sought her endorsement, including Hubert Humphrey during his mayoral campaigns of 1943 and 1945. She served as a member of the Democratic National Committee in 1980, and joined a delegation to Africa with Vice President Walter Mondale.   

But before becoming a political leader, Stone Johnson was a union organizer, as Workday Minnesota remembered in an obituary published after her death in April 2002:

“In the 1930s, while working as an elevator operator at the Minneapolis Athletic Club, her wages were cut from $15.00 to $12.50 per week. She responded by secretly organizing the workers into a union. Later she was elected the first woman vice president of the Minneapolis Hotel and Restaurant Workers Union.” 

Stone Johnson was the first woman vice-president of the Minnesota Culinary Council, and she pushed a national contract negotiations committee to address issues like pay equity. 

At the same time, Stone Johnson was active in the movement for civil rights and racial equality. She helped lead a fundraising drive, organized by the Civil Rights Congress, to help Black voters in Texas pay poll taxes, which would otherwise have prevented them from voting. Stone Johnson remained active in the NAACP throughout her adult life. 

Many speakers at the ceremony recalled Stone Johnson’s passionate support for education as a gateway to good-paying jobs. She served on both the Minnesota State University Board and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities Board of Trustees, and several current Minnesota State administrators were on hand for the unveiling. 

So, too, were past recipients of a scholarship bearing Stone Johnson’s name, awarded each year since 1989 to racial minority union members and their families attending a Minnesota State institution.  

“She had a sense of humanness that could only come out of where she came from,” said Dr. Tamrat Tademe, a professor at St. Cloud  State University who worked with Stone Johnson and serves on the scholarship board. “And with Nellie there was always a call to do better.  

Students from Nellie Stone Johnson School in Minneapolis attended the dedication ceremony.

“I hope we all listen to Nellie’s call. I hope we don’t shelve her statue and leave it there. We have to listen to her call to do better in this state.” 

Minnesota unions and their members played a critical role in creating a space to honor Stone Johnson at the Capitol, from lobbying in support of authorizing the statue to donating funds toward its completion.  

“Thank God for the unions,” said former state Rep. Joe Mullery, who authored the 2014 bill. “They understood how important it is for working people and students to come to the Capitol and be inspired by seeing someone like them.” 

The first students to get a look at the new statue, appropriately, were part of a delegation from the Minneapolis elementary bearing Stone Johnson’s name.  

Thinking of the countless others soon to follow, Flanagan closed her remarks with a note of gratitude: “Thank you for this opportunity for every little girl to know that she has a place and space in this building in whatever role she chooses.” 

Learn more about Nellie Stone Johnson, her legacy and the scholarship bearing her name at nelliestone.org. 

Filed Under: Community, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , ,

Fundraising push supports Nellie Stone Johnson bust in Capitol

December 2, 2014 by
Nellie Stone Johnson had a distinguished record of public service in support of the advancement of minority concerns, the rights of workers and equal opportunities for all people.

Nellie Stone Johnson had a distinguished record of public service in support of the advancement of minority concerns, the rights of workers and equal opportunities for all people.

Nellie Stone Johnson, the Minnesota-born labor and civil-rights activist, left a legacy of “firsts.” Now, Minnesotans have an opportunity to add to that legacy by making Johnson the first woman, first African American and first labor leader honored with a bust in the State Capitol.

The Legislature and Gov. Mark Dayton last session authorized honoring Johnson with a bust in a prominent spot in the Capitol. But the project is contingent upon supporters independently raising enough money to draw $30,000 in matching funds from the state to pay for the sculpture.

A group of labor activists has taken up the fundraising effort. To contribute, send a check to “NSJ Capitol Fund” to Union Bank and Trust, 312 Central Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.

Rep. Joe Mullery of Minneapolis spearheaded efforts to win approval and funding for the bust.

“I believe she not only deserves to be in the Capitol for her actions, but that a bust of her will be a symbol of all of the Minnesotans like her who have made contributions to our state,” Mullery said. “There is no bust of a woman. There is no bust of an African-American Minnesotan. There is no bust of a leader in the fight for worker’s rights.

“I think her bust will have great meaning for all these Minnesotans, especially for young kids who visit the Capitol and see someone like them or has a meaning to them.”

