State employees to lawmakers: You got your raises, now approve ours

Union members rolled out the welcome mat for state lawmakers today, four months after a legislative subcommittee pulled the rug out from under their contracts.

Drazkowski threatens to derail state contracts with Right to Work ‘poison pill’

  It’s fair to say state Rep. Steve Drazkowski has a reputation for advancing extreme ideas. He’s supported logging in Minnesota’s state parks and eliminating the Pay Equity Act, even floated the idea of replacing health care workers with baby monitors. The Mazeppa Republican is at it again this session, inserting Wisconsin-style Right to Work […]

Lawmakers split over state employees’ contracts, set to take effect next month

Contracts covering about 27,500 state employees, including members of AFSCME Council 5 and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, will go into effect next month after a legislative subcommittee failed to reject or approve the agreements. Members of the Subcommittee on Employee Relations split along party lines in a 5-5 vote yesterday. Under state law, […]

State employees vote to ratify new contract

Unions representing state employees announced today that their members have voted to ratify new, two-year contracts with the state. The contracts call for across-the-board raises of 3-percent in each of the next two years, but require state workers to pay more for their health insurance. The contracts cover 19,000 members of Council 5 of the […]

AFSCME, MAPE reach tentative contract agreements with state

Workers in Minnesota’s largest public-employee bargaining unit reached a tentative agreement Friday on a new two-year contract that includes annual raises of 3 percent and requires workers to cover more of their health care costs, the union said in a statement released today. The tentative agreement covers 17,000 craft, service, health care, clerical and technical […]