Report of the Executive Director
2011 DELEGATE ASSEMBLY
SEPTEMBER 23-24, 2011
DOUBLE TREE, BLOOMINGTON
Executive Director’s Report to the 2011 Delegate Assembly
Despite the unprecedented assault on union rights that has taken root over the last 12 months, I report to you today that the state of our Union is strong! Our leadership, staff and members must be commended for their continued efforts to sustain the quality of life for our members, and the working men and women of Minnesota.
Last fall, we helped elect the first democratic governor, Mark Dayton, in this state in more than two decades, yet we lost majority control in both the state House and the state Senate. As a result, MAPE and the entire organized labor movement in Minnesota has found itself under a relentless attack by the anti-public employee, “right-to-work” supporters who look for excuses to destroy the middle class.
As soon as the curtain fell on last year’s election, the right-wing crowd in this country began to formulate a plan. They wanted to get rid of their chief rival at the ballot box and those who stood in the way of even more excessive corporate profits. They felt they could only do that by eliminating or dealing a near-death blow to the union movement. They decided to do this under the guise of budget fixes to weather the worst economic storm this country has faced since the Great Depression.
The battle started in Wisconsin, where the right-wing crowd had wrested control of not only the legislature, but the governor’s office as well. Governor-elect Scott Walker and his newly elected Republican friends waged a full-scale attack against our union brothers and sisters in Wisconsin.
As the 2011 legislative session began in Minnesota, we had our own anti-labor, anti-public employee crowd that had been studying the national plan to get rid of unions. In all, we fought back against more than 50 anti-labor, unfriendly public employee bills through the entire legislative session, and the days leading up to and including the historic 20-day state government shutdown.
Despite all of this doom and gloom, there is a silver lining. Our membership rose to the challenge, turning out in record numbers for rallies, and to confront the anti-labor lawmakers at the Capitol, and at community meetings and lit drops in legislative districts. We also had a record number of members who stood up to talk to Minnesotans about the immense value of the services they provide.
While we didn’t get the budget resolution we fought and hoped for, we have been successful in fighting off the vast majority of the anti-organized labor legislation in this state that was aimed at dwindling our ranks and paychecks. While the popularity of lawmakers is historically low, we have ample evidence that this Union is still strong despite the monumental challenges we have faced.
I also come to you today for a call to action. We have to get ready for the battles we face, as the newly elected Legislature in this state prepares constitutional amendments aimed at carving their philosophy in stone. We also have to prepare as we never have before to retake control of the majorities in both the state House and Senate. Our livelihoods depend on it.
The report that follows will provide you with more information on these important activities and provide options for our activities in the future.
2011 MAPE Membership:
Despite the constant threat of a smaller state government following layoffs, the MAPE bargaining unit gained 381 members since the 2010 Delegate Assembly. There continues to be challenges in reaching out to new members, but several locals deserve special recognition for the hard work they have done to achieve and maintain 75 percent full membership.
The following locals achieved 75 percent or above by August 2011 and should be congratulated for their member organizing efforts:
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Local
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Percentage Full Membership as of August 2011
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201
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83.63
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202
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91.94
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1303
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95.24
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1401
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78.33
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1602
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80.57
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1703
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75.51
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1901
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84.8
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1903
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77.1
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2101
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84.57
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Member Activism:
When it became clear the Legislature was not going to work with Governor Dayton to develop a balanced budget compromise, MAPE members across the state came together to hold legislators accountable by attending the following events:
We Are Watching: End of Session Visibility Event
May 23 – State employees flooded the state Capitol to watch the clock run out on the 2011 legislative session. Approximately 215 MAPE-represented employees attended.
Shutdown Eve Cookout and Candlelight Vigil
June 30 – State employees and members of the public held a candlelight vigiloutside the state Capitol to highlight the services lost to Minnesotans on the eve of the 2011 state government shutdown. Approximately 110 MAPE-represented employees attended the vigil and the cookout beforehand.
End the Shutdown Rally
July 6 – To mark one week since state government shut down, state employees and the public rallied on the state Capitol lawn to end the shutdown. Approximately 100
MAPE-represented employees were in attendance.
Regional We Are One Rallies
In addition to large visibility events, MAPE members led and participated in regional rallies in collaboration with AFSCME Council 5 and the AFL-CIO. MAPE-represented employees rallied in St. Paul on Lafayette Rd N, Bemidji, Duluth, Moorhead and
St. Cloud during the shutdown.
Steward Training:
The entry level steward training has undergone slight changes during this past year. Now, training includes more role playing and member involvement in handling investigations, answering members’ questions, providing steward advice and assisting with performance appeals. MAPE staff and the Statewide First Vice President held one basic steward training in May, resulting in 24 additional stewards being trained. There is a basic steward training scheduled for October 2011 and an advanced steward training scheduled for November 2011. Both training registrations are nearing capacity.
I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the members who have assisted in steward activities in the workplace throughout the year. We have had years where more stewards completed training, but this year MAPE reached new heights in steward involvement and continue to take more strides toward accomplishing our goal of having active and trained stewards at every MAPE work site.
Staff Activities
I want to take this time to give a special thanks to several of your Executive Team members who will be retiring from their positions on the Executive Board. Jill Hiatt, MAPE’s First Vice President, and Jay Smith, MAPE’s Second Vice President, are stepping down from their exemplary service as executive officers. Jamie Fitzpatrick is stepping down as MAPE’s Treasurer, where he has served in that capacity for the past 10 years including several difficult budget years.
