Montana Federation of Public Employees

The group is the largest union in Montana with an estimated 24,000 members and lobbies for left-of-center legislation around labor, education, and other issues. The union also leads collective bargaining efforts for the various government workers it represents including Montana Highway Patrol employees, police department employees, probation and parole officers, college faculty members, and teachers across the state. The union is frequently at odds with the state’s Republican leadership, opposing many Republican-led initiatives such as right-to-work laws.²³¹

History

The Montana Federation of Public Employees was formed in 2018 through a merger between two of the state’s largest labor unions, the Montana Public Employees Association and the Montana Education Association-Montana Federation of Teachers (MEA-MFT). The MEA-MFT was formed in a 2000 merger of the Montana Education Association and the Montana Federation of Teachers. The Montana Public Employees Association was formed in 1945 and the Montana Education Association traces its roots to teacher organizing in the late 1800s. ⁴

The Montana Education Association was founded in 1882, prior to Montana gaining statehood, and affiliated with the NEA in 1945. The Montana Public Employees Association was created in 1945 to establish a retirement system for public employees. The Montana Federation of Teachers was established when several local AFT-affiliated labor organizations formed the group in 1972.⁵

Following the 2018 merger, the union was renamed the Montana Federation of Public Employees (MFPE) and retained its affiliations with the AFT, NEA, and AFL-CIO.⁵ It consists of over 400 local government worker and teachers’ unions. ⁶

Throughout the history of the MFPE and its preceding organizations, the group has supported several of its members in campaigns for state legislature, the U.S. Congress, and state superintendent, among other offices. MFPE’s president is former Montana state legislator Amanda Curtis (D).⁵

Policy Stances

The Montana Federation of Public Employees lobbies on behalf of left-leaning pro-union policies at the federal level and within Montana. The organization has a three-person lobbying team and negotiates contracts and employee pay scales with the Governor’s office. In 2019, the state legislature passed the union’s preferred university and state employee pay plan, which it negotiated with then-Governor Steve Bullock (D). ^{7 8}

After the election of Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) in 2020, MFPE hired a Democratic consulting firm in 2021 due to the union facing “a GOP-controlled Legislature and Governor” for the first time in 16 years.² The union mobilized a “rapid response team of member-lobbyists” to oppose Republican-led bills and support pro-union stances. The union opposed bills concerning school choice, charter school expansion, and pension reform efforts. The union also unsuccessfully opposed bills to allow concealed carry of weapons on college campuses, corporate charitable tax deductions, and the elimination of same-day voter registration.⁹

The organization opposes right-to-work legislation as well as reforms to pre-kindergarten programs in the state. The organization has praised the work of moderate Republicans in the state legislature who helped Democrats pass notable left-leaning pieces of legislation, including Medicaid expansion and increased funding for infrastructure and museums. The union also lobbies against gun-rights legislation, mobilizing against a ballot referendum that would ban local governments from prohibiting concealed carry within government buildings, which ultimately passed. ^{7 8}

The Montana Federation of Public Employees has also recently sued the state over multiple pieces of legislation enacted in 2021. One set of lawsuits targets new laws that allow students and staff to carry guns on public school campuses, require transgender college athletes to compete against others of their natal sex, and prohibit certain political activities on campus. ¹⁰ Another lawsuit, filed with the Montana AFL-CIO and the Montana Democratic Party, seeks to overturn the state’s prohibition on same-day voter registration. ¹¹

Endorsements

The Montana Federation of Public Employees predominately supports Democratic candidates for office. During the 2020 elections, the union endorsed Democratic then-Governor Steve Bullock (D) for United States Senate, as well as Democratic candidates in major statewide offices. ¹²

The organization will support moderate and left-leaning Republicans in the state legislative elections, with a page highlighting endorsed Republicans on its website.¹³

People

Amanda Curtis has been the president of the Montana Federation of Public Employees since June 2020 after replacing former president Eric Feaver, who led the MEA-MFT for decades and navigated it through its merger. Curtis is a teacher from Butte, Montana who served two non-consecutive terms as a Democratic member of the Montana House of Representatives from 2013 to 2015 and 2017 to 2019. In 2014, Curtis sought election to the U.S. Senate, losing to now-U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) by 17 percentage points in the general election. ¹⁴