SAINT PAUL – Today, the Minnesota House of Representatives voted to ratify state employee contracts. Approximately 50,000 state employees are covered under these contracts which are currently in effect.
“These contracts were negotiated in good faith. We should support our state employees – many of whom work on the front lines of the pandemic – with fair pay and benefits,” said Rep. Mike Sundin (DFL – Esko), chair of the House Labor Committee. “As we seek to recruit talented Minnesotans to serve in critical positions, failure to invest in our state workforce will make it more difficult to compete with the private sector. Ratifying these contracts upholds the promise we’ve made to the dedicated folks who make our state work and I was proud to vote to approve them.”
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.
The costs for the labor agreements were included in last year’s state budget. Failing to ratify these contracts will mean pay cuts for essential workers, putting their wages below employees in similar jobs in the private sector.