Gov. Tim Walz confronts rift with labor allies as he mulls third term

Abby Shea was excited in early March when Gov. Tim Walz assured her and hundreds of other state workers at a State Capitol rally that upcoming contract negotiations would “start with respect.”

“He said it to our faces wearing a MAPE scarf,” said Shea, a member of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees and a planner for the state Health Department.

Potential state budget cuts were looming, but Shea felt optimistic that Walz, a longtime labor supporter, would have their backs.

Three months later, Shea feels anything but respected by the governor.

Since that rally, unions say the state has proposed significant raises to health care costs for many state workers. Others are facing impending layoff notices because of deadlock at the Capitol. And then there was the big shock of an order to return to the office at least part time. Unions wanted to address the issue during contract negotiations, but Walz pre-empted that with his late March decree.

“It was such a stab in the back,” Shea said.

Union support has been critical to Walz’s career and could be instrumental for an expected run for a third term, too. MAPE’s continued support of the governor, however, is not a sure thing.

“Sixty percent of the state workforce remained in person through the entirety of the pandemic — bringing the rest of state employees back to the office part time will bring advantages like collaboration and mentorship that only in-office work can provide," said Walz spokesperson Claire Lancaster.

Walz, too, has tried to reiterate his support for state employees.

“I still continue to value this workforce,” Walz recently told reporters. “We continue to historically provide some of the best contracts and best benefits.”

In late spring 2018, Walz, a former public school teacher and union member, had lost the DFL Party’s endorsement for governor to then-state Rep. Erin Murphy. He retooled his campaign, starting with a new manager with a union past and a visit to the Duluth Labor Temple to shore up support.

Several big unions stood by him. Within a few months another large union, the Minnesota AFL-CIO, had endorsed his ultimately successful campaign.

His more recent, and controversial, decisions aren’t unique among DFL leaders. Walz is at least the third prominent DFLer to cross unions in the last half-century, said Peter Rachleff, a retired labor historian at Macalester College.

In the 1980s, Gov. Rudy Perpich, son of a Croatian Iron Range miner, called in the National Guard to protect non-union workers and break the monthslong Hormel strike. And in the 1990s, U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone refused to block a bill that ordered an end to a crippling nationwide railroad strike.

Railroad unions countered by putting up a billboard in St. Paul that read, “D.F.L. — Definitely Failed Labor."

“Most people may assume that Democratic officeholders are pro-labor; some might even assume that they are in the pockets of union lobbyists,” Rachleff said. “But there’s a much rockier history here in Minnesota.”

Recently, some Democrats have been calling for the party to tack to the political center to win more elections. Picking a fight with a union is one way to do that, though Rachleff is skeptical of the strategy.

MAPE President Megan Dayton recently charged that Walz and his party have forgotten the “labor” part of the DFL acronym. Marijke Decuir, president of MAPE Local 902, said union officials are discussing whether they will support a third Walz run.

“It’s a conversation that’s happening,” she said.

MAPE represents about 18,000 state workers. The other large public sector union, AFSCME Council 5, has not replied to interview requests over the last month after initially criticizing Walz’s return-to-office order.

In an early April interview, AFSCME Council 5 spokesperson Max Hall reiterated the union’s frustration, but also called Walz the “most pro-labor governor in the history of Minnesota,’' citing the state’s new paid family leave and sick and safe time programs.

“At the end of the day, the governor’s record is clear,” he said.

“These distinct unions each have their own stakeholders and interests,“ he said. ”Sometimes they overlap and sometimes they don’t."

MAPE and AFSCME are negotiating contracts with the state that expire at the end of June. MAPE officials are holding informational pickets this week and have organized strike training in the event contract talks sour.

Asked at a picket whether they would vote for Walz in 2026, some MAPE members said they’d support another Democrat in a primary election.

But in a general election, where Walz would likely face a much less labor-friendly Republican, they’d begrudgingly choose Walz again.