The Republican-controlled 2011 Legislature, which spurned a state workers’ pay raise, “may have woken up a sleeping giant or a sleeping bear,” Ekblad said.

“I believe there was a portion of the Legislature that didn’t come to Helena with the intent to govern,” Ekblad said. “They came to Helena with the intent to tear government down. My job is to help our membership make sure they don’t come back to Helena.”

Ekblad said labor must embrace current and new technology to communicate with members, including email, texting, Facebook and Twitter besides traditional methods as phones. Labor needs to be able to react “in the moment” to reach its members quickly, Ekblad said.

When labor groups hold rallies now, they ask participants to sign in and indicate the best way to reach them.

“We’re communicating with multi-generational members,” he said. “We have younger members who think email is old-fashioned and want to use texting and Facebook.”

Ekblad said the Montana AFL-CIO will be seeking grants to leverage with current funds to ramp up its technology capabilities.

Jim Murry, a former longtime AFL-CIO executive secretary who first hired Ekblad in 1986, said he was excited about Ekblad’s election.