Peterson: Support candidates who will listen to workers, not billionaires

October 30, 2026 by Leave a Comment

St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson is pictured speaking at the 2022 MN AFL-CIO Convention.

Things are too expensive. That’s not breaking news to anyone who’s shopped for groceries or filled their gas tank lately. This economy is putting the squeeze on working people. Too many of us are living on the edge, working longer and harder for less in return and stressing over every bill, every purchase, every paycheck.

It shouldn’t be this way. The U.S. economy is growing. Corpo-rate earnings are up and so is the stock market. The S&P 500 hit an all-time high last month. American workers are more productive than ever, but our share in the economic growth that labor creates is at historic low point. An NBC News report found that the share of economic output going to workers’ pay and benefits has sunk to its lowest level since the Department of Labor started tracking it in 1947. The pie is getting bigger, but our slice is getting smaller.

None of this is happening by accident. It’s the direct result of policy choices – tariffs, healthcare cuts, foreign wars, attacks on collective bargaining – made by politicians who answer to billionaires and CEOs instead of working people. That’s why our federation of local unions is working to elect labor-endorsed candidates Nov. 3 who will put us first and hold corporations and billionaires accountable.

Here in Minnesota, we know firsthand what’s at stake in this election. We’re less than a year removed from the federal government’s shockingly violent and lawless occupation of our state in the name of immigration enforcement. Operation Metro Surge trampled on our rights, tore families apart and disrupted life in our neighborhoods, schools and workplaces. The occupation dealt an economic blow, too, costing our state 32,000 jobs, reducing economic activity – especially in the hospitality sector – and increasing security costs for local communities by an estimated $700 million.

The tragic failures of Metro Surge reflect a pattern that has repeated itself throughout Trump’s second administration. Bad ideas go unchecked by enfeebled congressional majorities and a compliant Supreme Court, and the American people pay the price – literally. Trump’s tariffs raised our cost of living, and his war in Iran has only made it worse. Minnesotans’ real wages, adjusted for inflation, fell 1.4% in the first seven months of this year. And as predicted, the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” has forced more Minnesotans to go without healthcare coverage and increased premiums for those who remain insured.

This election is our opportunity to begin putting an end to the chaos, and union members are, unsurprisingly, stepping up to the challenge. Internal poling by the AFL-CIO shows that 83% of union members are “extremely motivated” to vote in the midterms – a 10-point increase from 2022. In Minnesota, union volunteers are talking with their neighbors and co-workers, encouraging them to make their plan to vote. (You don’t have to wait until Nov. 3 if you vote early; go to mnvotes.org to learn how!) Others are signing up as election judges or training to serve as election protection volunteers.

If the challenges ahead feel overwhelming, I empathize. Instead of becoming demoralized, though, let’s focus on what is possible when after Election Day if we make our voices heard. Together, we can help deliver majorities for pro-worker candidates up and down the ballot who will support our right to bargain for better pay and benefits, fight for affordable healthcare and stop the squeeze on working families.

– Kera Peterson is president of the Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO. 

Filed Under: Labor Voices Tagged With: , , , , ,

Union members say Ellison has stuck up for workers as Attorney General

October 28, 2026 by Leave a Comment

Attorney General Keith Ellison speaks before a door-knock with SEIU President April Verrett in Minneapolis.

Locked in a tight re-election campaign, Attorney General Keith Ellison deserves working Minnesotans’ vote because he puts the power of his office to work for them, union members and labor leaders say.

And they have the receipts to prove it.

Hospitality workers at Target Field, members of UNITE HERE Local 17, have long raised questions about nonprofits that the stadium brings in to operate concession stands, purportedly raising funds for their charitable organizations.

When union members entered contract negotiations with Target Field’s concessionaire, Delaware North, earlier this year, they proposed limits on the practice. The employer showed no interest, Local 17 President Sheigh Freeberg said.

But in July, Ellison announced that his office had reached a civil settlement to shut down one of the nonprofits operating Target Field concession stands, MN Fundraising Initiative (MNFI), after investigating allegations that it was not operated for any charitable purpose. Instead, MNFI was operating as a staffing agency to misclassify hundreds of employees as “volunteers” and deploying them to work in concession stands at venues across the Twin Cities.

