Minnesota Association of Professional Employees - MAPE Today

MAPE Today

MAPE has built on coalition power over the last five years and has become a leader in the Minnesota labor community. Some of the coalitions MAPE works with on a regular basis are: Minnesota is Watching the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition Twin Cities Labor & Religion Network Upper Midwest Labor/Management Coalition on Health Care, Broad Purchasing Alliance, Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition Alliance for a Better Minnesota, and many others. MAPE also partners with other unions and non-profits and works towards building a better community for all.

The partial state government shutdown of July 2005 was an unprecedented fiasco which will live on in the minds of MAPE members and other state employees who were sent home for eight days that summer with no knowledge of when they would be allowed to return to work. The governor and legislature failed to pass a state budget by the constitutional deadline of midnight on June 30, 2005 and therefore had no authority to pay thousands of the state’s employees for work performed. The politicians further attempted to divide state employees by deeming some “essential,” and sending the rest home. The “make half” settlement allowed those workers sent home, through no fault of their own to receive half of the pay or vacation hours lost ten months after the fact.

Over the past five years, MAPE has expanded to include some school district, county and municipal government professional employees with separate bargaining agreements. These employees have sought out MAPE because they see the value and strength of having a union protecting their rights and benefits.

MAPE continues on its mission to protect and promote the interests of public employees. MAPE is committed to lobbying for its members to have all the resources they need to provide quality public services to the state’s citizens.