There were even more challenges than usual placed upon the MAPE staff in 2011. Since February, business agents have been asked to pick up additional local assignments. While continuing to meet their day-to-day responsibilities to the membership, they were asked to switch directions entirely in preparation for a government shutdown. Staff made phone calls to get members to turn out for activities, they attended town hall meetings, participated in coalition activities, and attended ring of fire lit drops and visibility activities such as rallies and media events around the state.
Over the past 12 months, the business agents have been involved in more than 2,500 meetings on behalf of MAPE-represented employees. These include: meet & confers, arbitrations, grievances, investigations, trainings, member appeals, advisory meetings on various issues, negotiations of city contracts and various internal organizing activities, many of those coordinated by Organizer Kelly Morrell.
Business agents continue to remain current on all grievances and/or arbitrations with the amount of active cases remaining fairly constant. For three months of the last year surrounding the government shutdown, MAPE and the State of Minnesota held the entire grievance process in abeyance to focus on shutdown activities. Therefore, business agents are still working to resolve active shutdown-related grievances.
I want to take this opportunity to thank your business agents: Tom Dougherty, Sheila Pokorny, Joe McMahon, Rich Ransom, Kelly Ahern and Kathy Fodness for their work this past year. They continue to rise to the challenges placed before them and go the extra mile for the membership of MAPE.
MAPE’s new Director of Member Representation and Services, Joni Ketter just started on September 19th. Joni comes to MAPE with many years of experience in organizing, membership representation and state politics from SEIU, AFT and the Minnesota Nurses Association. Please take time to welcome her to MAPE.
The operations staff, which includes Paul Schweitzer, Julie Lee, Patty Fadden, Kimberly Taylor and Candi Nelson, have been extremely busy over the past year. I want to take this opportunity to let you know what each of these dedicated staff do for you:
o Candi is MAPE’s receptionist. She is the voice you hear when contacting the office and the person who puts together all of the local meeting announcements.
o Patty is MAPE’s Membership Services lead. She works with many of you on information, supplies and operations matters.
o Kimberly handles our membership records.
o Julie is responsible for the financial record keeping and ensuring that all bills, expenses and reimbursements are paid.
o Paul is responsible for the ongoing and smooth functioning of the support services, purchasing, financial reporting and other related matters.
In short, these individuals have extremely busy jobs and their work is essential to serving our membership.
Please take a few minutes to thank the operations staff for the work they do for you.
Communications
During one of the most difficult scenarios imaginable, MAPE communications kept members informed about the legislative session and the state government shutdown through desk drops, letters to members and web postings on completely redesigned websites that oftentimes had several new web pieces posted each day. MAPE communications successfully developed, trained and utilized a network of MAPE members as spokespeople to inform Minnesotans all across this state about the important services they provide.
Thanks to the help of a team of our members, MAPE’s earned media plan successfully helped to educate Minnesotans all across the state on the importance of our members’ services. We were flooded with media requests, both by proactively reaching out and the media’s response to news events, from the start of the legislative session through the end of the state government shutdown.
MAPE’s communications worked with the media, and recruited, coached and worked on remarks with members and leadership to speak at rallies and interviews for a wide range of media calls. A record number of members stepped forward to help us reach out to the media as spokespeople. Many of our spokespeople hadn’t been in the limelight before. These members were interviewed for radio, television, newspapers and online publications, and they spoke at rallies and at press conferences. We also collaborated with union brothers and sisters to stage joint opportunities for the media – our spokespeople also spoke at these events.
Our message went nationally and internationally, hitting the BBC (on the eve of the shutdown) and National Public Radio at the July 6 rally. The shutdown ended with the Wall Street Journal working on an article with us that was going to highlight a wide variety of the services provided by our members. In Minnesota, MAPE’s message was heard from border to border through the state’s media.
Members, leadership and staff created the first-ever desk drop newsletter for MAPE members with the latest information to debunk myths and attacks on public employees.
Leadership assisted in establishing a volunteer network across the state to distribute the first print edition of the newsletter in late February. A month later in order to reach all members and provide online reference material, we switched the distribution of the desk drop to an electronic format sent to members’ work e-mail addresses. As the shutdown drew near, we distributed the desk drop more frequently.
The desk drops were a huge success. The proof of this is revealed in the piece below on record-setting website activity, since the electronic desk drops had links to the MAPE and TeamMAPE websites.
MAPE.org and TeamMAPE.org website redesign is colossal hit! A time-tested marketing theory says that a well-beaten path to a product indicates it has been successful. The MAPE.org and TeamMAPE.org websites were redesigned in January to feature the news of importance that impacts the bottom line of the entire bargaining unit.
From the opening day of the legislative session through the end of the shutdown, the two websites kept MAPE employees up-to-date, first, on the dozens of anti-public employee, anti-union legislation the GOP legislative majority tried to enact into law this year. Then, on the shutdown-related issues leading up to and throughout the state government shutdown, MAPE members were kept up-to-date on the vast array of issues with daily updates, sometimes multiple times each day and over the weekends.
In the month leading up to the shutdown in June alone, the websites had a record-setting 76,467 visits (approximately 19,000 per week) or more than 36,000 unique visitors for the month. In the final two weeks of June, we averaged 13,000 unique visits per week – (roughly double what we saw a month earlier) and four peak days ranging from 5,000 to more than 7,000 unique visits per day.
In the last year, MAPE transitioned to a new state-of-the-art mass email and database tool known as Convio. Convio is better than our former product and allows for event signups, advocacy emails and mass emailing. In one day, 984 MAPE members used Convio to respond to an email sent to state employees by House Speaker Kurt Zellers and Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch. Team MAPE emails now reach 7,781 home email addresses, an increase of more than 2,000 emails. We sent more than 200,000
Team MAPE emails this year with an average open rate of 30 percent. In addition, MAPE is now using emails for meeting notices, saving money and the environment.
