Following last week’s presidential election, one of Minnesota’s largest public sector unions, Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE), sent an email to members expressing concerns over what it called “intensified challenges” for organized labor and public employee protections under a second Donald Trump term.
Alpha News obtained a copy of the emailed letter from MAPE president Megan Dayton, sent with the subject line “Election aftershock: What now?” which portrayed Trump’s election as a threat to workers’ rights, framing the next four years as a critical period for union advocacy.
“We must brace for what will likely be a period of intensified challenges,” Dayton wrote, while urging members to “act boldly and decisively.”
The letter also claimed Trump’s potential policies “will likely erode protections for workers and expand inequalities within our society.”
Teachers union VP makes inflammatory comments
However, MAPE isn’t the only union making waves in the wake of the election.
Marcia Howard, a teacher and now the president of Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59, caused a stir on social media with an explicative-filled post predicting a Kamala Harris victory.
🚨BREAKING: Predicting a Kamala Harris win on Tuesday, Minneapolis Teacher and Union VP Marcia Howard says "(WHITE WOMEN) are going to FUCKING INSUFFERABLE," and "fucking assholes," asking for "absolution" if Harris won. (She didn't.)@AlphaNewsMN @JonJustice @lizcollin @JJTCNT pic.twitter.com/gIebarORjM
— LeftistsofMN (@LeftistsofMN) November 10, 2024
Howard suggested that Harris supporters—including certain demographics of white women—might feel a sense of entitlement if they helped elect the nation’s first female president.
“White women who make the right choice for the first time since Lyndon B. Johnson gonna be f–ing insufferable,” Howard said on video. “They may even think that they have absolution for years of being f–ing assholes and voting, you know, how they vote because they finally made the right choice.”
Howard added that white women “may even get a little Karen-ish in their like customer service attitude where they expect some things because their posture is going to be we put her in this position, she owes us.”
According to exit polls, white women voted for Trump over Harris by about a 6-point margin.
Unions face declining membership and legal challenges
Dayton’s and Howard’s reactions come at a time of declining union membership in Minnesota and across the nation, a trend accelerated by recent court rulings that altered the structure of mandatory union dues.
The 2018 Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME ruled that public employees cannot be compelled to pay union dues, even if they benefit from union-negotiated contracts. This has led to membership drops for many unions, which now face new financial pressures and dwindling participation.
Alpha News reached out to MAPE for comment but did not receive a response.
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
