Staff

Kelsie has been a HealthPartners employee since 2017. Immediately after being hired on, Kelsie became involved in the union after a contract vote where she met fellow stewards and union staff who convinced her to become involved after she spoke about issues in the work place she has noticed. Kelsie is a strong advocate against bullies and fierce defender of our members. Kelsie dived into books, articles, classes and anything she could learn over the years to learn as much as possible while being a steward about labor, her contract and rights of workers. In 2018, Kelsie was approached by a fellow board member and was asked to run for Vice President and was sworn in in 2019. She also served on the bargaining team of her contract in 2021 where they won better language, maintained excellent healthcare, and a good wage increase. Kelsie later ran unopposed for President in 2022. Kelsie comes from a blue collar family where her father was a former member of Teamsters 120, who worked as a truck driver for over 30 years. She understands the value of union benefits as these are what kept her family fed and cared for growing up. It was her father’s excellent health plan that paid for doctors visits when she was a child, and for her mother until she passed away in 2018.

Kelsie lives in Brooklyn Park in her townhome with her fiancé Eric, 2 dogs and a cat. She has 2 beautiful nephews and 2 beautiful nieces and she thinks of them often when doing union work in hopes of helping making the working class better for them when they get older. Kelsie loves to meet new members and encourages all members to reach out to her with questions and concerns via email at [email protected].

I taught high school English for twenty-four years, mostly in California. Fourteen of those were in the Long Beach Unified School District. There, I spent ten as a union steward and two on the board of directors for the Teachers’ Association of Long Beach, the third largest teachers’ union in the state. I was also on the Contract Action Team (we called it the Organizing Committee) for six years, including two years as co-chair. I’ve been heavily involved in labor solidarity work, multiple anti-war movements, the immigrant rights movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as a number of smaller campaigns. I’m also a writer, a basketball player/coach, and a gamer.

Molly joined OPEIU Local 12 in 2020. After being a rank and file member of UNITE HERE! Local 17 for 18 years, she came on as staff as a business agent and organizer. Through Molly’s experience and determination, she helped organize her coworkers to challenge its leadership and helped a new slate of leaders get elected to the Union. Molly was also a founding member of the Fight for 15! At the MSP Airport. With a strong Union family, she hopes to teach her kids the importance of Unions and lead by example.