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The General Board of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, the state’s federation of more than 1,000 local unions, unanimously elected Executive Director Bethany Winkels to serve as Secretary-Treasurer. Winkels succeeds Brad Lehto who retired earlier last month.

The government shutdown has now dragged on for 23 days. Across the country, federal workers are struggling to pay bills without their paychecks.

After more than 25 years and serving in multiple roles at the Minnesota AFL-CIO, Secretary-Treasurer Brad Lehto retired this month. Prior to his 2018 election, Secretary-Treasurer Lehto served as the State Federation’s Legislative Director and Chief of Staff.

This is the next post in our series that will take a deeper look at each of our affiliates. The series will run weekly until we've covered all 63 of our affiliates. Next up is the Seafarers International Union (SIU).

The Minnesota AFL-CIO, the state’s federation of more than 1,000 local unions who represent over 300,000 working people, released its 2025 Legislative report. The report analyzes how state lawmakers voted on key labor priorities during the 2025 session.