Along the way, we seamlessly switched to a new, more powerful web server.
Our campaign to collect home email addresses immediately prior to the shutdown was extraordinarily successful. We now have more than 2,000 additional emails than we did at the beginning of the year. MAPE has by far one of the most robust and successful email programs in the labor movement. We should all be proud of our work in this area.
Social media is a new way many MAPE members are using to get MAPE information and to interact with their fellow MAPE members. The MAPE and MAPE staff Twitter feeds, combined, have 1,077 followers. For the second year, Public Affairs and Communications Director Richard Kolodziejski tweeted real-time updates during the end of the legislative session in order to keep members informed. We have also achieved 230 “likes” on our MAPE Facebook page and have consolidated the Team MAPE and MAPE Facebook pages to one central location.
Thanks to MAPE’s communications team: Leslie Sandberg, Murray Cody and Kendal Killian for their endless hard work on communications over this past year.
Coalition Activities
MAPE partnered with a few key coalitions to aid the 2010 election effort. First and foremost, we played a significant role in the 2010 Fund, which contributed to the Alliance for a Better Minnesota. By airing key ads highlighting Tom Emmer’s votes to lower penalties for drunk drivers and his plan to cut wages for restaurant servers, ABM introduced Emmer to Minnesotans early in the campaign as the right-wing ideologue he is.
Second, MAPE joined the Labor 2010 coalition, playing a larger role in conjunction with our labor partners than we ever have. This coalition allowed us to have key members included in door knocking and mailing universes. Finally, MAPE once again partnered with other groups in the MVP partnership to aid key legislative races.
Our influence as a union is often stronger when we work in coalitions with partners in the broader progressive and labor communities. Together, the allies in these coalitions are greater than the sum of our parts as we work on various issues, from elections to hunger to health care. Here is an overview of just a few of the coalitions MAPE is currently involved in:
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Alliance for a Better Minnesota – ABM is focused on coordinating media and messaging activities within the progressive movement. Based on polling and expert messaging information, ABM spearheaded the anti-Emmer TV ads in 2010 that were instrumental in the election of Governor Mark Dayton. Throughout the 2011 legislative session and shutdown, ABM convened weekly strategy meetings, coordinating activities among progressive partners.
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2012 Fund – MAPE was a founding member of the 2010 Fund. The 2010 Fund solicited large contributions from organizations and individuals in the run-up to the 2010 campaign, totaling more than $2 million. Together, our combined resources were put into the ABM ad campaign. The aptly named 2012 Fund is being organized in preparation for the 2012 election effort to win back labor friendly majorities in the Minnesota House and Senate.
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America Votes – Like ABM and the 2012 Fund, America Votes coordinates activities among numerous progressive partners. While the 2012 Fund focuses on raising money and ABM deals specifically with messaging and communications, America Votes is dedicated to state-of-the-art grassroots field campaigns. In 2010, America Votes funded and coordinated voter turnout efforts in student precincts and in the Hmong, Somali and African American communities. Earlier this year, America Votes coordinated budget battle activities in key legislative districts, including lit drops and in-district meetings.
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Take Action Minnesota – According to its website, TakeAction Minnesota is a statewide organization of individual and organizational members working in coalition to advance social, racial and economic justice.
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Minnesota 2020– Minnesota 2020 is a progressive, news media, non-partisan think tank focused on advancing progressive public policy. The reporting and research put out by Minnesota 2020 informs, frames and drives public policy debate on the issues that matter for Minnesota's future success: education, health care, transportation and economic development.
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Labor 2012 – This is the coalition of labor unions, including MAPE and Change to Win, that worked on common issues and concerns in the 2012 election cycle. In 2010, for the first time, MAPE members were included in mailings and canvasses executed by Labor 2010 to help make sure union members support union-endorsed candidates.
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Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition – This group focuses on education and coordinated action surrounding the issue of “Fair Trade” agreements.
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Upper Midwest Labor/Management Coalition on Health Care – This is a labor management coalition focused on ways to continue the provision of affordable, accessible and quality health care for members of Taft Hartley plans and SEGIP.
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Hunger Solutions – This is an organization dedicated to ending hunger in Minnesota.
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Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition– This organization is focused on securing passage and implementation of a single payer universal health care program for all Minnesotans.
MAPE’s Political Program
2010 Elections:
Last fall, Team MAPE knocked on 5,000 doors, distributed 8,000 leaflets and made more than 12,000 phone calls. Throughout the entire campaign, more than 300 MAPE members actively got involved by attending their caucuses, making phone calls, talking to their coworkers, distributing flyers and knocking on doors.
Team MAPE ran a sophisticated and thorough internal member phoning program to encourage members to support our endorsed candidates in 2010. In addition to the calls mentioned above, we made at least one phone call to all members in targeted legislative districts and did 500 GOTV calls to members with less proven voting histories. For the first time, MAPE used auto dialing technologies to increase our efficiency and allowed members in Greater Minnesota to call simultaneously from home during the phone banks. For the first time, Team MAPE encouraged members to talk to their coworkers about the election and to track the results of those conversations through a dedicated online database.
MAPE sent a series of three mailings to key members at the very end of the campaigns. The first postcard reminded members to vote for Team MAPE candidates. The second mentioned legislative candidates and included a short biography of their endorsed legislative candidates. And the third highlighted Mark Dayton and included a list of endorsed candidates and polling locations. The final mailing also went to members with less proven voting histories. MAPE also sent a special issue of Professional Issues to all MAPE members. This mailing included a candidate comparison.
