We Make MN

10/02/2026

“We’re seeing a shortage of wildland firefighters. It’s important that we continue to fund our line of work. We’re consistently, and with climate change, fighting more fires more aggressively. And we’re seeing fires now year-round, even just in Minnesota.”

Meet Karl Gaalaas and Jim McCue, AFSCME members and wildland firefighters with the Minnesota DNR in Grand Rapids, with 22 and 30 years on the job, respectively.

Minnesota’s fire season used to mean spring and fall. Not anymore. A Star Tribune report found the number of summer wildfires has grown 86%, and fall fires 74% since the 1990s, meaning crews now spend more of the year fighting fires than ever before. This was especially true this year, when a series of fires in July forced the BWCA to close, burned more than 70,000 acres, and weren’t fully contained until mid-September.

Annual firefighting costs reached $40.3 million in 2025, nearly double since 2010. That increase reflects more work, not better pay. Officials attribute rising costs to paying existing crews for more hours and deploying them earlier and more broadly, while wages and benefits stayed largely the same.

Smokechasers, the seasonal, call-when-needed firefighters, earn low pay with no healthcare or benefits, despite the job’s real dangers. Cancer researchers estimate a full career on the fire line raises a firefighter’s risk of dying from lung cancer by up to 43% and cardiovascular disease by up to 30%.

Without better pay and benefits, it’s hard to attract new firefighters or retain experienced ones. This experience matters, and as Jim says, “If we don’t have it, we are just putting people in danger.”

DNR officials say they can handle the longer fire season for now, but warn more resources will be needed if the trend continues. We don’t often think about the people who keep us safe until we need them. Karl, Jim, and firefighters like them have spent their careers protecting Minnesotans and deserve the funding to do this work.

Climate change is making fire season longer and more dangerous. Supporting these firefighters, now and for the next generation, is one of many investments Minnesota needs to make in the public goods that keep us safe.

09/29/2026

In 1990, 6.6% of Minnesota’s budget went to MN State.

Today it’s 2.7%.

60% of MN undergrads attend one of its 33 schools, which train nurses, teachers, tradespeople, and enrich our communities with educational opportunities.

Our students deserve a state that funds their future.

Read more here: https://bit.ly/4AFQeZu

09/28/2026

In 1990, 6.6% of Minnesota’s budget went to MN State.

Today it’s 2.7%.

60% of MN undergrads attend one of its 33 schools, which train nurses, teachers, tradespeople, and enrich our communities with educational opportunities.

Our students deserve a state that funds their future.

The warning comes the same week the U of M says it needs to cut its budget by $225 million.

09/25/2026

“We’re watching private equity absolutely demolish industries, mine in particular. And it’s getting harder to be one of the little guys.”

Meet Lauren Gaffney, co-owner of Health & Wellness Experts Foods, a vitamin and supplement store in St. Paul. Unlike giant corporations like Amazon, small businesses like Lauren’s are built on personal relationships with customers and neighbors.

There is another glaring difference between those businesses. In 2025, Amazon paid just 1.4% of its U.S. income in federal taxes after receiving $17.5 billion in tax subsidies, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. Meanwhile, Lauren paid more than 20% of her store’s income in taxes last year.

The same corporations avoiding taxes are dependent on the safety net they refuse to help fund. A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found the number of Amazon workers enrolled in SNAP and Medicaid has nearly tripled since 2020. In that same period, Amazon’s annual profit grew from $11.6 billion to $77.7 billion.

“I don’t want to pay less than 2% in taxes. I want Amazon to pay more than 20.”

Lauren understands that taxes are crucial for funding the public services her community relies on. She is just asking for an even playing field. Corporations like Amazon shouldn’t have an effective tax rate that is 1/10th of what small businesses are paying.

The broken status quo which allows corporations to avoid paying taxes, results in the chronic underfunding of public services like health insurance, leaving small businesses like Lauren to fill in the gaps. If corporations like Amazon paid their fair share, workers would have their basic needs met by a stronger safety net and would be free to choose work that actually fulfills them rather than struggle to make ends meet. This is the future Minnesota workers deserve.

09/22/2026

Minnesota has the 2nd-highest post-tax income in the Midwest and 15th-highest in the country. Smart public investments build a stronger economy and higher wages for everyone.

See the link in the comments below to read more 👇

This paper presents new estimates of state income tax liability, state tax credits, and post-tax income derived from the Census Bureau's CPS ASEC Tax Model.

09/18/2026

Early voting starts today!

We've spent months hearing how the status quo of chronic underfunding is hurting communities across the state.

Now is your chance to elect leaders who will fully fund the public services we all rely on!

09/14/2026

“A direct contact is what a student needs. Often if they do not get that direct contact, they get frustrated and they might give up. And we don’t want that.”

Meet Deb Cannon, an administrative support professional at Rochester Community and Technical College. She is the first person that students see when they need assistance, and her office “keeps the lights on” at RCTC.

But keeping the lights on is getting harder. RCTC sought $14.4 million from the state to renovate its aging Heintz Center, the place where students access career development services and learn technical and trade skills, including welding and automotive mechanics, along with more than a third of the college’s total programs. That funding wasn’t included in this year’s budget. Minnesota State also didn’t receive any new operating funds this year, forcing colleges across the state into hiring freezes and unfilled vacancies. Deb says RCTC’s disability support services office has only 3 staff members, even as the number of students with disabilities keeps rising.

This lack of funding is affecting students as well as staff. In 2025, over 40% of Minnesota Grant recipients attended community and technical colleges like RCTC, the same financial aid program now facing a $131 million shortfall this year.

“If we had everything we needed, we would be able to assist students easily,” Deb says. “Their education process would be smoother.”

Public employees like Deb do this work because they feel fulfilled when they help students achieve their goals. Instead of accepting a status quo of crumbling infrastructure and hiring freezes, Minnesotans deserve a state that invests in the people and places that help students succeed.

Community colleges train the nurses, tradespeople, and public servants that Minnesotans depend on to build our homes, treat us when we’re sick, and keep our communities safe. Investing in people like Deb is how we build the workforce and the state that works for all of us.

09/14/2026

09/07/2026

We are proud to fight alongside labor, today and every day. Happy Labor Day to the workers and unions who keep Minnesota running!