Johnson, born in Lakeville in 1905, distinguished herself not only as a labor and civil-rights leader, but as a business owner, an elected official and a fierce advocate for public education as well.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Johnson rose to prominent roles within two labor unions. She was elected the first woman vice-president of the Minnesota Culinary Council and the first woman vice-president of Local 665 Hotel and Restaurant Employees Union.

Johnson won a seat on the Minneapolis Library Board in 1945, becoming the first black person elected to citywide office. Later in life, she served as a trustee of the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

A scholarship fund bearing her name provides assistance to racial minority union members and their families attending MnSCU schools.

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Untold Stories continues with labor-history events in May

May 2, 2014 by

history-tourUntold Stories, the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library’s annual labor-history series, continues in May with its lineup of events focused on the struggles facing workers in the past and how they influence the issues of today.

The free, public programs began last month and will wrap up May 14. A full programming guide is available online.

May events include:

• “Rails and Buses: The Central Corridor Then and Now.” Saturday, May 3, 1 p.m., Union Depot, 214 4th St.

This is your opportunity to tour the Central Corridor, University Avenue, by bus, exploring the history and future of the vital link between St. Paul and Minneapolis. Rail and transit veterans Phil Epstein and Dave Riehle will lead the tour, as bus driver Diane Ruud travels to lost and forgotten places and routes, exploring the history of mass transit, architecture, commerce and the communities central to this re-engineered corridor.

Call The Friends at 651-222-3242 to reserve your seat on the bus, as space is limited (Bus is ADA-compliant.)

• “Whiteness in Plain View.” Wednesday, May 7, 7 p.m., Merriam Park Library, 1831 Marshall Ave.

Author, professor and filmmaker Chad Montrie will introduce his new documentary project, “Whiteness in Plain View,” about racial exclusion in American towns and suburbs. Edina and Austin, Minn., serve as case studies.

Following this film segment, Montrie will discuss his research into the historical, legal, customary and traditional practices among organized labor and business owners invested in keeping suburbs and towns all-white throughout most of the 20th century.

• “Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights.” Monday, May 12, 7 p.m., Camphor Memorial United Methodist Church, 585 Fuller Avenue, St. Paul

The successes of the civil rights movement, including passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, were built on sustained, grassroots organizing, linked to women’s groups, unions and churches across the country. University of Wisconsin Professor William P. Jones offers insight into the people who undertook this struggle in his book, “The March on Washington: Jobs, Freedom and the Forgotten History of Civil Rights.”

Jones will give a presentation complemented by music and related readings on race, class and work.

• “Why Not St. Paul? The 1934 Teamsters Strike.” Wednesday, May 14, 7 p.m., Merriam Park Library, 1831 Marshall Ave.

On the 80th anniversary of the 1934 Teamsters’ strikes in Minneapolis, historian Mary Wingerd will explore how different politics and labor relations in Saint Paul meant the bloody battle did not spread to the other side of the river, and what that suggests about class relations in the Capital City.

Wingerd is the author of “Claiming the City: Politics, Faith, and the Power of Place in Saint Paul” and “North Country: the Making of Minnesota,” as well as the introduction to the new edition of Charles R. Walker’s “American City: A Rank-and-File History.”

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MLK vigil brings prayers for deportations to stop

April 30, 2014 by
Park Methodist Church in Minneapolis hosted a vigil on the anniversary of MLK’s assassination.

Park Methodist Church in Minneapolis hosted a vigil on the anniversary of MLK’s assassination.

The 40th anniversary of iconic civil rights leader Martin Luther King’s assassination April 4 was marked with vigils locally and across the country in support of the most pressing civil rights issue of today, immigration reform.

The MLK vigils and the “Two Million Too Many National Day of Action” a day later drew support from unions. The nation’s largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO, co-sponsored the day of action to stop deportations with the National Day Laborers Organizing Network and other community organizations.

Locally, immigrant-rights activists, including representatives of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, gathered at Park Methodist Church in Minneapolis April 4.

Church member Steve Belton, who was 16 at the time of the assassination, recalled that King was in Memphis, supporting sanitation workers who were on strike.

“For him, it was a matter of justice,” Belton said. “If Dr. King were alive today, I believe he might be somewhere like this vigil tonight … because immigration reform is also a question of justice.

“It’s a question of justice for thousands of immigrant workers and their families that look to this country for freedom, economic opportunity and political asylum. They too want to pursue the American dream.”

An estimated 11 immigrants live in constant fear of being deported by the U.S. government, which has carried out nearly 2 million deportations since President Obama took office in 2009, according to a New York Times analysis.