From June to November, MAPE members directly aided candidates in targeted districts by knocking on doors, walking in parades and making phone calls. Together, we helped candidates in more than 50 targeted districts.
Our internal member education campaign talked to more than 3,700 targeted members about voting for our endorsed candidates. These conversations took place at their doors, in workplaces and on the phone. Candidate ID surveys indicate 70 percent supported Dayton, 14 percent were undecided, 10 percent supported Emmer and 5 percent supported Horner. This was consistent with data from the September MAPE member poll.
Undecided members received a follow-up call immediately before the election, persuading them to support Dayton. More than 50 percent of these members broke to Dayton on their second call. Horner supporters also received a specific mail piece discouraging members from supporting him. These mailings coincided with Horner’s fall in the polls from near 20 percent down to 12 percent.
As a result of the efforts we put in, we achieved our stated goal by “electing our boss.” A special thanks to all of our member volunteers and activists who helped elect Minnesota’s first DFL governor in 24 years, Mark Dayton. Our election officials and volunteers also helped make it possible for more than 2,106,035 Minnesotans to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 2.
Recount:
Following the election, Minnesota Statute required a recount since less than one-half of 1 percent of votes cast separated the two candidates in the race. MAPE made a significant impact on the Dayton recount effort. Our union made the very first financial contribution to the recount, coming at a very key point in the process. MAPE staff members and member volunteers played key roles in the recount effort. Richard Kolodziejski and Kendal Killian each led Dayton recount efforts in separate Minnesota counties. These contributions helped to ensure victory for our endorsed candidate, Mark Dayton. Special thanks go out to all who volunteered. Dayton’s recount was handled in a very professional manner. Hundreds of volunteers made it entirely possible.
Historic GOP Shift:
With Mark Dayton winning the governor’s race, the biggest shock was still being digested across the state.Overall, Team MAPE endorsed candidates won 62 percent of their races. However, we lost labor supportive majorities in both chambers of the Legislature. In other words, we won 15 percent fewer races than in 2006 and 2008. Republicans hold the advantage in the Senate,37 to 30,and in the House,72 to 62. In all, 34 DFL incumbents lost their reelection bids and the Senate saw a GOP majority for the first time in more than 30 years. Compounding the loss of the majority in both houses, Minnesota was facing a $5 billion budget shortfall.
The good news is that labor supported elected officials now sit in every statewide elected office in Minnesota, including both U.S. Senate seats, the Governor’s Office and all constitutional offices.
2011 Legislative Session
The new Republican legislative majorities in St. Paul took over in January. New committee chairs like Senator Mike Parry immediately set their sights on undermining MAPE and other state collective bargaining units.
Governor Dayton started his term in office doing battle with lawmakers who were intent on cutting state services to Minnesota’s most vulnerable citizens and local government aid by proposing an increase on the richest Minnesotans to help bridge the gap inthe budget deficit. The standoff began and simply disguised the more than 7 percent unemployment rate so many elected officials campaigned to correct.
With Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s attacks on public employees as a backdrop, the Minnesota Republican majority drafted bills including a constitutional amendment on “right to work” (for less), reduce the employee match into our pension plan, create health savings accounts as a replacement for our current health plan and eliminate the Corrections Early Retirement Plan (CERP).
The 2011 Legislature passed budget bills with false numbers and unprescribed cuts. They held conference committee meetings exclusive of the minority party. They rarely engaged the Governor’s Office in any bill negotiations, which resulted in nearly all of the budget bills passed at the very end of the legislative session being vetoed.Many critical attacks by the Republican majority were evident in those bills passed at the end of session, including:
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Moving to a high deductible plan within the State Employee Group Insurance Program (SEGIP).
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Elimination of MCF-Faribault chemical dependency treatment program and positions.
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Outsourcing of county audits done by the State Auditor’s Office.
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15 percent required Executive Branch workforce reduction – approximately 5,000 jobs.
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Repealing of Minnesota Statute 16C protecting state workers’ jobs from being outsourced.
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Outsourcing of the state’s IT infrastructure.
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Mandated wage freezes.
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A 65 percent cut to the Department of Human Rights.
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Elimination of the Trade Office.
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Closure of the Willmar Community Transitional Services Facility.
We successfully pushed back these initiatives, but it took shutting down the government to do so. The majority’s tactics left no choice other than a government shutdown. One thing we know for sure is that when the shutdown concluded, the final bills still contained major cuts to jobs. Most agencies have been cut from 5 percent to 15 percent. This will translate into job loss.
Despite the difficulties of the legislative session, there were some other pieces of legislation passed that may benefit members and some that will cause a great deal of angst moving forward into future legislative sessions. The legislation includes:
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Proposed legislation to close the remaining two state tree nurseries ended up just limiting plantings at one of the state’s nurseries to plant on public lands or permanently protected lands. The DNR is required to submit a plan to the Legislature that includes a long-term plan for the state’s tree nurseries that will likely result in one being closed.
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The commissioner of Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) is required to enter into a contract to provide dependent eligibility verification audit services for the state employee insurance program. In return, executive agency general fund operating budgets will be cut by $1.726 million during the upcoming biennium, resulting from savings from verification of dependent eligibility for state employee group insurance coverage.
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New legislation authorizes MMB to develop and implement a program to create incentives for efficient use by state employees of SEGIP.
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The commissioner of Revenue must implement a program of tax compliance through use of advanced tax analytics and business intelligence tools. Initial legislation required these services to be outsourced. The language signed into law allows the Department of Revenue to enter into contracts and hire employees to achieve this requirement.
