It's official -- three AFSCME councils have merged to form a new organization: AFSCME Council 5. Eliot Seide was named the council's executive director.
At the founding convention for the new council Friday and Saturday, nearly 800 delegates from across the state came together to adopt a constitution for the new 40,000 member union and elect officers. Also at the convention, the union?s Executive Board announced Seide has been named executive director.
Seide, 53, is well known as a dynamic leader to public employees and state legislators, the union said in a news release. He has worked for AFSCME in various capacities in Minnesota and elsewhere for more than 26 years, most recently as executive director of Council 14, representing local government and non-profit service employees in the seven-county metropolitan area. Seide has a Master?s degree in political theory from the University of Toronto.
Officers of the new union include President Mike Buesing of Local 1011 (Minnesota Department of Transportation, Metro); Vice President Deb Bloom of Local 66 ( Duluth School District ); Secretary Pam Lofquist of Local 1092 (Department of Human Services, Moose Lake ); and Treasurer Cliff Poehler of Local 2938 ( Hennepin County Legal Employees). The delegates also elected their 36-member Executive Board.
Council 5 is the result of three former Minnesota AFSCME councils merging: Council 6, which represented primarily state and University of Minnesota employees; Council 14, which represented primarily local government workers in the Twin Cities metropolitan area; and Council 96, which represented local government employees in Duluth and the Arrowhead region. The new union will represent more than 40,000 workers, making it among the largest unions in the state.
Seide said the merger will be good not just for union members, but for all Minnesotans.
"There will be one, strong, unified voice as a powerful advocate for public services," he said. "That means an advocate for more and better snow plowing, for safe and clean drinking water, for better public infrastructure, which in turn, will attract good, high quality business and jobs to this state."
The stated goal of the merger is to expand resources devoted to new member organizing, political action, communications, education and research.
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It’s official — three AFSCME councils have merged to form a new organization: AFSCME Council 5. Eliot Seide was named the council’s executive director.
At the founding convention for the new council Friday and Saturday, nearly 800 delegates from across the state came together to adopt a constitution for the new 40,000 member union and elect officers. Also at the convention, the union?s Executive Board announced Seide has been named executive director.
Seide, 53, is well known as a dynamic leader to public employees and state legislators, the union said in a news release. He has worked for AFSCME in various capacities in Minnesota and elsewhere for more than 26 years, most recently as executive director of Council 14, representing local government and non-profit service employees in the seven-county metropolitan area. Seide has a Master?s degree in political theory from the University of Toronto.
Officers of the new union include President Mike Buesing of Local 1011 (Minnesota Department of Transportation, Metro); Vice President Deb Bloom of Local 66 ( Duluth School District ); Secretary Pam Lofquist of Local 1092 (Department of Human Services, Moose Lake ); and Treasurer Cliff Poehler of Local 2938 ( Hennepin County Legal Employees). The delegates also elected their 36-member Executive Board.
Council 5 is the result of three former Minnesota AFSCME councils merging: Council 6, which represented primarily state and University of Minnesota employees; Council 14, which represented primarily local government workers in the Twin Cities metropolitan area; and Council 96, which represented local government employees in Duluth and the Arrowhead region. The new union will represent more than 40,000 workers, making it among the largest unions in the state.
Seide said the merger will be good not just for union members, but for all Minnesotans.
“There will be one, strong, unified voice as a powerful advocate for public services,” he said. “That means an advocate for more and better snow plowing, for safe and clean drinking water, for better public infrastructure, which in turn, will attract good, high quality business and jobs to this state.”
The stated goal of the merger is to expand resources devoted to new member organizing, political action, communications, education and research.