Tuesday, May 25, the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation plans a half-day conference to kick-off organizing for a new suburban labor council in Bloomington. The conference will run from 8 a.m. to noon at the Ramada Mall of America.

The agenda includes a networking breakfast, an opening plenary session, a panel featuring Bloomington workers and breakout sessions to discuss the political landscape in Bloomington and what labor’s organizing agenda might be.

“For a city so focused on growth, how to do it well so workers are benefiting” will be an important focus of the initiative, said Adrienne Alexander, an intern from the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute who is helping the MRLF organize the conference.

Invited participants will include union leaders and staff, community residents, and labor-friendly elected officials.

About 6,000 union members live in Bloomington. And several unions have significant numbers of members working there: UNITE HERE Local 17, Education Minnesota, the Machinists, the Building Trades, and SEIU.

The MRLF hopes to follow organizing models it developed to create suburban labor councils in Anoka County, Wright County, and Scott and Carver Counties.

In Bloomington, a new emphasis will be to become more engaged in monitoring local government and developing policy initiatives to create positive outcomes for working families.

For more information about the May 25 conference, contact Anna Brelje at 612-379-4206 ext. 102 or e-mail her.

Steve Share edits the Labor Review, the official publication of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation. Learn more at www.minneapolisunions.org