Freeberg called it a validating moment for Local 17 members.

“This is a thing that workers have been talking about for years,” Freeberg said. “It’s not right that these sham charities undercut union wages, undercut union labor and take away hours from union workers. It’s hard to overstate how important this settlement was.”

It’s just one of several cases Ellison’s office has built against bad bosses in recent years, seeking justice for victims of wage theft, misclassification or predatory employment practices.

The Attorney General’s Office secured $250,000 in back pay for dairy workers, won $800,000 in restitution for delivery drivers with the gig-economy firm Shipt and, earlier this year, won an important decision that keeps alive efforts to recoup wages allegedly stolen from cleaning workers at Madison Equities’ former holdings in downtown St. Paul.

Fighting back against Trump

Union leaders also point to Ellison’s work since January 2025 to defend Minnesota against attacks from the Trump administration, filing or signing onto over 50 cases against the executive branch.

Ellison’s office filed one of those cases in July, after Trump’s Department of Education abruptly announced it would withhold funding appropriated to local school districts across the country. Minnesota districts stood to lose a combined $74 billion.

“Two months before fall classes, before school was supposed to start, school leaders all over the state scrambled to see what they would have to cut if no one stepped in for students and no one stepped up for the Constitution,” Brian McCarthy, president of the West St. Paul Federation of Teachers, said. “Fortunately, someone did.”

Trump relented, and the federal government released the funding. But McCarthy wondered whether Ellison’s opponent, corporate attorney Ron Schutz, would have sued his own party’s president.

“Lawsuits like that tell me that Keith will continue to work for our kids and our communities,” McCarthy said.

Keeping an eye out for workers

For healthcare workers and advocates, meanwhile, Ellison’s leadership in the Attorney General’s Office is critical to navigating an unprecedented period of upheaval in the sector, with three pairs of health systems seeking the office’s approval for sales or mergers in the last year.

Unions say Ellison understands the importance of maintaining their collective bargaining rights as part of that process.

North Memorial and Sanford made that guarantee as part of a binding community benefits agreement that paved the way for approval of their merger earlier this year, but advocates are still pushing Allina and California-based Sutter Health, as well as HealthPartners and Essentia, for similar agreements.

Allina hospice nurse Susie Smerz said she’s grateful for the work Ellison did to get their newly organized bargaining unit a first contract – without having to go on an open-ended strike. Representatives of the Attorney General’s Office, she said, were directly involved with last-ditch talks to avoid a strike, doing “shuttle diplomacy” to get a tentative agreement between Allina Health and her bargaining unit with SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa.

“The hospice nurses began feeling like an open-ended strike had become the only tool in our tool belt,” Smerz said. “I don’t know how, but the Attorney General’s Office got wind of it and, I think, was like, ‘Oh no, Allina.’ They really got us to the finish line.

“It really seemed like they cared about us – about the little people. We’re a unit of 55 to 60 nurses, and that’s a drop in the bucket for Allina. They were willing to wear us down. But the Attorney General’s Office wanted to be sure we didn’t get left in the dust.”

UNITE HERE’s Freeberg said he tells people Minnesota has the best Attorney General for workers in the country. But that comes with a target on Ellison’s race each time he’s on the ballot.

“He didn’t have to take on cases like ours,” Freeberg said. “These sham charities exist in all 50 states. But that’s who Keith is. He’s someone that workers can always count on, and his opponent is someone that their bosses can always count on. I really don’t think the stakes could be higher than that.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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Ellison joins final push for administrative citations in St. Paul

October 30, 2025 by

Attorney General Keith Ellison today joined St. Paul workers, renters, small business owners and community activists making one last appeal for a “yes” vote on administrative citations.

St. Paul currently lacks authority under the city’s charter to enforce labor standards, property codes, renter protections and other ordinances by issuing civil fines. That makes it an outlier among Minnesota’s largest cities.

When local officials have both civil and criminal enforcement options, Ellison said, they are less likely to tap the Attorney General’s Office for assistance, and their low-income residents are less likely to turn to nonprofits for legal aid.

