Staff

Monica Bielski Boris, Ph.D. Industrial Relations
LES Director
612-624-9072
mbielski@umn.edu

Monica Bielski Boris is an experienced labor educator who teaches courses on a variety of topics including leadership skills, union mobilization and organizing, contract negotiations, grievance handling, arbitration, and political economy. Monica also conducts research on union revitalization and worker diversity and has partnered with labor organizations such as the AFL-CIO and SEIU (Service Employees International Union) to conduct applied research. Monica has a Ph.D. and MS in Industrial Relations from Rutgers University and a BA from Oberlin College. She comes from a working class, union background and is happy be in a profession that serves working people.

Meron Negussie
612-624-5020
negus008@umn.edu

Meron joined LES as our new Program Coordinator. She is a member of AFSCME 3800 and has 2 years of service at the University of Minnesota. She worked for Biomedical Engineering as a Purchasing Coordinator. She is a first generation immigrant from Ethiopia. She is passionate about social justice and often volunteers her free time to work with organizations with similar views. Meron also loves animals and wishes to have a hobby farm in the future.

Filiberto Nolasco Gomez, M.A., Latin American History
612-624-1104 
nolas011@umn.edu

Howard Kling, M.A., English
612-624-4326
hkling@umn.edu

Howard's work for LES includes being a media and video professional and activist. Howard directs the LES Telecommunications Project, coordinating video production, union website maintenance and development and Workday Minnesota. Howard is also a playwright and for eight years was director of the Solidarity Kids Theater, a youth labor theater group located in the Twin Cities. He earned an MA/ A.B.D. in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a concentration in theater and American working class literature. Howard is a member of the Executive Council of the International Labor Communications Association, the Executive Board of the United Association for Labor Education, Board Chair of the national Worker's Independent News radio project and a member of the Board of the Twin Cities Media Alliance, which operates the Daily Planet website.
 

Amy Livingston, M.A., Philosophy
612-624-5020
livingst@umn.edu

Amy joined LES from the Graduate Employees' Organization, a local of the American Federation of Teachers, where she worked for six years as an organizer and educator of graduate student employees at the University of Illinois. She has designed and taught classes in a variety of traditional collective bargaining areas and initiated programs around special topics, such as diversifying the union and "queering" the contract. Amy has connected with workers in a variety of ways, working on issues such as fast food organizing and the problem of mass incarceration. Her interests and skills will bring new strengths and perspectives to LES programming. Amy holds bachelor's and master's degrees in philosophy from the University of Memphis.

 

John See, M.A., Advocacy and Political Leadership (MAPL)
612-624-6039
jsee@umn.edu

 

John started producing television programs in 1982 while an undergraduate at the U of MN as a director, writer, editor, and on-air talent. With these skills he began his work at LES in 1984 by cofounding "Minnesota At Work" which became the longest-running, regularly scheduled cable television in the U.S. about labor and working people, and which ended in 2009. He was one of the founders of the Union Producers and Programmers Network (UPPNET). For 30 years he has taught video production classes and produced many video projects for LES. He served on the board of the Minneapolis Television Network 1989-1996, eventually as board chair, and was instrumental in promoting MTN's non-profit internet service to unions around the state. In 1993, John began teaching classes in website creation and internet skills and is responsible for dozens of local unions' websites. In 2000 he became the webmaster for Workday Minnesota. He has been active as a representative on two University governance committees. He is a long-time member and Trustee of IATSE Local 219, an associate member of the Minnesota Newspaper Guild and Typographical Union, and a past member of Teamsters Local 4. John received his Master of Advocacy and Political Leadership M.A. in 2010 at the University of MN-Duluth.