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Currently, the Legislative Commission on Pensions and Retirement (LCPR) consists of five House members and five senators. New legislation effective in January of 2013 increases the LCPR membership to seven members from each governing body. Five members from each chamber may be from the majority party in that chamber.
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Legislation establishing a Sunset Commission was established to review state agencies based on statutory criteria, conduct public hearings on the review, set criteria for the commission to consider in determining whether a public need exists for the continuation of a particular state agency, and report back on any recommendations on the abolition, continuation or reorganization of agencies. The bill states that if an employee is displaced because an agency is abolished, the agency must make a reasonable effort to relocate the displaced employee.
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Language in the State Government Finance omnibus bill requires the commissioner of MMB to establish a program to provide onetime bonus compensation to state employees for efforts made to reduce the costs of operating state government or for ways of creating efficiencies in state government. The maximum award to an employee or group of employees is 10 percent of the documented savings during the first year of implementation not to exceed $10,000 per employee or $25,000 per group of employees.
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Language requires MMB to report to the Legislature by January 15, 2012, on a plan to redesign and implement a new performance appraisal system for state employees. The new system would hold employees accountable for their individual performance, progress on meeting individual goals and the overall performance of their state agency. Your current step increases would still be dependent on that appraisal, including your agency’s performance.
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Legislation will require state employees (not including MnSCU) whose work involves functions or support for employees who handle information technology systems and services including data centers, mainframes, servers, desktops and laptops, networks, email and other office systems, business application software, and help desk and maintenance, to become part of the Office of Enterprise Technology (OET). OET will enter into managed contracts with state agencies for the services through their retained employees. The state chief information officer will then assign OET employees to perform work for state agencies. MAPE was able to work with the administration to ensure that any contracting must maintain the statutory protections provided in Minnesota Statute 16C. Employees will unlikely change their work or work locations under this new language.
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The MN Department of Human Rights received appropriations that were only
5 percent reductions in the agency’s general fund budget rather than the proposed 65 percent cuts that the Legislature passed.
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Legislation passed that suggests a study from the Department of Corrections including deportation of illegal immigrant prisoners, early release, accepting inmates from other states or closing all or part of a facility, reducing inmate medical costs and reforming the department’s role in the juvenile justice system.
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Cuts to the correctional facilities of $1.8 million and a 2.5 percent cut to field services.
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Cuts of 13.5 percent to the MnSCU budget and more than 15 percent to the University of Minnesota’s base budget.
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The proposed closing of the Community Behavioral Health Hospital-Willmar may not take place before March 31, 2012.
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Cuts of 8 percent to the Department of Human Services’ base budget.
As a result of the government shutdown and employee layoffs, one additional piece of legislation that passed states, “A state employee who was laid off or placed on unpaid leave during July 2011 and accepts recall during July 2011 shall receive service credit and credited salary in a retirement plan as if the employee had actually been employed during the period of layoff or unpaid leave during July 2011.”
2011 Budget Crisis
In the wake of a budget crisis defined by either tax increases on the wealthiest Minnesotans or cuts on jobs and services, a July 1 deadline for all state budget bills approached with a compromise not even in the cards. MAPE began working directly with AFSCME on shutdown planning. We continued to support the governor’s budget proposal while fighting an attack on our members and their rights. We communicated mostly through earned media, using social media and traditional media as resources.
On May 24, with a budget solution looking less likely, MAPE and AFSCME implemented the “We Want to Work” campaign. With $300,000, we coordinated television and radio buys with the AFL-CIO. Ads were scripted internally and prepared using actual state employees. They were shot and edited by the media firm Gum Spirits, which is known for its bold progressive ads. The ads were approved for airing in early June. The ads ran statewide following the AFL-CIO ad buy. The ads were run in conjunction with many field events such as “We Want to Work” Day, in-district legislative meetings and legislator contacts.
On June 10, more than 36,000 state employees received notices of the intent to be
laid off. MAPE members voted electronically to overwhelmingly approve a memorandum of understanding (MOU) related to the state government shutdown. MAPE members approved the MOU by a 95 percent margin, with 50 percent of MAPE’s voting membership casting a ballot. The MOU prevented the cashing out of vacation and severance while protecting members’ rights to their employment and conditions upon returning to work. The voting was MAPE’s first electronic ballot used statewide and was done successfully.
As July 1 approached, the GOP majorities and governor did not reach agreement on the budget and the government shut down. A 20-day shutdown that impacted more than 7,700 MAPE members commenced as legislators returned home to their districts.
MAPE and our progressive partners were very active in targeting legislative districts throughout June and July, when legislators were at home in their districts. MAPE members participated in nearly 20 legislative meetings set up by our progressive allies, many with more than 100 constituents in attendance. MAPE members volunteered at more than 15 lit drops in targeted legislative districts and generated hundreds of
patch-through calls to legislators using our “We Want to Work” message. These activities clearly were noticed by Republican legislators.
While the government shutdown was a serious burden for thousands of MAPE members, it did provide us with an opportunity to engage hundreds of members in political activities. Through rallies, legislator meetings, ring of fire lit drops and phone banks, hundreds of MAPE members got more involved than ever before in Team MAPE activities throughout June and July.
This year, more than 300 MAPE members attended legislator meetings; we have sent more than 18,000 emails to legislators and received more than 500 member commitments to call legislators. The two Team MAPE phone banks during the shutdown were also very successful with more than 15 volunteers each week.
MAPE was recognized throughout the progressive community and the labor movement for our union’s significant involvement in these activities leading up to and during the shutdown. At event after event, our members made up a considerable percentage of the attendees. In at least 10 instances, our members were quoted in news stories as a direct result of their participation at town hall meetings.
