Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy today announced that Bethany Winkels will serve as Field and Member Development Director.
Bethany brings her background in legislative, electoral, and organizing campaigns, as well as her commitment to growing and strengthening the labor movement.
“Advancing policies and electing candidates who improve the lives of all working people means mobilizing union members to get involved,” Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy said. “Bethany brings the experience and enthusiasm necessary to get more union members engaged in our legislative and electoral work.”
Bethany previously served as the Field Director for the Move MN Coalition, mobilizing support for a statewide, comprehensive transportation funding solution. Prior to that, she served as a Field Director for Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO. During her time with Working America, she directed organizers in campaigns across the nation, including working to elect United States Senator Elizabeth Warren, mobilizing community support for union contract negotiations, and raising the minimum wage in Minnesota. In 2015, Bethany was named a Mary Elvira Stevens Fellow by Wellesley College, her alma mater. Through that fellowship, she traveled to Argentina and Spain to research and observe their national election cycles and grow her understanding of political organizing and outreach.
Bethany was raised in Granite Falls and lives in St. Paul.
As the Minnesota AFL-CIO Field and Member Development Director, Bethany will work with the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s affiliated unions and Area Labor Councils and Regional Labor Federations to grow union member activism and direct field programs in support of Minnesota AFL-CIO-endorsed candidates and legislative priorities.