Eder Alarcon is waiting to find out if his name will be added to that list. An undocumented immigrant, Alarcon came to Minnesota in 2006, settling with his mother’s family in Minneapolis and taking on several jobs – kitchen work, construction, factory work, lawn care.

“I didn’t know much about laws; I was looking for work,” Alarcon said.

Fighting back tears at the vigil, Alarcon recounted his experience of being arrested after a police officer pulled up behind him at a gas station and asked for his driver’s license. As a result of the arrest, Alarcon said, immigration agents “are in the process of deciding whether I’m going to stay or go.”

“I don’t know that there are enough words to express what Latinos have suffered,” Alarcon said when asked what he would say to President Obama if given the chance. “You’re always kind of afraid of any interaction with police … or something that could get you deported. But you have to go on living somehow.”

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the U.S. is in the midst of a “deportation crisis” incompatible with American values.

In a statement supporting the Not 1 More Campaign to stop deportations, Trumka urged the Republican-controlled U.S. House to pass an immigration-reform bill passed last fall by the Senate. The bill would provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers like Alarcon.

House Republicans’ “obstruction of comprehensive immigration reform must end,” Trumka said. “Enough is enough – we need the passage of immigration reform that leads to citizenship and an end to a deportation machine that criminalizes hardworking immigrants while deporting hundreds and hundreds of people a day without even an appearance before a judge.”

“The time is now for Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform that provides a pathway to citizenship for 11 million undocumented workers living here and contributing to our society,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper added.

At the Minneapolis vigil, Rev. John Gutterman, a pastor in the United Church of Christ, pointed to several of the Bible’s teachings that encourage Christians to welcome immigrants, not deport them. Jesus, Joseph and Mary “had to flee from the political oppression of Herrod to go to Egypt, where they were welcomed and taken care of,” Gutterman said.

“Our system is broken, and deporting workers, tearing apart families and abusing people to try to make it work doesn’t help,” he added. “This – immigration reform – is the civil rights issue of our time.”

hurch member Steve Belton welcomes immigrant-rights activists, calling the issue “a matter of justice.”

hurch member Steve Belton welcomes immigrant-rights activists, calling the issue “a matter of justice.”

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

UPDATED: AFL-CIO president’s lecture at U of M canceled

February 3, 2014 by
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (right) will speak in Minneapolis Feb. 20.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka (right) will speak in Minneapolis Feb. 20.

UPDATED 02/20/14 – AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka’s lecture scheduled for tonight at the University of Minnesota has been canceled as a result of the weather.

“President Trumka’s flight into Minneapolis has been canceled due to the bad weather systems across the country,” said Kent Love-Ramirez, director of communications for the U’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs. “We apologize and hope to be able to re-schedule this event in the future.”

*****

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka will appear Feb. 20 in Minneapolis as part of a series of events produced by the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs to mark the 50th anniversary of passage of the Civil Rights Act.

Trumka, who leads the nation’s largest federation of labor unions, will give a lecture entitled “Free At Last? On the 100th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, Where Will We Be?”

The speech, scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. in the Cowles Auditorium, 301 19th Ave. S., is free and open to the public. Click here to register.

The Humphrey School announced the event today:

Half a century ago, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, fundamentally changed America. King championed the workers’ cause, and his words and impassioned work led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of unions in the United States, examines the connection between labor rights and civil rights. Trumka, a third-generation coal miner, argues for policy efforts to better ensure the right to vote, to guarantee unemployment insurance and a higher minimum wage, and changes in criminal justice to reduce levels of incarceration.

Trumka’s election to president of the AFL-CIO followed 15 years of service as the organization’s secretary-treasurer and capped his rise to leadership from humble beginnings in a small mining community in southwest Pennsylvania. As a young boy troubled by how mine workers were treated during the 1960s, Trumka told his grandfather he could grow up to be a lawyer and “stand up for workers’ rights.” He was elected president of the AFL-CIO by acclamation in 2009 and re-elected by delegates in 2013.

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Unions honor March on Washington with a renewed call for justice

August 28, 2013 by
U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison urges young people at the March on Washington anniversary event to take up the struggle for social justice.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison urges young people at the March on Washington anniversary event to take up the struggle for social justice.

Fifty years after the March on Washington, the march toward justice continues.

