News

Huge Victory for Workers at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid!

"We are thrilled to announce that workers at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid (MMLA) have vot

As we start this special weekend, a time when we honor and remember Dr.

Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid Workers Forming Union with AFSCME Council 5!

An overwhelming majority of workers at Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid have come toge

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 7, 2021

AFSCME Council 5 Leadership Rebukes Assault on Democracy 

AFSCME Council 5 Executive Director Julie Bleyhl, President Eric Hesse, Vice President Carmen Brown, Treasurer Jay Anderson and Secretary Destiny Dusosky issued the following statement after recent events at the U.S. Capitol - 

Victoria Johnson of AFSCME Local 744, Council 5 at the Minneapolis Veterans Home in Minneapolis, Minnesota experiences the COVID-19 pandemic every day she steps into work. Since the beginning of the pandemic, hospitals, group homes, secure facilities, and veterans' homes have experienced significant outbreaks of COVID-19, yet public service workers continue to go to work every day to care for and protect our fellow Minnesotans.

December 1, 2020- After one year of focused internal organizing, workers at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota have successfully won voluntary union recognition and have now joined the AFSCME Council 5 family!

Walker Art Center workers successfully banded together to highlight how unionizing will better their workplace, grow the Walker, and form even stronger relationships with their fellow co workers. Congratulations and welcome, siblings!

For the last six years, Heather Hansen has worked as a Corrections Counselor at MCF-Togo, also known as the “Thistledew Camp" and a proud member of AFSCME Local 3887. She said, “For the first time in my life, I was making a livable wage and able to provide good medical insurance for my family. Working here has given me a sense of purpose that I’d never thought I would experience.

Be Patient; Every Vote Must Be Counted

Every eligible voter should have their voice heard and their vote counted. But due to the coronavirus pandemic and health concerns, more people decided to vote by mail than ever before and absentee ballots take longer to count because of security measures to verify the accuracy of those ballots. We need to be patient so our election officials can take the time to make sure every eligible vote is counted accurately.

Minnesota winters are tough. In Rochester, several blizzards brought the entire town to a standstill. Major roads and highways were closed, sometimes for days at a time.

When weather makes it unsafe to travel, Jeff Paulson – better known as Scuffy – hits the road. Scuffy works at MnDOT District 6, which covers Southern Minnesota. In the summer, Scuffy and his MnDOT team inspect bridges, maintain signage, and fix potholes and other road damage. But in the winter, they plow snow.

As union members, every day we see the attacks on collective bargaining, our pensions, our health care and our overall mission of social, racial and economic justce. One significant way we know that works to push back on these anti-worker groups is to VOTE!

The Election Committee has completed its count of the ballots cast by the delegates to the 2020 AFSCME Council 5 Convention and wishes to report the following results.