Andie Whitaker joins Working Partnerships staff as new community services liaison

From the Minneapolis Labor Review, November 15, 2019

MINNEAPOLIS — Andie Whitaker began work October 21 as the new community services liaison for Working Partnerships. Working Partnerships is the community services arm of the Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO and assists union members who may experience financial hardship during times of unemployment, layoffs, strikes, lockouts, or other emergencies.

Whitaker worked most recently at Modern Heating and Air, a union shop and commercial HVAC company, where she was involved with accounting and administrative duties.

She’s a former campaign representative for Greater Twin Cities United Way, which funds Working Partnerships, so she’s been familiar with Working Partnerships’ mission.

In addition, Whitaker reports, “through my political work in the past, I’ve crossed paths with a lot of the people who work with the MRLF.”

‘Coming from a union family, unions have always been very important.’

Her campaign resume includes working for the Dayton and Obama campaigns and she’s also a past president of the Young DFL.

“I’ve always like politics from a young age,” says Whitaker, a Totino Grace High School graduate who earned her BA in political science from the University of Minnesota.

“Coming from a union family, unions have always been very important,” Whitaker reports. Her father, Walter Whitaker, is a retired member of Sheet Metal Workers Local 10. Her mother, Susan Whitaker, works for Hennepin County and is a member of AFSCME Local 2822.

“My grandfather Jerry Witek was a Teamster from age 15 until the day he retired,” Whitaker adds, while her step-grandfather, Joe Byrd, was secretary-treasurer of Laborers Local 563.

“My great-grandparents immigrated from Poland and settled in Northeast and no one has ever left Northeast,” says Whitaker, who lives in Northeast’s Marshall Terrace Neighborhood. “It feels like a small town with all the big city amenities,” she says. “I know all my neighbors. It’s home. It’s a good place to raise my kid.”
Whitaker has a 10-year-old daughter who attends Pratt Community School.

Contact Andie Whitaker at 612-379-8130 ext. 112 or andie@workingpartnerships.org.