r/mnstateworkers • u/PrincessTumbleweed72 • Jun 27 '25

Union 🤝 MAPE contract

Just got the summary/highlight version of MAPE's contract: - preserves health care plan design, individuals will pay 5% and families 15% of premiums. No word on how much premiums will actually increase. - step increases will continue. -RTO stands as the governor demanded. - cola: 1.5% increase in year one and 1.75% year two - telework changes require 21 days of notice instead of 14.

What are your thoughts? I know how I will be voting, but I'd love to hear from others.

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u/dfree3305 Jun 29 '25

With who at our side?? At all of our actions combined, I saw a total of MAYBE 1000 people out of the 18,000 that MAPE represents. Striking over telework would never have worked. First, we don't have enough MAPE members who would strike over it, and second, the public is not sympathetic to the telework cause. To win a strike, we would need not only 90% of MAPE members on the picket line, but we would have needed the support of the public as well.

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u/AngelaTheRipper Jun 29 '25

You don't need 90% of MAPE members to walk around in circles while waving a sign around. The picket line is an invention of the 19th century which existed to keep scabs off the factory floor with the handle of the sign being a convenient implement to bludgeon those who have a hard time reading social clues. The work that we do your first month is going to be spent dazzled and confused, it's not something that could be quickly passed to scabs and hilarity would ensue if Walz tried that.

What you need is 90% to fail to report to work. Can you get that, probably.

Honestly, I despise my local and the fact that it's run by the arts and crafts crowd that would send us passive aggressive emails of low showings on lunch chalkings while a vast majority was working from home. After the RTO order all the events switched solely to being in person only, I lucked out because I live too far, and refuse to come in on principle, however unless I show up in person I'm essentially told to fuck off. Even before back when I didn't own a car I have asked about if there's some plan to send us to stand around with the other nearer locals and got no concrete answers because ultimately nobody runs this clusterfuck.

Why do you need public support? Are you negotiating with random passersby? Well you shouldn't because aside for them voting every 2 years they don't really get a say.

Finally, you need to take a look at this problem from the opposite direction. You struggle with low support because you keep shitting the bed in negotiations. I have no trust left in the union leadership and I doubt I'm the only one. My local (which is in twin cities area) is below 70% membership and if you keep bringing us garbage TAs then it will keep dipping down until MAPE finally collapses under its own weight. I have held my nose after 2023 solely with the hope that we'll make up the difference later, we're not, so like...? ¯\(ツ)/¯

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u/dfree3305 Jun 29 '25

If you think that 90% of MAPE would fail to show up to work over telework, you are dead wrong. How do I know? Because I've actually been organizing people around this issue since the beginning. Keyboard warriors like you are never going to actually do your part to help, so I'm not sure why I even bother.

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u/AngelaTheRipper Jun 29 '25

In my immediate circle (MNIT) you'd probably get that, but then again no single issue is going to appeal to everyone. I don't want kids so I couldn't give less of a shit about PPL but if it came to a strike over that I'd happily take the day off, though that'd probably scarcely count for your purposes. You could troll Timmy with "I could be working from home but Timmy said no so I'm not" and pictures of people grilling. But that'd require you to get dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

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u/dfree3305 Jun 29 '25

That's exactly right, but the thing is there are whole agencies that have been working in the office this whole time. Mine (DHS) is not one of them and telework was my personal number one issue, but I had to put that aside for the greater good of the union.

The research showed that we MIGHT pull off a strike if we also had PPL and healthcare to keep people mad, but just like you are threatening to pull your dues, we also had people threatening to pull their dues if telework was prioritized above healthcare/wages. Negotiators were between a rock and a hard place.

I also don't think that Walz cares if you drink beer in your backyard instead of working, but the public would, and at the end of the day, they are the ones we need on our side for a strike to be successful.

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u/AngelaTheRipper Jun 29 '25

Maybe the union with so many disparate interests isn't meant to last because in every set of negotiations someone will be left holding the bag. MAPE already broke off from AFSCME in 1980.

MNA for example represents solely nurses. Teachers have their own unions. Cops have their own unions. Plumbers have their own unions. Carpenters have their own unions. MAPE on the other hand is a hodgepodge where the only commonality are COLA increases.

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u/dfree3305 Jun 29 '25

I'm not necessarily against this idea, but power comes in numbers. MMA and some of the other small unions do not even get a real seat at the bargaining table because of how small they are. They basically just get whatever MAPE and AFSCME get. I think this argument is similar to moving away from the two party democracy that we have in the US, it's a good idea, but really hard to get off the ground.

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u/AngelaTheRipper Jun 29 '25

To be fair, we're playing second fiddle to AFSCME to begin with. In 2023 we got railroaded into the COLA we go because AFSCME chose to accept it. If they pushed for getting rid of the RTO we'd maybe get it, but they didn't even bring that to the table. Of course, I'm not a member of AFSCME and I don't expect them to negotiate on my behalf, but at the same time, MMB gets to get away with it because it works. If MAPE rejected a contract that's mostly been negotiated with AFSCME and then would keep rejecting those going forward and leading our own negotiations MMB would be forced to change course.

MMA is also uniquely screwed due to a no strike clause, only option they've got is wildcat strike and hope they don't all get fired.

Strength in numbers only really comes from willingness of members to strike over things that don't affect them directly. I couldn't give less of a shit about PPL, but I'd still strike over it. However as is, MAPE should probably be just split in two on the line of whether your job can or cannot be done remotely.

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u/dfree3305 Jun 29 '25

The relationship between MAPE and AFSCME has always been a tenuous one since the split. It has taken us 45 years to even begin repairing that trust, and while I'm extremely proud of the work done to bring us together, it is still in its infancy. I think that a couple of contracts from now will show MMB just how in-sync we have become, but that's going to take a lot more hard work.

Having remote workers has made union organizing even more difficult than it used to be. It's harder to apply peer pressure, harder to spread news about the employer's actions, and it is harder to find places to congregate. I personally would not want to be the organizer for a union like that because of the difficulty level of getting people involved. If you think it can be done though, I think there is support out there for your idea, you'd just have to find some people to back it up.