St. Paul, Minnesota — Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives voted to ratify state employee contracts, HF 2768. Approximately 50,000 state employees are covered under these contracts, which are currently in effect. State Representative Jeff Brand (DFL - St. Peter), voted for the legislation.
“As Minnesota continues to grapple with COVID-19, we owe it to our state employees and their families to follow through on the promises that were made to them,” said Rep. Brand. “These are the Minnesotans that are keeping our state running, even more so during this pandemic, and they deserve our support.”
State employees include nurses on the front lines of COVID-19, corrections officers, cleaning and sanitation workers, public health workers doing the essential job of testing, monitoring, tracing, and mitigating COVID-19 in Minnesota; and staff that create and administer the conduits of federal and state resources to affected Minnesotans, including small businesses, hospitals, schools, and families. They work at our colleges & universities, prisons, DNR, the Regional Treatment Center and at the Unemployment offices.
The costs for the labor agreements were included in last year’s state budget, and the Minnesota Legislature does not negotiate these good-faith bargaining contracts. Failing to ratify these contracts will mean pay cuts for essential workers, putting their wages below employees in similar jobs in the private sector.
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