“We’ve had to sue bad landlords all over the state,” Ellison said during a press conference with the Vote Yes for a Fairer St. Paul campaign outside City Hall. “Every time we do, that means time, money and people, and it means that there’s some other problem that is not being addressed.”

Question 1 on the ballot in the City of St. Paul asks voters whether to amend the charter to allow enforcement of certain ordinances through civil fines, rather than criminal charges.

The proposal emerged from the city’s Charter Commission earlier this year and advanced to the City Council, where it passed unanimously. Mayor Melvin Carter supported the change, but opponents collected enough signatures to put the question before voters Nov. 4.

Labor groups, including the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, have endorsed the “Vote Yes” campaign, arguing the change will allow more efficient and equitable enforcement of labor standards that unions lobbied hard for, including a higher minimum wage and protections against wage theft.

“These ordinances make our city stand out, but, unfortunately, we also stand out for not having a critical tool to enforce them,” Rick Varco, political director of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, said.

Varco pointed to the city’s first major attempt to enforce its ordinance requiring employers to provide earned sick and safe time. The case, filed in 2020, involved about 100 workers at a home health agency who had to wait over four years to get their legally required benefit.

Forcing enforcement into the criminal courts isn’t just impractical, advocates at the press conference said; it also plays into the hands of employers and property owners, with deeper pockets than workers and renters.

“Without administrative citations, the city is left with only two extremes: send a warning letter or pursue a time-consuming, costly criminal case,” Housing Justice Center attorney Jessica Szuminski said. “Predictably, most violations result in no actions at all.”

With a victory for administrative citations Nov. 4, Szuminski added, “tenant protections in St. Paul will finally have teeth, and renters can be assured that their calls for help to the city will mean something.”

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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Educators, families, students unite behind St. Paul levy campaign

October 24, 2025 by

Victor Xiong, a student at Central Senior High, speaks to volunteers at the Yes for SPPS campaign’s kickoff doorknock.

Voters will decide the fate of a $37.2 million levy request from the St. Paul Public Schools this fall, and the stakes are too high – for students, families and the community – to tune out during this quiet election year.

That’s the message educators, students and school board members delivered during a rally to kick off the Vote Yes for SPPS campaign last month. And volunteers have been delivering it to voters across the district, door by door, in the weeks since then.

“We know that our public schools are the heart of our democracy and our community,” St. Paul Federation of Educators President Leah VanDassor said. “This is the work we need to do, and we’re all in it together.”

The levy referendum is a fork in the road for SPPS. District leaders covered most of a $51.1 million budget shortfall this school year by pulling about $35 million from reserves, but SPPS faces another projected shortfall in 2026-27.

The district is seeking voter approval to increase its operating levy by $1,073 per student for the next 10 years. If it passes, the levy would position SPPS to stabilize its budget, retain and attract quality educators and preserve programming inside and outside the classroom, district leaders say.

But if it fails, the district will need to cut programming and services by $37.2 million before school starts next fall.

Carlo Franco, a member of the district’s Board of Education, said many programs that give students opportunities to “find their passion” – arts, languages, cultural enrichment, athletics and after-school opportunities – will not survive without the new operating levy.

“We have done our best to keep cuts away from the classroom as best we can,” Franco told volunteers at the kickoff rally Sept. 20. “Without an additional $37 million, the reality is we’re going to be looking at some of those programs that are the motivators, the college and career readiness, that we need to make sure our students thrive. That is what’s on the ballot right now.”

Horace Mann science specialist Sarah Bosch, a member of the St. Paul Federation of Educators, offers support for the $37.2 million operating levy request during a “Vote Yes for SPPS” kickoff event.

Cuts leave students ‘heartbroken’

Educators, students and families in the district – and across Minnesota – have dealt with budget cuts before, of course.

Victor Xiong, a Central High School student, remembered learning that his teacher in freshman world history class had lost her job in a round of budget cuts. “I was basically heartbroken,” he said during the rally.

