Andrew Woodfin on Why Union Power Matters
Short-Term Raises. Long-Term Consequences.
Andrew Woodfin has lived through what happens when workers chase short-term pay raises at the expense of long-term economic and benefit protections, and when union power is weakened from the inside.
Andrew is a Transportation Generalist Senior (TGS) and Vice-President in AFSCME Local 106, Minnesota Department of Transportation–Owatonna. Before working for the State of Minnesota, Andrew worked for a Minnesota county for five years, including during a critical round of contract negotiations that shaped his understanding of why strong contract language, strong benefits, and strong membership matters so much to us as workers who face obstructionist management and anti-union organizations.
“When I first started with the county, we were in negotiations,” Andrew says. “We didn’t get quite the money people wanted.”
To make up for it, our union agreed to drop Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance and move to the cheaper insurance option with better coverage. On paper, it looked like a win-win. Members then focused on securing 3% pay raises, but we didn’t pay close attention to the fine print.
One clause, Article 1, Section 2, gave the county the right to assign whoever they wanted, whenever they wanted, regardless of their seniority.
“Nobody paid attention,” Andrew recalls. “People just said, "Nope, we’re getting 3% raises." I was new to the county, so I deferred to co-workers who had been there longer.”
Three years later, the consequences were impossible for workers to ignore.
Insurance costs increased by $100 per month….then more. The pay raises didn’t even come close to offsetting the increases, and members were losing money. In the next contract, workers pushed for a 6% raise to try to catch up, eventually settling for a 6/3/2% wage increase with increased vacation accruals.
“But the county already had the insurance rights,” Andrew explains. “They weren’t giving that up.”
To secure the raises, the union agreed to language that allowed the county to change insurance throughout the life of the contract. Andrew warned this wasn’t in workers’ best interests, but the deal passed.
Within a year, family insurance jumped $300 - $400 per month. The following year, it rose again to $600 - $700 per month plus higher deductibles and co-pays. The county eliminated the HSA without warning, and workers lost money still sitting in their accounts. Other benefits were quietly gutted, all in exchange for raises that never kept up.
“That’s when I knew,” Andrew says. “We traded long-term security for short-term money, and it crushed people.”
Andrew ultimately left the county and came to work for the state. Even though he makes about $3 less per hour, he brings home more money overall because of stable, negotiated state insurance benefits.
Why He Stepped Up
At the county, Andrew served as a trustee, without pay, because the local wasn’t collecting enough dues to even compensate its executive board. That experience made the cost of disengagement painfully clear.
When he started with the state, the first thing he did was talk to his local union president to get involved, be informed, and use his experience to keep our contract strong. After a year of membership, Andrew was nominated by his co-workers and elected vice-president.
“I wouldn’t self-nominate,” Andrew says. “I wanted members to decide if I was someone they trusted to advocate for them.”
Representation That Protects Jobs
Andrew has since helped multiple co-workers avoid discipline or termination by enforcing contract language, especially around discipline and due process.
In one case, a member was involved in a vehicle incident. Andrew questioned the evidence and pushed back on speculation.
“No assumptions,” Andrew says. “Unless it’s definitive, you can’t do that.”
Thankfully, the result was just a letter of counseling instead of termination. Strong discipline language and knowledgeable representation made the difference.
The Big Picture on Pay, Benefits, and Dues
Andrew understands why members sometimes prioritize pay raises, especially during periods of high inflation. His economics background helps shape how he answers those concerns.
“Yes, you might lose $23 per paycheck between a healthcare increase and a raise,” he says. “But your insurance is locked in for three years - and your pay keeps going up.”
Union dues fund our contract negotiations that protect employee wages and benefits. Our AFSCME state master team fought back nearly $300 million in insurance costs the employer tried to shift onto workers. That affected not only MnDOT but other AFSCME state employees. Over the last decade alone, AFSCME members have fought to keep or improve money-saving benefits such as sick leave and vacation accruals, deferred compensation banks (the option to convert overtime to deferred comp or cash out once per year), stable insurance, and our defined-benefit pension retirement plan.
“We pay more in union dues per month than our insurance increases,” Andrew points out. “And that’s because members stayed engaged.”
The Real Danger of Opt-Out Campaigns
Opt-Out Today and similar campaigns that flood your email inbox and your mailboxes, encourage workers to stop paying dues while claiming you can keep all of your union benefits. Andrew says why this is wrong and is dangerously short-sighted.
“When members opt out of our union, they’re still covered legally, but they weaken everyone else and the worker themselves lose their voice, their say in the workplace, and their ability to make their lives better, safer, and healthier,” he says. “Eventually, the math just stops working and your "savings" from dropping your union means you lose even more in the long-term."
At the county, lower union participation meant no paid executive board, weaker enforcement, and contracts and decisions that favored management instead of workers who do the job. Employers exploit disengagement, targeting benefits workers don’t immediately see…until they’re gone. Management knows who pays dues and who does not and they exploit lower participation. Our answer: Per engaged, use the enormous benefits union membership provides, and participate in the building of all of our futures."
“You can’t fight a war with half your soldiers sitting out,” Andrew says. “That’s not a fight…it’s a slaughter.”