Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy announced that Bethany Winkels has been named Campaigns Director. Winkels, the federation’s Field Director since February of 2016, succeeds Kris Fredson who is taking a position with the Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota.
“Bethany has a proven record of organizing and motivating union members to political action,” said Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bill McCarthy. “She’s the ideal person to lead our Labor 2018 campaign to elect candidates who share our values and priorities.”
Prior to joining the Minnesota AFL-CIO, Bethany 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.