“We can’t cut any more without harming students,” added Sarah Bosch, a science teacher at Horace Mann Elementary, where students lost a reading support specialist this school year.

Staring down a ‘triple financial threat’

Inflation has steadily chipped away at the buying power of school districts like SPPS over the last two decades. SPPS estimates it would have an extra $50 million this school year if state-aid increases had matched inflation rates.

An influx of federal funds during the COVID-19 pandemic helped SPPS cover its budget shortfalls temporarily. Not only have those funding streams dried up, but in July the Trump administration threatened to rescind nearly $7 billion in support for public school districts nationwide, before backing away from the plan in August.

Lagging state aid, loss of COVID relief and federal uncertainty represent a “triple financial threat” to school districts, according to Teresa Mozur, campaign manager for the Vote Yes committee and a SPPS parent.

“Now more than ever, with support eroding at the federal level, we need to protect the things that make Saint Paul Public Schools strong,” Mozur said. “Local funding is the only way we can prevent devastating cuts that will have a direct impact on families, our community and our local economy.”

Labor backs school levies across East Metro

St. Paul isn’t the only school district asking local voters for more funding.

In the Nov. 4 election, school districts in Minnesota have authorized 44 ballot questions seeking additional operating revenue. Another 80 ballot questions ask voters to approve money for construction, renovations, technology and other capital projects.

The St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, which brings together over 100 affiliated local unions with over 50,000 members, has endorsed the SPPS levy referendum, as well as levy requests in the following east-metro districts:

Find a full list of labor endorsements in the Nov. 4 election at stpaulunions.org.

– Michael Moore, Union Advocate editor

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

Unions join coalition pushing ‘yes’ vote on administrative citations in St. Paul

September 24, 2025 by

Representatives of labor, faith and community organizations participating in the Vote Yes for a Fairer St. Paul coalition hold a kickoff event outside City Hall.

St. Paul unions are teaming up with labor and community groups this fall on a campaign to advance administrative citations from the general election ballot to the capital city’s charter.

The Vote Yes for a Fairer St. Paul campaign launched with a press conference outside City Hall on Aug. 27. Leaders of labor and faith groups joined workers and tenants in making the case for a “yes” vote on the ballot question before St. Paul voters this fall.

By passing the initiative, voters would confirm the St. Paul City Council’s unanimous vote last spring amending the charter to allow enforcement of certain ordinances through civil fines, rather than criminal charges.

The proposal emerged from the city’s Charter Commission, which voted overwhelmingly late last year to advance it to the council. But opponents collected enough signatures to put the question before voters Nov. 4.

At the kickoff event, Vote Yes leaders said they’re confident the more people learn about administrative citations, the more likely they are to support them. That means education – through press coverage, community engagement and the campaign’s website – will be key to their success.

“The public doesn’t know a whole lot about this,” Rick Varco, political director of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa, acknowledged. “We’re working with community organizations to educate their members and supporters, and we hope people who are looking into what this complex thing is will use those resources to decide to vote ‘yes.’”

Some people, though, are familiar with St. Paul’s inability to enforce ordinances with civil penalties – often because they’ve found themselves waiting on a response to code violations that, in most other cities, would not play out in the criminal-justice system.

Of the state’s 25 largest cities, only St. Paul does not allow for administrative citations.

The city’s police department can issue fines for parking tickets and related violations under state law, and the city can assess fines to recover the cost of some property-related matters, like sidewalk shoveling.

James Blake shares their experience as a renter trying to hold a landlord accountable for unsafe conditions.

But advocates say the city needs more power to take swift action in enforcing labor standards and housing codes, preventing bad employers and corporate landlords from dragging the process out in court.

That’s what recently happened to James Blake after moving into their dream apartment in St. Paul. Blake soon discovered wood rot and mold in the kitchen and a moth infestation in the apartment’s built-in cabinets.

Requests for repairs went unanswered. Blake reported several code violations to the city, which began legal proceedings against the company, but nothing changed, they said, until Blake made the decision to move out four months into their lease.

“The rental company violated multiple deadlines from the city inspectors and even a court order to make repairs,” Blake said. “Watching them face zero consequences left me helpless and exhausted.”

