Union membership rates have been steadily declining since the onset of COVID and the shift for many of our members from in-person work to a virtual work environment. This transition has, in many ways, freed many of us from the drudgery of a commute and constant management surveillance. However, it has also made one-on-one, face-to-face conversations—where the bulk of union recruitment has typically occurred—more difficult.
Our union has not authorized a strike in over two decades. “Strikes are the labor movement's muscle, and when unions don't strike, that muscle atrophies.” Our lack of strike-readiness has directly translated into weakness in bargaining. This has meant stagnation in our state workforce’s pay. It has also meant that many of our gains, like student loan reimbursement and vacation credits, have been unevenly shared, left to agency discretion.
To win life-altering improvements for all state workers, we need more members, and, just as crucially, we need our current members empowered to win collective action themselves.
Our membership is our power. Successfully building power means building majorities through face-to-face, one-on-one organizing conversations with state workers. COVID has made these conversations both more convenient, but less frequent for many work-from-home state workers.
"An axiom of organizers is that every good organizing conversation makes everyone at least a little uncomfortable. And it’s a conversation that must be had. All other actions come from this one."
To facilitate these conversations, MAPE needs to build organizing capacity in at least two areas:
New employee recruitment.
Ongoing recruitment blitzes at the statewide, local and agency levels.
Little analysis has been done to understand where new employee conversations are and are not happening, especially in more rural locals where capacity is already stretched. Even less has been done to track the effectiveness of such conversations. These are problems which can and must be fixed.
Building a union with 70 or 80% density will require commitment from our elected leaders. It also requires training to help people conduct effective organizing conversations. After all, organizing is a skill, one which can be taught.
One reason I am running for Statewide Secretary is a result of my experience introducing a resolution at this year’s Delegate Assembly. The MAPE Constitution holds that, “[a]ll sovereign powers of MAPE shall be vested in the Delegate Assembly, when in session.” In practice, I have seen this beacon of union democracy treated as a problem to be managed by MAPE leadership, rather than an opportunity to build rank-and-file engagement. In August, the Executive Committee (EC) exploited a provision of MAPE bylaws and voted to prevent every resolution they could from proceeding to the Delegate Assembly. The only resolution they did not vote against was a single resolution which bylaws required to proceed to the Delegate Assembly. Members appealed these decisions to the Board of Directors, which voted overwhelmingly to overrule the EC’s actions and send resolutions through.
I believe this episode demonstrates a troubling disconnect between some of our statewide bodies and members. Rather than bring specific concerns to resolution authors and provide constructive feedback on resolutions, the EC resorted to brute force and suppression. Quite simply, the exercise of procedural power should be a last resort in cases of genuine danger to the union, rather than a first resort against every proposal to which anyone could conceivably disagree. As Secretary, I promise to work with resolution authors to provide actionable advice for improving the workability of resolutions. I believe the best policy outcomes happen when leaders engage in dialogue with our members, and when difficult disagreements are addressed in good faith.
Article V of MAPE Bylaws requires that, "[t]he draft agenda for regularly scheduled Board of Directors meetings will be posted on the MAPE website at least 48 hours before the Board of Directors meeting, and local presidents will be notified within at least 24 hours of the posting." To my knowledge, this has not been done at any point during my membership in MAPE. That must change, to ensure that rank-and-file members can engage with deliberations happening at the highest levels in our union. I would also support the Executive Committee (EC) voluntarily adopting a similar policy.
Similarly, minutes for MAPE leadership meetings often remain inaccessible and opaque. Major decisions are often not reflected in the list of motions adopted. Additionally, MAPE's minutes policy document does not establish a timeline for completion or publication of EC minutes, despite the Bylaws requiring the statewide Secretary keep them. I support revising MAPE's governing documents and minutes policy to ensure all important decisions and the reasoning for those decisions are made transparent in a timely fashion.
A vital role for the Secretary under MAPE Policies is to act as the keeper of the Book of Resolutions, a collection of all resolutions passed by the Delegate Assembly and Board of Directors since 2001. The Secretary is also obliged to “report on the status of outstanding resolutions at each Board of Directors meeting.” As someone who has introduced a resolution at this year’s Delegate Assembly, you can trust me to ensure that democratic decisions are followed through and enforced as written. To this end, I would propose that the Book of Resolutions be published on the MAPE website, to improve transparency about important decisions being made in our union, and to improve member education about our union's progress and priorities.
Leaders among state workers already exist. The challenge for builders of a successful union is identifying them, and winning them to the union's cause. This requires intentional, thoughtful organizing in every department and work unit of the state workforce, all across Minnesota.
Much of this work is already being done thanks to our tireless business agents. What the elected side of our organization, both at the local and the statewide level, needs to do is build relationships with our rank-and-file members, channel those who want to do more for our union into productive avenues to map and build power, and allocate resources for training and development.
Power is in the community.
One strength of MAPE as an organization is that our independence from a higher union bureaucracy enables us to move boldly in favor of our members' demands.
The weakness of an independent union is that we lack the sort of external networks that can amplify our power in every corner of the state. Instead, we must leverage our members' already-existing relationships in their communities to build coalitions with other working people.
That means developing relationships with other unions, churches, mosques, synagogues, and social groups, to leverage our collective power together.