That was the tone struck by union members, elected officials and civil rights advocates who gathered on the Capitol grounds in St. Paul today to honor the 50th anniversary of the watershed event in the civil rights movement.

Nearly 200 people participated in a march from Boyd Park to the Capitol’s South Mall, site of a program that featured speeches, prayers, music and a reading of the “I Have a Dream” speech delivered by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 50 years ago.

Cherrish Maxon, 12 years old, reads MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech.

Cherrish Maxon, 12 years old, reads MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

“The fight must continue,” U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison said, drawing a connection between the struggle to end discrimination and inequality 50 years ago and several issues facing the nation today, like voting rights, marriage equality and immigration reform.

Minnesotans led the way last year, according to Ellison, when they rejected constitutional amendments that would have limited access to the ballot box and denied same-sex couples the freedom to marry.

“We said a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” the 5th District DFLer said. “This is the kind of thing that will happen if you stand up for what’s right and you don’t back down.”

Abraham Kone, a janitor and member of Service Employees International Union Local 26, was among the speakers who called members of Congress to “honor the civil rights movement by passing common-sense immigration reform” with a pathway to citizenship for the nation’s 11 million undocumented workers.

“Congress must act because without reform, millions of immigrants will be relegated to a permanent underclass,” Kone said.

Sponsored by the SEIU Minnesota State Council’s African-American caucus (AFRAM), the event underscored the labor movement’s commitment to civil rights. “If we do not have an economy that works for all, we do not have justice,” said Carol Nieters, director of SEIU Local 284.

"There were union members in that march," Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson says.

“There were union members in that march,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson says.

“There were union members in that march too,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson added. “They marched for racial justice, social justice and economic justice.”

The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation, has considered strengthening its commitment to civil rights by inviting organizations like the NAACP and the Hispanic civil-rights group La Raza under the federation’s umbrella.

“We’ve got to keep on marching – and marching together,” Knutson said. “If we do, we can make more strides so that every man, woman and child is achieving and prospering.”

“Rosa Parks sat so Martin Luther King could walk. Martin walked so Barack Obama could run. Obama ran so that we all could fly,” said Bobby Kasper, president of the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation. “I ask you now, are you going to fly? Are you going to fight? Are you going to achieve the dream?”

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Union: Cretex harassed, discriminated against Latino workers

July 30, 2013 by

logo563The union representing workers on strike at a Shakopee concrete plant opened a new front in the labor dispute today, when 15 members of Laborers Local 563 filed civil rights charges with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission alleging Cretex mistreated Latino employees.

Local 563 represents 38 Cretex workers who have been on strike since June 19. After months of negotiations with the Elk River-based company, workers voted to authorize the strike when management refused to budge from its proposal to stop contributing to workers’ pensions.

But the EEOC complaint, announced by Local 563 today in a press release, reveals deeper tensions between the company and its Shakopee workforce. Allegations against Cretex, according to the press release, include:

• Use of insulting and offensive language – such as statements to the effect that ‘Mexicans have no brains’ and ‘Mexicans are too stupid to use computers’ – and harassment of Latino immigrants for speaking to each other in Spanish during breaks.

• Unequal treatment of Latino and immigrant workers, who are assigned more difficult and dangerous work, and disciplined more frequently and more harshly than their peers.

• Attempted intimidation through threats of firing and, in some cases, threats to the person and property of Latinos.

The 15 employees who filed charges are immigrants from Mexico and U.S.-born Latinos. Julio Ocampo Sanchez, who has worked at Cretex for three years, said the group’s patience reached a breaking point when the company allegedly promoted the most abusive person in the plant.

“We just try to do our jobs and stay out trouble because we’re working toward our pension,” Sanchez said. “Then they threaten to take it away, and suddenly the worst offender is wearing the red hat they give out to leads. It feels like a deliberate slap in the face.”

Tim Mackey, Local 563 business manager, said the union has reached out to a federal mediator with hopes of facilitating a meeting with Cretex about adding anti-discrimination language into workers’ collective bargaining agreement.

“We are asking Cretex to come back to the bargaining table to discuss a solution to the issues facing our Latino members,” said Mackey.  “While we remain far apart on the pension issue, there is no reason we can’t find common ground on efforts to prevent future discrimination and pave the way for an eventual settlement.