The city’s current structure, advocates say, too often forces renters like Blake – and workers who experience wage theft – to seek relief through the legal system.

“Try to see what kind of lawyer you can hire with my paycheck,” Blake said. “I don’t think I deserve to live with mold, pests and an unusable kitchen because I can’t afford a lawyer.”

Minister JaNaé Bates, co-Executive Director of the progressive faith organization ISAIAH, said administrative citations will make St. Paul a more equitable place to live and work. For residents who commit minor infractions, the change allows them to avoid criminal proceedings, while tenants and workers can leverage real, immediate consequences when powerful bad actors violate their rights.

“Right now, our existing enforcement mechanisms fall hardest on working families and communities of color, while wealthy corporations with deep pockets and legal teams can delay and dodge accountability,” Bates said. “Administrative citations level the playing field.”

– Michael Moore, UA editor

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

St. Paul school levy gets labor endorsement

September 18, 2025 by

Organized labor is backing the campaign to pass a new operating levy in the St. Paul school district this fall. Administrators and union leaders say the increased funds are necessary to maintain educational programming and avoid steep budget cuts.

Delegates to the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation, which unites over 100 affiliate unions in the East Metro, voted Sept. 10 to endorse a “yes” vote on the levy request, which will appear on the ballot Nov. 4.

The St. Paul Federation of Educators, which represents about 4,000 teachers, education assistants and school professionals in the district, also endorsed the levy request, as did AFSCME Council 5, representing nearly 300 school clerical and technical workers.

Labor endorsement means unions will support the community campaign to pass the levy, Yes for St. Paul Public Schools, with both resources and volunteers. SPFE Executive Board member Quentin Ocama, a kindergarten teacher at Maxfield Elementary and SPPS graduate, is chair of the campaign.

“Labor knows how important strong public education is to our community and our city’s future,” Ocama said.

The campaign will hold a kickoff rally Saturday, Sept. 20 – the day after early voting begins. Organizers also invite volunteers to join regular door knocks and phone banks; learn more at www.yesforspps.com/events.

If passed, the levy referendum would raise $1,073 per student annually for the next 10 years, or about $37.2 million per year in additional revenue for the district. It also includes annual inflationary adjustments.

The new funding stream would help the state’s second-largest school district address a projected annual funding gap of over $50 million per year.

Several factors have contributed to the shortfall. Per-pupil funding from the state, although recently tied to inflation, lagged districts’ rising costs for two decades. Federal pandemic-relief funds helped bridge the gap temporarily, but the Trump administration has threatened to close the Department of Education, putting federal funding streams at risk.

Without an influx of revenue, SPPS leaders warn, the school system will be forced to make steep service cuts at its 69 schools, which serve over 33,000 students.

Erica Schatzlein, SPFE’s lead negotiator in contract talks with the district earlier this year, said those cuts would be “drastic” – and risk gains the union has made over the last decade in bargaining for classroom staffing, mental health services, outreach initiatives and other supports for students and families.

To make those gains, SPFE pushed administrators to dip into the district’s fund balance, arguing cash reserves were larger than necessary. That’s no longer the case, Schatzlein said.

“Now it’s at the bare minimum,” she said. “We didn’t ask them to dip into their fund balance to settle our contract this year because they can’t. We know. We looked at the numbers.

“This is a levy to keep the district stable and strong. We’re looking to the taxpayers of St. Paul to keep us on that track of providing the resources the schools St. Paul students deserve – and we don’t do that lightly.”

Investments in local public schools, St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Kera Peterson said, have a ripple effect throughout the community.

“Union members know that high-quality public schools are a key part of St. Paul’s economic vitality,” she said. “They equip the next generation of workers with the skills to meet employers’ needs. They are essential to the fabric of our community.”

“Strong public schools are necessary for St. Paul to continue to be a place where working families choose to live,” Ocama, the Yes for SPPS chair, said. “Public schools are a vital part of our civil fabric, and they are important so that we can raise the next generation of our city’s residents.”

Visit spps.org/vote to learn more about the levy referendum.

