Bernie Burnham

Bernie Burnham spent 14 years as an elementary school teacher and was actively involved in the labor management process in the Duluth Public Schools for nine years, four of those prior to being elected president of the Duluth Federation of Teachers. She served in that role for five years. Burnham served as the Vice President of Education Minnesota from 2019- 2021. On Dec. 14, 2021, the General Board of the Minnesota AFL-CIO unanimously elected her as the Labor Federation’s President. She cochaired the Minnesota AFL-CIO’s Committee on Racial & Economic Justice from 2020 to 2022. Burnham’s election was history-making for the state’s labor movement. As a Pacific-Islander, she will be the first person of color to lead the Minnesota AFL-CIO.