“It is sad to think that, in 2013, employees would be mistreated because of their race, ethnicity or national origin. This type of treatment cannot be tolerated, and we intend to demand contract language that protects all of our members from discrimination, harassment, and intimidation.”

The union plans a large rally on the Cretex picket line Aug. 6. Click here to follow the striking workers on Facebook.

Filed Under: Organizing Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Ten years ago immigrant freedom riders planted the seeds of reform

July 1, 2013 by
Minnesotans who participated in the 1961 Freedom Rides for civil rights were on hand to kick off the 2003 Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride in St. Paul. Pictured from L to R are Marv Davidov, Zev Aelony, Claire O’Connor and Bob Baum.

Minnesotans who participated in the 1961 Freedom Rides for civil rights were on hand to kick off the 2003 Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride in St. Paul. Pictured from L to R are Marv Davidov, Zev Aelony, Claire O’Connor and Bob Baum.

Immigration reform is on the front burner in Congress this summer, but 10 years ago immigrant “freedom riders,” including some from Minnesota, traveled to Washington to raise awareness of the need for reform, including a pathway to citizenship for undocumented workers.

The Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride kicked off its Minnesota leg with an event at the Neighborhood House in St. Paul on July 15, 2003.

Among the activists in attendance were four Minnesotans who took part in the historic 1961 Freedom Rides for civil rights.

[The Union Advocate’s “This Month in the Archives” feature offers a look back at what the newspaper was reporting from 5 to 100 years ago. Our digital archives are online, searchable and free to anyone. Click here for access.]

Standing in front of a yellow school bus decorated with signs and slogans, union officers, lawmakers and other coalition leaders spoke of the difficulties new immigrants face, according to a Workday Minnesota report in The Union Advocate.

That group included Linda Chavez-Thompson, executive vice president of the AFL-CIO. Chavez-Thompson was the first woman – and the first Hispanic American – elected to serve as an officer of the national labor federation.

“If the labor movement, if the AFL-CIO, doesn’t stand up … for immigrant workers, what can other workers expect of us?” Chavez-Thompson asked.

“The biggest shame of our country is that many folks have forgotten who they are,” said state Rep. Carlos Mariani of St. Paul. “They have forgotten they were, in fact, immigrants. They have forgotten the struggle of their ancestors. In doing so, they dishonor their ancestors.”

The Freedom Ride would leave the Twin Cities Sept. 28, reaching Washington later that fall before concluding in New York.

100 Years Ago: Paper strike in Little Falls

Violence shook the town of Little Falls in July 1913, when striking paper-mill workers scuffled with strike-breakers on the picket line.

A “special correspondent” from Little Falls provided Union Advocate readers with an account of the brawl. As strikers were on the picket line, a scab struck a picketer – “a little old man,” according to the account – on the head “with a piece of round iron 18 inches long, which he had concealed in his clothes.” The blow left a gash two inches long in the man’s scalp – and sparked violent retaliation from the victim’s union brothers.

By Aug. 1, however, many of the strike-breakers had grown disillusioned with the company and walked off the job, according to The Advocate’s correspondent. “This action has greatly demoralized the force yet at the mill, and the conditions in it are worse than when the strike began,” The Advocate reported.

“The managers of the mill are manifestly disturbed by the turn affairs have taken, as they have reason to fear the dissatisfaction which culminated in the walkout will spread and deprive them of the services of numbers of their other ‘scabs.’”

Striking workers, meanwhile, benefitted from the “liberal financial assistance” of unions across the state – as well as the moral support of their Little Falls neighbors.

“The power of local public opinion is beginning to show itself,” The Advocate reported. “The disinterested people of this community are with the strikers in sympathy and encouragement and insist that they shall be justly dealt with.”

75 Years Ago: St. Paul unions oppose voting machines

The St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly, which was at the time the East Metro’s central labor federation, took a stand in July 1938 against the City of St. Paul purchasing voting machines for use in public elections.

Delegates from two unions led the charge. Printing Pressmen’s and Assistants’ Local 29 feared installation of voting machines would deprive its members of work printing ballots for elections. Machinists Local 459 argued against the voting machines because none available on the market was union made.

“Other delegates argued in favor of the motion on the grounds that it would deprive a large number of people, who usually act as judges and clerks of election, of a certain amount of employment,” The Advocate reported. “The Assembly voted its opposition to the plan to purchase any of the machines and instructed the secretary to so notify the members of the city council.”

