The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party convention runs Friday through Sunday at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center.

Several Minnesota unions have lined up behind particular candidates, while others are awaiting the outcome of the delegates’ endorsement vote, scheduled to take place Saturday. And two major labor organizations – AFSCME Council 5 and Teamsters Joint Council 32 – say the endorsement doesn’t matter. They’re backing U.S. Senator Mark Dayton, who is bypassing the DFL convention process to run in the August primary election.

The heads of the state’s two labor federations – the Minnesota AFL-CIO and Change to Win Minnesota –are slated to address the convention Saturday. Neither federation has endorsed a candidate for governor.

“We will stand for leaders who take bold and decisive action to help create and keep family-sustaining jobs, strengthen communities, invest in schools, rebuild our infrastructure, expand health care and make taxes fair,” said Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson. The Minnesota AFL-CIO is made up of more than 1,000 affiliate unions, representing over 300,000 working men and women throughout the state.

Brad Slawson, Jr., president of Teamsters Local 120 and chair of Change to Win Minnesota, also will speak to the convention. Change to Win affiliates include the Service Employees International Union, United Food & Commercial Workers and Teamsters, representing about 100,000 Minnesota unionists.

Many teachers are delegates
Of the 500 union members serving as delegates, the largest bloc is from Education Minnesota, the 70,000-member educators’ union that has not made an endorsement. Neither has the Service Employees International Union, another major labor organization representing 30,000 healthcare workers, public school employees and property service workers across Minnesota.

"We are firmly committed to electing a pro-working family governor in November and we are fortunate to have a large group of well-qualified candidates, any of whom will be a better governor than [Republicans] Marty Seifert or Tom Emmer," said Julie Schnell, president of the SEIU Minnesota State Council and president of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota.

The SEIU State Council said it will consider endorsing a candidate after the DFL convention and before the August primary election. In the meantime, “Individual SEIU members and leaders, however, may advocate on behalf of a gubernatorial candidate that they support,” the union said.

One such leader is SEIU Local 26 President Javier Morillo Alicea, who appears in a video on R.T. Rybak’s website endorsing the Minneapolis mayor for governor.

Range of endorsements
With Republican Tim Pawlenty announcing he will not seek a third term, the race for governor – and to be the DFL candidate in particular – has been wide open. With only about six months to go until the November general election, organized labor has spread its support among a number of candidates.

Here’s an overview of the union endorsements:

House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher, DFL-Minneapolis
AFSCME Council 65
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE)
Operating Engineers Local 49
UNITE HERE

Former U.S. Senator Mark Dayton
AFSCME Council 5
Teamsters Joint Council 32
United Steelworkers Local 7263 – Newport

Former state Rep. Matt Entenza
No union endorsements, but lists teachers’ union activists Julie Blaha and Ian Keith among his supporters.

Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner
No union endorsements.

State Senator John Marty, DFL-Roseville
No union endorsements, but boasts of a 91% lifetime AFL-CIO voting record.

State Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia
Communications Workers of America – Minnesota State Council
United Steelworkers Local 6860 – Eveleth
United Steelworkers Local 1938 – Mt. Iron
United Steelworkers Local 2705 – Hibbing
United Steelworkers Local 2660 – Keewatin
United Steelworkers Local 159 – International Falls

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak
Teamsters Local 120

State Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis
Minnesota Nurses Association

State Senator Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, who dropped out of the governor’s race last month, had the endorsement of the Minnesota Building & Construction Trades Council and several individual Building Trades unions. Minnesota Building Trades President Harry Melander said the construction unions would not make another endorsement until sometime after the DFL convention.

Who can win?
The candidates share similar positions on many issues important to the labor movement, such as job creation and worker rights. Each union claims its endorsed candidate would be the strongest champion for working families. And each union claims its endorsed candidate is most electable.

Anderson Kelliher “is the most electable candidate in the race,” said MAPE Executive Director Jim Monroe. “Speaker Kelliher can raise the necessary money, has the necessary experience to guide this state in hard times and has a superior campaign structure.”

“Mark Dayton has won statewide elections – twice,” said Eliot Seide, director of AFSCME Council 5. “Minnesotans know and like Mark.”

“Bottom line, we are most confident in Rybak’s prospects for winning a statewide election and moving Minnesota forward,” said Brad Slawson, Jr., president of Teamsters Local 120.

If the DFL candidate wins in November, she or he would be the first DFLer elected governor since Rudy Perpich in 1986.

For more information
Visit the DFL Party website

The Uptake will stream the entire convention live.