– Michael Moore, UA editor

Filed Under: Labor Voices, Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

McMurtrey carries labor endorsement into Ramsey County Board special election Feb. 11

February 4, 2025 by

Ask Garrison McMurtrey why he pursued labor support in his campaign to fill the open seat on the Ramsey County Board, and he will point to his childhood in Mississippi, where union density is roughly half of Minnesota’s.

“I’ve seen the impacts of not having a strong labor movement in our community,” McMurtrey said. “I have family members and friends who have probably experienced employee misclassification or wage theft – the things that result from not having a strong apparatus to protect workers in our community, particularly workers of color.

“I know unions are in for the fight, and I’m in for that fight with them.”

Since moving to Minnesota, McMurtrey has fought for economic justice and workers’ rights, most recently as U.S. Rep. Angie Craig’s district director and, previously, on staff with Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

Craig, who represents Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, tapped McMurtrey to head up her office’s response to recent service and staffing issues with the U.S. Postal Service.

In that role, McMurtrey worked closely with postal unions and saw firsthand, he said, the voice that comes with union representation, from sounding the alarm on short staffing to demanding a response to safety and equipment concerns.

Perry Schmidt, president of the National Association of Letter Carriers’ statewide council, said McMurtrey earned his support by “showing up for postal issues.”

“He takes phone calls and calls me back,” Schmidt said. “He seems to me to be a real, genuine person and good for labor families. I think he’s a very good pick for union members.”

McMurtrey said he intends to continue partnering with unions on the Ramsey County Board as a commissioner for District 3, which includes Falcon Heights and St. Paul’s Payne/Phalen, North End, Como, Frogtown, Hamline-Midway and St. Anthony Park neighborhoods.

Already, McMurtrey said, he has “shadowed” county workers on the job and met with union leaders to discuss their members’ issues, including safety on the job, high turnover rates and competitive pay and benefits. The county employs about 4,000 people.

“I want to work closely with our new County Manager Ling Becker to be a better resource,” McMurtrey said. “I want to get our workers the resources and pay that they deserve – not only to be competitive as an employer, but also because Ramsey County is growing and we want to ensure we’re delivering the best services to our residents.

“We may not agree on everything, but I want to make sure all our union members understand where I’m coming from and I understand where they’re coming from.”

In addition to supporting county employees, McMurtrey won over labor’s support by identifying opportunities to support union jobs in the county’ economic-development work. That includes investments in affordable housing and efforts to increase the county’s sustainability and resiliency in a fast-changing economy.

Richard Kolodziejski, director of government affairs for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters, said union tradespeople can trust McMurtrey to support high-road economic development, whether it’s reimagining downtown St. Paul or revitalizing the Rice Street corridor.

“He understands that jobs and exceptional training go hand in hand, and that fair wages and worker protections are essential to the growth and security of Minnesota’s communities,” Kolodziejski said. “His past work on behalf of Congresswoman Angie Craig’s fight for working families and access to a career in the skilled trades … emphasizes not only his own vision but the steps he will take to make that vision a reality.”

Early voting in the District 3 special election has already begun, with polls open for in-person voting from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day, Feb. 11.

– Michael Moore, UA editor

Filed Under: Labor Voices Tagged With: , ,

Peterson: Support candidates who support union workers

October 23, 2024 by

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. 

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Volunteers key to Minnesota unions’ election-year goals

July 19, 2024 by

The Minnesota AFL-CIO made its first round of legislative endorsements in June, bringing into focus the statewide union federation’s objectives in the 2024 election cycle.

The 79 endorsed candidates would preserve a pro-worker majority in the Minnesota House of Representatives, one-third of the political “trifecta” responsible for delivering a historic package of investments and policy changes that, Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham said, have “set Minnesota on its way to becoming the best state for working people.”

“We can’t afford to go backwards,” she said.

But protecting the labor-endorsed majority in the Legislature – only House races are on the ballot this year, aside from special elections – is just one outcome that Burnham and other labor leaders hope to see from the Nov. 5 election.

