AFSCME Members Rise Up Across Minnesota to Defend Medicaid and Public Services
Across the state of Minnesota, AFSCME members are turning up the pressure on those who want to gut the very programs that keep our communities alive. From Rochester to Hennepin County, public service workers are organizing, speaking out, and mobilizing under the banner of #AFSCMEGO—a coordinated campaign by AFSCME Council 5 and our International Union to protect Medicaid, stand up for working families, and fight back against billionaire-driven austerity.
We know what’s at stake. Across the country, extremist politicians are pushing for brutal federal budget cuts—cuts that would devastate Medicaid and other essential services that millions of Americans rely on every day. These attacks are designed to benefit the ultra-wealthy at the expense of workers, children, seniors, and people with disabilities. But AFSCME isn’t backing down. We’re going all in.
The Movement Takes Shape
In early April, we participated in a town hall in Duluth where our members showed up and Tonia Villegas Kent where she shared, "We connect families with what they need to thrive, without judgement, every day. The resources we provide are already stretched thin. The resources working people need, like the Bureau of Mediation Services are also stretched thin. And if the extremists in DC cut funding for the Department of Education, for SNAP and Medicaid, to pay for billionaire tax cuts, those programs will evaporate. There is no plan b for those kids... So I have a question for Pete Stauber. Who do you work for, Pete? Do you work for the billionaires? Or do you work for the families who are struggling to get by? Do you work for Minnesota kids? Do you work for the future of Minnesota? Are you going to take food and shelter and opportunity away from Minnesotans? Are you going to fight for us?"
In Rochester on April 27, where AFSCME members joined community allies for a powerful town hall meeting and press conference to expose the real-life harm these cuts would cause. Local 4001 member Jennifer Erwin, who also serves as President of the Minnesota State Policy Committee, spoke alongside labor leaders and elected officials including Council 5 Executive Director Bart Andersen, Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, and several Minnesota legislators.
Together, they called out Congressman Brad Finstad and others in Congress pushing to slash Medicaid and other programs while protecting tax breaks for the ultra-rich. They made it clear: Minnesotans won’t sit by while our communities are sold out.
But Rochester was just the beginning.
On May 13 in Minneapolis, AFSCME members took the fight to the streets. AFSCME Local 34 led a massive “Hands Off Medicaid” rally and march, making sure the message echoed far beyond downtown Minneapolis. Signs waved, chants rang out, and workers demanded what’s right: a federal budget that puts people before profits.
The rally wasn’t just a protest—it was a declaration. A declaration that Medicaid matters. That workers matter. That AFSCME members are organizing and rising up together to stop harmful cuts and hold elected leaders accountable.
One Union. One Fight.
These coordinated actions are part of a growing wave of activism fueled by our union’s #AFSCMEGO (Get Organized) campaign. Through town halls, rallies, workplace conversations, and media visibility, we are showing that AFSCME fights for the public good—and we’re doing it together.
We know these budget attacks are more than numbers on a page. They’re attacks on the care our seniors receive, the services our families depend on, and the jobs our members do with pride every single day. That’s why we’re organizing—not just for ourselves, but for the future of our communities.
Whether it’s in Rochester, Minneapolis, Duluth, or any town or city across this state, AFSCME members are standing up to say:
Hands Off Medicaid. Hands Off Our Communities. And Hands Off Our Union.