2011 Contract Negotiations
Having just gone through the worst debacle in the state’s legislative history, a 20-day shutdown that impacted more than 7,700 MAPE members, our goal was and remains to negotiate a contract that MAPE’s members can ratify and the Legislature will pass.
During the last legislative session, we had to fight back more than 50 bills aimed directly at taking away your rights and benefits, and contracting out your jobs. MAPE employees do have a contract that remains in place. Negotiations were initiated on May 12 when MAPE and the Governor’s Team exchanged proposals for the 2011-2013 contract. On May 13, the Union Coalition met with the Governor’s Team to hear a presentation from them. Since then, we have initiated negotiations and are working through the process, the provisions of PELRA, Sections 179A.20, subd.6, come into play. This section states:
Subd. 6.Contract in effect.
During the period after contract expiration and prior to the date when the right to strike matures, and for additional time if the parties agree, the terms of an existing contract shall continue in effect and shall be enforceable upon both parties.
This means that the current contract remains in force during negotiations. All provisions of the current contract are in effect. We have returned to the table with the multi-union insurance coalition and set additional dates for October.
What we learned from the last legislative session and its brutal outcome is that even the current contract would not be approved by the Republican-controlled Legislature. PELRA does require that they pass legislation to implement the contract.The process we have entered into may seem protracted; however, we cannot agree to a contract that would negotiate away your rights, impose a high deductable health plan or impose a withholding of 5 percent of your wages for something called “performance pay.”
The Driving Force Behind the Anti-Labor Movement – ALEC
As recent news articles detail the stagnant job market, high unemployment and excessive executive compensation and multi-million dollar federal tax refunds for fortune 500 companies, many in the middle class are still wondering why they keep getting squeezed.
The current economic situation here in Minnesota is directly tied to the leadership change in the Legislature. The middle class, as well as the unions that defend it and are members of it, are not supported by the Republican majorities in both the House and Senate. Unfortunately, what we are experiencing in Minnesota is happening all around the country. The attack on unions and the middle class started soon after the 2010
mid-term elections.
National Coordinated Effort
At a Republican Governor’s Association meeting in San Diego right after the election, several elected officials identified unions as the enemy, and claimed that union compensation and benefits were the reason for deficits in so many states.
Scott Walker of Wisconsin and New Jersey’s Chris Christie joined Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty in stepping up the attacks. All of them echoed that public employees were “over benefitted and overpaid” or were the “haves while the taxpaying public are the have-nots.” It did not matter to the GOP whether their statements were accurate; they were energized and had their target in sight.
Union busting was in full force and yet no one really knew of the level of what was in store for public employees.
In Ohio and Wisconsin, Republican governors had favorable legislatures that allowed them to destroy collective bargaining rights. In Wisconsin, there was such an uproar that democratic senators left the state to try and stop Walker’s attack. Although ultimately Walker won, his victory was slightly delayed. During that delay, the country was able to see the influence of conservative businessmen and a little known non-profit that helped shape Walker’s union busting agenda.
While state democrats took refuge across the state lines in Illinois, Governor Walker took a call and unwittingly thought he was chatting with David Koch of Koch Industries. Koch is a billionaire whose conservative, pro-business PAC gave Walker’s campaign for governor $46,000 in 2010. It turns out Walker actually was talking to a blogger who impersonated Koch, recorded the very frank conversation and exposed the cozy relationship between the governor and the billionaire.
David and his brother Charles supported Walker and his anti-union agenda. But there was more. The Koch Brothers also financially supported another group that was growing in influence, The American Legislative Exchange Council.
The American Legislative Exchange Council
More than 30 years ago, a small group of state legislators and conservative policy advocates met in Chicago to implement a common vision: they wanted to create “a nonpartisan, membership association for state lawmakers who shared a belief in limited government, free markets, federalism and individual liberty.” As a result of that meeting in September 1973, the American Legislative Exchange Council, known as ALEC, was formed.
According to background information on ALEC, the organization brings together “state lawmakers and business people with the goal of substantively creating policy … in addition to state lawmakers, ALEC membership consists of about 300 corporate, foundation and other private sector members.” As you might assume, a majority of the state lawmakers involved with ALEC are Republican.
Funding of ALEC
ALEC is supported by corporate America. Here is a partial listing of companies and trade associations that support ALEC: American Nuclear Energy Council, American Petroleum Institute, Coors Brewing Company, Texaco, Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturing of America, Philip Morris, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, VISA, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Johnson and Johnson, Kraft Foods, Inc., Wal-Mart, Intuit, State Farm Insurance, United Parcel Service(UPS), the National Rifle Association, Koch Industries, Amway and others.
According to public information provided by the organization People for the American Way, in 2007 ALEC had a budget of approximately $7.8 million in revenue and
$3.1 million in assets. Corporate membership fees ranged between $5,000 and $50,000 with additional fees to participate in certain task forces.
For decades, ALEC has quietly produced business friendly legislation for lawmakers all around the country. ALEC has no real counterpart on the left. Its closest equivalent, the Progressive States Network, was founded in 2005, has about a quarter of ALEC’s funding and produces only a small amount of model legislation.
This year, ALEC published a “Budget Tool Kit” that offered model legislation for cutting government services and targeting public employees. The mission of the task force that drafted the budget tool kit was “to explore policy solutions that reduce excessive government spending, lower the overall tax burden, enhance the transparency of government operations and promote free-market fiscal policies.”
According to an article titled, ALEC Exposed, in The Nation, “ALEC priorities for the 2011 session included bills to privatize education, break unions, deregulate major industries, pass voter identification laws and more. In states across the country, they succeeded with stacks of new laws signed by GOP governors like Ohio’s John Kasich and Scott Walker, both ALEC alums.”
