MPR: Jim Monroe: Well-traveled journeyman

Jim Monroe: Well-traveled journeyman
By The Associated Press
October 11, 2001

Jim Monroe, 54, says he got "pretty burned out" on union work in the 1990s and he marketed insurance for a while. A little over two years ago, he saw an ad for the MAPE job as he was boarding a plane in Los Angeles, and he jumped on it. He says he hasn't had time since "to catch a deep breath."
(MPR Photo/Patty Marsicano)

ST. PAUL (AP) - As a college student in the late 1960s, Jim Monroe worked in the coal fields of Kentucky.

Since then, the executive director of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees has worked in top leadership positions for public employee unions or causes in three states. He arrived in Minnesota two years ago.

"I didn't come out of a labor background, but I got involved in organizing activities," says Monroe, whose father was a doctor and mother a nurse. "I enjoyed it and I've always sort of had that drive."

A native of Ohio, he says he was drawn to union causes as a student at Ohio University in Athens, where he studied political science and English.

After college, Monroe went to work for Ohio state government and eventually became the labor relations coordinator for former Gov. Jack Gilligan, a Democrat.

When the administration changed hands, he went to Washington state to head up its public employees union and then held a similar job in Maine before returning to work for the Ohio Civil Service Employees Association.

Monroe, 54, says he got "pretty burned out" on union work in the 1990s and he marketed insurance for a while.

A little over two years ago, he saw an ad for the MAPE job as he was boarding a plane in Los Angeles, and he jumped on it. He says he hasn't had time since "to catch a deep breath." MAPE had been embroiled in an internal power struggle when he arrived, including an effort to decertify the union and merge it with another.

In late 1999, his first year and first contract negotiation, MAPE came within a whisker of striking, on the eve of the Y2K scare. MAPE employees are responsible for much of the maintenance and operation of the state's electronic systems.

Rather highly paid for unionists (the average salary is about $49,000), MAPE members tend to view themselves as independent professionals rather than a collective work force.

The percentage of MAPE workers crossing the picket lines has been higher than for AFSCME, state officials say. And there's a perception that MAPE may have a harder time keeping its ranks together for a long strike.

Monroe acknowledges that challenge, insists that his ranks are more solid than the state implies and says that he is sustained by the guiding principle behind the union movement.

"It's really a matter of helping people through organizing to advance and protect themselves, doing things individuals can't do."

Monroe lives in New Brighton with his wife, Jane. He has three adult children and one grandchild, and enjoys boating and yard work.

Other Profiles
•Peter Benner, AFSCME
•David Fisher, State of Minnesota

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