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During the past week, community and labor groups throughout Wisconsin have been rallying in support of high-speed rail, hoping to change Governor-elect Scott Walker’s mind about canceling the Milwaukee-to-Madison project. Now, labor officials from a neighboring state are doing the same.

Last week, leaders of the Minnesota AFL-CIO sent an open letter to Walker urging him to reconsider his plans. Because the Milwaukee-to-Madison high-speed rail line would serve as part of a larger regional high-speed system linking Chicago with Minneapolis/St. Paul, refusing federal dollars to build the segment would hurt not only Wisconsin, but the entire Midwest, Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson and Secretary-Treasurer Steve Hunter said in the letter.

“The larger Midwest high speed rail initiative would put tens of thousands of more people back to work and make the upper Midwest an even more lucrative place to do business,” they wrote. “If Wisconsin says no to this section of the line, it is likely Minnesota will not see any rail dollars in the future.”

It’s important for Minnesota, Wisconsin and other states in the region to work together to create jobs and strengthen the economy, the letter continued.

“The federal government is going to invest this money in rail one way or another,” the letter read. “Turning down this money means jobs for another region instead of the upper Midwest.”

The organization copied Minnesota Governor-elect Mark Dayton, who has said he supports the Midwest high-speed rail plan, on the letter.