Minnesota Association of Professional Employees

Background

Minnesota state government workers formed the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees in 1980. State professional workers first organized in 1972 within the Association of Federal, State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) union, but in 1980, these employees disaffiliated from AFSCME and formed an independent union. ²

In 1999, Minnesota state government employees held an election to determine if the union would continue to represent them. The union won the election and retained the power to exclusively represent Minnesota state government employees. ²

In 2001, the union led a strike against the Minnesota state government. The union claims the strike did not give the union everything it wanted but the union claimed the strike strengthened it in future contract negotiations. ²

The union has a related political action committee, the MAPE PAC. ³

Activities

Janus Response

In September 2017, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees prepared for the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus v. AFSCME case which held that government employee unions could no longer collect fees from employees as a condition of employment. The union prepared to cut $1.4 million, or more than 20 percent, of its budget in response to the potential lost dues. The largest cut, $200,000, came to the political education fund. ⁴

In November 2019, the union claimed that its compliance rate for dues-paying members increased from 68 percent to 75 percent. The union claimed that the Janus decision, strikes at General Motors, and a Chicago Teachers Union strike motivated its membership. ⁵

In May 2020, Minnesota state workers sued the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees for previously paid dues claiming that collecting those dues was unconstitutional under the U.S. Supreme Court’s Janus decision. The Liberty Justice Center and the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation represented Mark Fellows, a licensed social worker for the Department of Human Services, who paid fees between July 2007 and June 2018. The lawsuit alleged that non-union state employees were forced to subsidize political speech in violation of the U.S. Constitution. ¹

COVID-19 Vaccination Policy

In August 2021, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees released a statement on proposed vaccination requirements issued by the Minnesota Management and Budget for all state employees. The union pushed for employees who could not or would not be vaccinated to be allowed to continue to work with mitigations such as COVID-19 testing and masking. The union said it would work with the state on improving the vaccination policy. ⁶

Railroad Strike

In December 2022, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees released a statement about U.S. Congress blocking a railroad strike. The union attacked the railroads for making billions of dollars in profits and demanded the companies pay sick leave to their employees. The union demanded U.S. Congress not order the railroad workers back to work. ⁷

2022 Budget Surplus

In December 2022, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees urged the Minnesota state government to use the $17.6 billion budget surplus to increase government spending. The union said agency budgets should increase due to inflation and the state should make investments in “in our kids, our infrastructure, our state agencies and the services Minnesotans rely on.” ⁸

Taxes

In April 2023, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees supported a tax bill passed by the Minnesota House which increased the income tax by one percent for everyone making over $1 million. The tax bill also included a Social Security Tax Exemption for those making under $100,000. The union said the tax bill was important to address the resource shortages encountered by state government employees. ⁹

State Employee Pay

In June 2023, Minnesota Association of Professional Employees members received a pay increase from the Minnesota Department of Management and Budget. The state gave a 5.5 percent pay increase in the first year and a 4.5 percent pay increase in the second year of a contract that ran until 2025. The state initially only offered a 3.5 percent pay increase over two years. The union wanted an 11 percent pay increase in the first year and a 10 percent pay increase in the second year of the contract. The union won better health insurance coverage but had a 2.5 percent increase in premiums. ¹⁰

Support for Minnesota Democrats

According to the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees’ 2023 tax return, the union gave the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party’s State Central Committee $42,500, the DFL Senate Caucus $129,250, and the DFL House Caucus $179,250. ³

Leadership

The Minnesota Association of Professional Employees president is Megan Dayton. She previously sat on the union’s Negotiations Committee and Political Council. The union elected her president in 2020. ¹¹

The union abolished its executive director position and replaced it with a chief of staff, who is Todd Maki. He was previously the operations director. ¹²

Finances

According to the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees’ 2023 tax return, the union had $7,070,250 in revenue, $6,806,566 in expenses, and $20,422,844 in assets. ³

Union chief of staff Todd Maki received $168,123 in total compensation. ³

Union president Megan Dayton received $102,367 in total compensation. ³