ALEC’s growing influence goes hand in hand with the union bashing currently going on throughout the nation. Corporate America sees an opportunity to severely weaken or eliminate unions under the guise of creating government efficiency and ALEC is poised to work with their members who are state lawmakers to make this happen. In 2011, Minnesota public employee unions were targeted by the new GOP majorities in the House and Senate, many who are ALEC members.
State Rep. Mary Kiffmeyer, former Minnesota Secretary of State, is ALEC’s state chair. She acknowledged that there are about 30 Minnesota legislators who are members of ALEC. Kiffmeyer also organized ALEC training for Republican lawmakers during the last session.
As a result of ALEC’s influence, in the 2011 legislative session, there were 50 bills introduced to eliminate collective bargaining in Minnesota. Many of the bills were cookie cutter templates from ALEC’s took kit and were introduced during the legislative session. One piece of legislation, if passed, would have actually cost the state more money.
Here is some of the more egregious legislation sponsored by Minnesota GOP legislators who are members of ALEC:
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Pension reform, sponsored by state Senator Alice Hoffman, would have forced public employees to pay 3 percent more for their pensions while reducing the state’s match by 3 percent.
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Pension reform was cited as a major tool to improve government efficiency in the 2011 Budget Tool Kit.
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The bill would have cost the state $68.5 million annually and would have negated some of the $6 billion in savings made by the 2010 pension reform bill.
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Even though this bill would cost Minnesota money, it is still alive and could reappear next session.
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Outsourcing state services, cutting the state workforce by 15 percent, mandated salary freeze, Health Savings Account high deductible plan – were allshepherded through Senator Mike Parry’s State Government Finance Committee Omnibus Bill and sent to Governor Dayton.
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All of the provisions in this bill are supported by ALEC.
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Dayton vetoed the omnibus bill and ensured that none of these provisions were included in the government shutdown agreement.
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All of these provisions are alive as long as the GOP maintains its leadership majority in the Legislature.
Throughout the session, MAPE staff and members worked very hard to kill these bills. By attending and testifying at committee hearings, holding rallies, issuing press statements and releases, distributing desk drops, writing and calling legislators and working with the Dayton Administration, MAPE played a major role in the defeat of the many bills aimed at eliminating public employee collective bargaining rights.
MAPE Fights Back
According to Michael Keegan, a columnist for the Huffington Post, the real story behind the protests and union bashing in Wisconsin, “… has little to do, as Gov. Walker would have you believe, with a state-level push for fiscal responsibility. It has everything to do with the changing dynamics of money and influence in national politics. Pro-corporate politicians never liked the power wielded by unionized workers.”
Keegan added, “Gov. Walker’s attempt to obliterate Wisconsin public employee unions … could be the first of many attempts across the country to permanently wipe out what are the strongest political opponents of the newly empowered corporate force in American politics.”
In Minnesota, as we already know, Governor Dayton’s support of unions and public employees kept us from Wisconsin’s fate. Public employees also had the support of the majority of Minnesotans as poll after poll revealed. Unfortunately, the Legislature remained unmoved by poll data, so as the government faced a shutdown, MAPE and its allies took action.
MAPE and AFSCME unveiled the “We want to work for Minnesota” campaign, which was designed to use earned media, paid media and grassroots organizing to call for a budget solution of taxing the wealthiest in our state so that public employees could continue to work for Minnesotans. MAPE members also participated in “ring of fire” events where they would door knock or attend a town hall meeting to call out legislators who did not support a reasonable budget solution.
In the end, state government did shutdown, but once a budget solution was reached, many union busting legislative proposals did not make it into law. Although the battle was won in the short term, the war against public employees and unions will still continue.
Looking to the Future
MAPE Polling:
MAPE participated in polling this past February and again in August. The consistent message we received from our polling shows that the majority of the public supports state employees and believes unions are good for Minnesota. While there continues to be the rhetoric of how luxurious the health care and retirement packages are for state employees, the public does not support shifting the costs of health care to employees as the Legislature proposed in a high deductible health plan during the 2011 session. The public also does not support removing state employees’ defined benefit pension plan. They believe that the average MAPE salary is a fair salary for state employees. Our August poll also showed that the government shutdown will be factored into how the public votes in the next election.
What to Expect:
Now that the 2011 legislative session is behind us, we know that there are cuts coming to state agencies through attrition and layoffs. Although protecting jobs was important to the new Republican majority, protecting public employee jobs was not. It remains unknown what layoffs will look like as the 2011 budget bills are rolled out.
Before we entertain the thought that 2012 might be as difficult as 2011 was, all of the makings of a worse legislative session are being put into place. Instead of rolling up their sleeves and working on jobs and campaign promises along with fair and balanced solution to the state’s $5 billion budget deficit, the Republican majority in the Legislature started the 2011 session by introducing a bundle of anti-labor bills including constitutional amendments. Now, they promise a phase two of their plan. According to GOP legislators, phase two includes a round of constitutional amendments that would place significant constraints on the state budgeting process and jeopardize workers’ rights to be part of a union.
Bashing Unions:
The public bashing of labor unions continues to be on the rise. Corporate America and elected officials have made it their goal to cut wages and benefits to the working class while corporate executives continue to get wealthy. On August 1 when American Crystal Sugar Company’s workers were locked out from their jobs, we learned that their employer was focusing on contractingout employee health care. There were proposed loopholes in the company’s proposal that would allow them to replace union workers with non-union contractors. Despite wage increases proposed by the company, the implementation of the company’s high-deductible plan would result in a reduced amount of take-home pay for employees.