Other goals include sending endorsed candidates to Congress, including Rep. Angie Craig in the state’s tightly contested 2nd District, and delivering the state’s electoral votes to the Biden-Harris ticket, endorsed by the national AFL-CIO over a year ago – and reaffirmed by the federation’s Executive Council after a meeting with President Biden on July 10.

“No president has been more invested in expanding the labor movement and empowering workers than President Joe Biden,” council members said in a joint statement afterward. “The AFL-CIO welcomed President Biden back to the House of Labor, and national leaders reiterated their strong solidarity with the Biden-Harris ticket.”

While narrowly-contested races like Biden’s and Craig’s are sure to dominate the airwaves and social media, the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s political work happens closer to the ground.

At the heart of the “Labor 2024” campaign, Burnham said, will be conversations between union members – in the break room, on the doorstep or over the phone – about what matters to them.

“It’s an opportunity for union folks to talk to and show their fellow union members that when we win collective power, we win tangible improvements for working people,” Burnham said. “It’s making sure that folks know that their voice counts and the more we stick together the better off we’re going to be.”

The Minnesota AFL-CIO’s member-to-member approach has a track record of success.

Labor’s unified political effort every two years represents the largest campaign in the state not affiliated with a party or candidate. In 2022, more than 450 union volunteers knocked on 62,000 doors statewide and had more than 30,000 conversations with union voters.

Unions focused their work on 34 “targeted races,” and their endorsed candidates won 25 of them.

Volunteers will need to bring the same energy to Labor 2024, Burnham said. The campaign’s phone banks, rallies and door knocks are likely to begin later this month, after the Aug. 13 primary election.

“Pretty quick here, we’re going to be on the pavement pounding it pretty hard up until Election Day,” she said. “This program is only going to do well if we have members out on the doors, have members making phone calls.

“There are really any number of ways to make a difference. Just get out and be a part of the program.”

The Minnesota AFL-CIO is expected to make additional endorsements this summer as candidates continue to screen with their area labor councils.

To learn more about volunteering, or to receive invites to Labor 2024 campaign events, go to mnaflcio.org and click “Get Updates.”

Filed Under: Labor Voices, Politics Tagged With: , , , , ,

Unions back Little in Dakota County Attorney race

October 21, 2022 by

Matt Little

Matt Little supported the state’s groundbreaking wage theft legislation while serving in the Minnesota Senate in 2019. Now, he’s running for Dakota County Attorney to put the new law to work stopping exploitation in the workplace and on the job site.

Prosecuting wage theft cases is “totally within your purview” as county attorney, Little said. “There’s functionally no difference if you walk into someone’s house and steal money off their countertop or if you steal it off their paycheck. It’s the same thing.”

But Little said wage theft hasn’t been a top concern in the County Attorney’s Office. Pointing to allegations of worker exploitation on the Viking Lakes development in Eagan, Little said “the threat of prosecution alone would be helpful.”

Little’s interest in cracking down on labor abuses is among the reasons unions are backing the former state senator and mayor of Lakeville in the first contested election for the Dakota County post in over a decade.

“I’m the only one talking about wage theft as an issue that the Dakota County Attorney’s Office should and could enforce,” Little said. “My opponent has never even mentioned it as a priority.”

Little, whose mother was a steward in the Service Employees (SEIU) union, said he has always sought – and earned – support from organized labor in his campaigns.

“I believe it’s incredibly important to have the support of working people,” Little said. “When I was running for city office, it was true then, and it’s true for this race too. Those are the people doing the work.”

Another reason unions are backing Little is his pledge to fight for more resources and support for the people doing the work in the County Attorney’s Office.

Members of the County Attorney’s staff were among workers who joined an informational picket in September to protest the slow pace of contract negotiations between Dakota County and their unions, AFSCME locals 306, 450 and 693.

“You don’t have to look too deeply to see that there isn’t anybody fighting for staff,” he said. “We’re seeing retention problems as people leave the office for higher paying work. It doesn’t seem like anybody’s sticking up for them at all, and I want to be that voice.

“We need someone who will fight for staff and fight for union members to make sure they’re being paid competitive wages, to make sure they feel like they’re valued and they want to stay and continue putting in high quality work for the people of Dakota County.”

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