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For unions, opposition to marriage amendment swells from grassroots

October 29, 2012 by

Minnesota workers are pushing back against the marriage amendment – and pushing their unions to make marriage equality a priority.

Mary Larson Dennis, a social worker and member of AFSCME Local 151, remembers exactly the moment when she decided the freedom to marry wasn’t just a gay-rights issue, but a union issue as well.

It was March 2011, and Dennis, then an officer in her union, was making the rounds on a lunch break, talking to co-workers at Ramsey County about proposed cuts to the state budget. When she approached a co-worker on an elevator and asked if she had called her legislators yet, Dennis got an answer she wasn’t expecting.

“Of course I’m calling my representatives,” the co-worker told her. “Have you seen what they’re doing to marriage?”

The conversation that followed is one playing out thousands of times over in workplaces across Minnesota this year, after Republican majorities at the Legislature forced a proposed constitutional amendment limiting the right to marry onto the 2012 ballot.

“That was my co-worker looking me in the eye in the elevator and saying, ‘This is my issue,’” Dennis said. “I didn’t feel like I could look her in the eye back, as an officer of the union at that time, and say, ‘Yeah, I’m with the union and we’re not doing anything about issues that affect your family.’”

Instead, Dennis decided to take action. After consulting with other officers and union stewards, she and a handful of supporters drafted a resolution opposing any legislative attempt to limit the freedom to marry – a resolution that passed at Local 151’s next meeting.

Dennis and Local 151 may have been among the first Minnesota unions to take a stand on the marriage amendment, but several others quickly followed.

The grassroots momentum prompted several statewide union councils and federations to take up the cause of marriage equality. Dennis’ union, AFSCME Council 5, and the state’s largest labor federation, the Minnesota AFL-CIO,  are among several labor organizations that have joined the coalition working to defeat the marriage amendment, Minnesotans United for All Families.

“Make no mistake – this is a labor issue,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson told delegates to the federation’s convention in September. “It is because we fight for all families. It is because unions have always been at the forefront of civil rights.”

Organizing union support

Knutson and other union leaders are backing up their words with actions – and campaign cash. The state’s unions have contributed more than $35,000 to Minnesotans United, and many have sponsored member-to-member phone banks about the issue in advance of the Nov. 6 election.

The conversation about marriage rights isn’t an easy one, even among friends, family members and co-workers. Cold-calling other union members about the topic is an especially daunting task. To give their volunteers confidence, leaders of the St. Paul Federation of Teachers’ committee working to defeat the marriage amendment hosted a “conversation training” with Minnesotans United in advance of their first member-to-member phone bank.

“We learned how to have the conversation with another individual so that you’re not on top of them saying, ‘You need to vote no!’” said Mary Denton, a member of the SPFT committee.  “We learned to slowly change their perspective and how they view the amendment, and we learned when to stop trying.”

Denton, Dennis and other union members working to build opposition to the marriage amendment – and grow support for marriage equality – say they focus their conversations on equal rights. As long as same-sex couples are denied the right to marry, they are denied the benefits that come with marriage – many of which are employer-provided.

“When we go to that bargaining table to negotiate a contract, right now we’re not able to represent all of our members,” Denton said. “When we are bargaining for health benefits, we can’t bargain for our LGBT membership – not for family coverage, or for their partners.”

The same applies to bereavement leave, medical leave, Social Security benefits – “all of these different things that heterosexuals just take for granted,” Denton said. “If this marriage amendment passes, it will only further inhibit our ability to represent all of our membership.”

Dozens of union members marched behind the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s float during the Pride Festival parade in Minneapolis earlier this year. (MN AFL-CIO photos)

Making a difference

For unions, taking a stand on the marriage amendment has not been without resistance, both from management in the worksite and from rank-and-file members. “To say there is not would be false,” said Tee McClenty, executive Vice President of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota, another union that has been active in efforts to oppose the marriage amendment.

Still, the pushback wasn’t as stiff as McClenty and other leaders expected.

“We focused on educating the members who didn’t understand why we passed the resolution,” she said. “We told them we support all of our members, including our members in the gay community.”

Dennis, too, acknowledged “some drama” in efforts – ultimately successful – to get AFSCME Council 5 to endorse the Minnesotans United cause.

“If nobody’s trying to stop you, you’re not really making a difference,” Dennis said. “For me it comes down to an injury to one is an injury to all. If unions are about social justice, then we have to be about this.”

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