St. Paul, MN – On Friday, March 21, the otherwise obscure Minnesota Retirement Systems building was guarded by dozens of state troopers who blocked entrances to the parking lot. More troopers manned the building entrance, screening bags and limiting entry to only a few dozen members of the public. Inside the small conference room where the State Board of Investment (SBI)’s quarterly meeting was to be held, more troopers along with plainclothes security lined the entire perimeter.
Saint Paul, MN – 110 members of the Saint Paul Federation of Educators Local 28 (SPFE) gathered on Monday, November 25 for a member meeting in which a vote was held for the union local to sign on to a letter urging President Biden to enact an arms embargo on Israel and work towards a ceasefire in Gaza, and to put pressure on their national union, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) to do the same.
St. Paul, MN – MAPE, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, is an independent union representing approximately 15,000 employees of the State of Minnesota. At their October 26 delegate assembly, MAPE approved a resolution titled “Supporting a Ceasefire and Divestment in Israel-Palestine.” It included strong steps towards divesting both MAPE and Minnesota’s State Board of Investments (SBI) from apartheid Israel. The MAPE Ceasefire Caucus organizing team had conversations with nearly every delegate over the last six weeks in preparation for the vote, which ended up with 82 for, 49 against, with 17 abstaining.
St Paul, MN – On Oct.1, 28,000 members of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) started striking for better health benefits and wage increases. This is the largest public employee strike in MN state history, and one of the most prolonged strikes of public workers in U.S. history.
