1 min read

Season 3, Episode 86

Minnesota AFL-CIO follows playbook to elect union-friendly candidates

Minnesota-Aflcio

 

Guest Name:


Bernie Burnham

Guest Website:


www.mnaflcio.org

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Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed the need to encourage union members to run for office and how the AFL-CIO can help pro-labor candidates succeed.

Burnham is the second woman to lead the Minnesota AFL-CIO, and the first woman of color.

One of her major goals since taking office is to help more union members successfully run for public office.

The Minnesota AFL-CIO is currently building a union member candidate program from the ground up, Burnham said. She noted the state federation has patterned their playbook after the New Jersey AFL-CIO’s program. In 2020, under a pilot program, the Minnesota AFL-CIO recruited union members to run for municipal offices, school board and state legislature. The campaign was considered a success, as their candidates won two school board seats and one seat on a city council. The goal is to build on that success and to continue to grow the program, she added.

Minnesotans have greatly benefited from the union-friendly politics of Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, and the Minnesota AFL-CIO supports his re-election, Burnham said. She discussed a $1,500 bonus for essential workers Walz included in his proposed budget, but it was whittled down to $750 by the Republican-controlled state Senate. Burnham stressed the importance of re-electing Walz and turning the state Senate into a Democratic majority in order to support the issues important to working families.

Lastly, Burnham discussed recent union wins in Minnesota, including a Starbucks, Half-Price Books store and several breweries and distilleries. People are tired of low wages and poor benefits, and are willing to step up to fight for what is right, she added.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics.


America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

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