The terms of public-sector labor contracts can be extended even if they provide automatic pay or benefit increases, despite the best efforts of Republican lawmakers who tried to ban the practice.
Gov. Mark Dayton vetoed a measure that would have stopped public employees’ labor contracts from continuing past their expirations.
Bill supporters argue the unions have little incentive to settle on a new contract when the terms of the old contract already provide them with automatic compensation increases. But in his veto letter, Dayton argued that the bill would have tipped the scales too far in favor of the employers.
“The Legislature is well aware that I have opposed, and will continue to oppose, unilateral changes to the collective bargaining process,” Dayton wrote.
He also noted that the bill would have posed logistical problems for Minnesota Management & Budget, which negotiates state worker contracts.
Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) and Sen. Mike Parry (R-Waseca) are the sponsors.
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