American Crystal Sugar’s Board of Directors received more than $428,000 in compensation in 2010 for the 17-member board, according to the company’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Crystal’s SEC filing also revealed additional compensation and perks handed out to its top four executives in addition to their $4.3 million compensation packages. Last year, American Crystal made $1.2 billion in profits, despite the massive compensation packages it pays its top four managers. Their managers earned more than $4.3 million in compensation in 2010 after receiving more than $645,000 in raises during the same year.
45,000 Verizon workers launched their strike this August after talks broke down, which surrounded worker concessions. Specifically, Verizon is trying to tie pay increases to performance review and require union workers to contribute to health-plan premiums. This is the exact scenario that took place with each of you during the 2011 legislative session. Verizon is making demands that unions say would roll back gains of the last 50 years, causing the strike of 45,000 Verizon workers. Verizon is calling for $1 billion in concessions from its union workforce.
In addition, Verizon wants to freeze pensions at the end of the year, eliminate the sickness and death benefit program, and cut sickness disability benefits. The company announced its best quarter since 2008, netting$1.6 billion profit for the second quarter of 2011.
The Verizon strike ended after two weeks. Both sides agreed to continue negotiations, while Verizon agreed to extend its workers’ current contracts.
On August 18, two months after Connecticut workers rejected an agreement meant to save $1.6 billion over two years, workers accepted the same deal, bowing to the threat of layoffs in a year full of budget cuts and pending layoffs to state employees. After the initial vote, unions representing 45,000 state workers changed the voting rules to make approval more likely. 3,000 layoff notices had already been sent out with thousands more pending. All 14 unions have completed a new vote and approved the deal.
The agreement includes a two-year wage freeze and concessions on health care and pension benefits. In exchange, the unions secured a four-year no-layoff clause and a promise that the state would not demand unpaid furloughs. The changes are expected to save about $1.6 billion over two years and $21.5 billion over 20 years. Pension and compensation packages for workers hired after July 1 will be reduced even further, and will not include the “longevity pay” that had rewarded workers for staying on the job.
2012 Session:
Our 2012 legislative session is scheduled to be very short. Our collective bargaining agreement may end up before the Legislative Coordinating Commission on Employee Relations (LCCER) chaired by Sen. Mike Parry and Vice Chair Steve Drazkowski, two of the most anti-labor legislators in the entire Legislature. We face a rejected contract from LCCER for the first time in MAPE’s history. Expect the full Legislature to continue planning to carry out its own agenda absent Governor Mark Dayton. Republican legislators have committed to another four constitutional amendments along with the marriage amendment including right to work, a taxpayer bill of rights, a super majority vote requirement for tax increases and a voter identification amendment. Once the majority’s agenda has been completed, expect a very early adjournment.
2012 Campaigns:
It should be very obvious to MAPE members how the political process directly impacts our lives as state employees. The events in Wisconsin earlier this year, the threats we pushed back at the Capitol and, of course, the government shutdown earlier this summer make it abundantly clear that involvement in political activities are absolutely vital to the growth and success of our union.
It is clear that our future depends on the coordination of work being done by all coalitions and allies to work together on each common cause. We will continue to meet with the Governor’s Office, communicate to the membership and call on each of you for action. We will see unprecedented amounts of money being spent in Minnesota from national groups that will require a coordination of resources to successfully defend ourselves from proposed constitutional amendments coming from a bully Legislature that refuses to negotiate with the chief executive of the state.
That is why the 2012 elections will be particularly important. The Team MAPE PAC has laid out three core strategic objectives for the 2012 cycle: 1) To win back MAPE supportive majorities in the Minnesota House and Senate, 2) To defeat legislation and constitutional amendments that would be harmful to MAPE members and our families, and, 3) To encourage MAPE member involvement in political activities.
Team MAPE is preparing a plan right now on how it will achieve these goals in 2012. The constitutional amendments, particularly a right-to-work amendment, would pose a direct threat to our union. Please stay tuned as we lay out our 2012 plan and ask for member involvement in achieving these stated goals.
Improvements require change. Change starts now! Change begins with each of us! And change requires us to do a little more than we’ve always done!
Respectfully Submitted,
James A. Monroe
Executive Director
(In the photo on the right, MAPE member Sue Opsahl talks about an issue at the DA.)
(In the photo on the right, MAPE members had their votes counted during one of the votes on a resolution considered by the DA.)
The DA considered 10 changes to the MAPE Bylaws. Seven passed (including changing “fair share” to “fee payer”), two failed and one was ruled out of order. Approved changes to the MAPE Bylaws include:
Addition of two alternates to statewide meet and confer committees so they can be mentored to replace longtime members when they retire.
(In the photo on the right, a memorial for the late Marge Ramsey, a longtime MAPE member and activist, was set up at the Women's Caucus breakfast. Ramsey was the first chair of the caucus.)
(In the photo on the right, the Twin Cities Labor Chorus entertained the crowd following the awards ceremony.)
(In the photo on the right, Bob Richards' son, Terry, right, accepted the award from MAPE Statewide President Chet Jorgenson, left.)
(In the photo on the right, Wehrmeister, right, received the Betty Rogers Award from Jorgenson, left.)
(In the photo on the right, Moran, second from left; Pennino, center; and Glenn Donnay, second from right, received the Outstanding Leadership Award from Jorgenson, left, and Public Affairs and Communications Director Richard Kolodziejski, right.) 
The following resolutions to MAPE’s 2011 Delegate Assembly (DA) have been received by the Constitution and Rules Committee. The resolutions are posted here in an unedited, preliminary form so members have ample time to review and discuss them.
