Education Minnesota is an American trade union representing pre-K to 12 education teachers, school support staff and higher education faculty in Minnesota. It is affiliated with both the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), and is affiliated with the AFL-CIO. The union's headquarters are located in St. Paul, Minnesota, and it represented more than 90,000 members in 2017. An annual Representative Convention of approximately 900 elected delegates meets each year, and is the organization's highest governing body. Between Representative Conventions, a 44-member governing board meets monthly. The governing board sets dues, establishes a budget and carries out the policy directives of the Representative Convention. Three full-time officers — a president, vice president and secretary-treasurer — guide the union between meetings of the governing board. Education Minnesota employed about 170 staff in 2017. Education Minnesota’s MEA conference is held on the third weekend in October. It is a break during the school year known as the "MEA weekend". Merger The union was created in March 1997 by the merger of the Minnesota Education Association (MEA) and the Minnesota Federation of Teachers (MFT). The merger was approved by both parent unions, and took effect on Sept. 1, 1998. At the time, the AFT and NEA were discussing a national merger. The two unions had increasingly collaborated for several years, and the merger of the two unions was considered a precursor to national merger. Subsequently, neither parent union laid down many ground rules for the merger. The planned merger between the AFT and NEA fell through after the merger agreement, which had been approved by the AFT, failed to win the necessary two-thirds majority at the NEA convention. Education Minnesota — which was affiliated with both the AFT and NEA — remained unaffected by the failed national merger. Judy Schaubach, president of MEA, and Sandra Peterson, president of MFT, were elected as co-presidents. But the lack of pre-merger ground rules came back to haunt the merged union. Disagreement between the two parent unions broke out over payment of per capita dues. Each parent union insisted that it receive its full dues, which would have doubled the dues of Education Minnesota members. The issue remained unresolved for two years, until an agreement was reached that established a new dues level. Back dues to NEA were paid down, while AFT forgave its anticipated dues. Impact on other NEA/AFT mergers Several