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Legislative News and Views - Rep. Jack Considine Jr. (DFL)

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RELEASE: Rep. Considine votes to ratify public worker contracts

Monday, May 11, 2020

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.

“Whether it's inspecting our food to make sure it’s safe, ensuring we have access to clean drinking water, or protecting public safety – including behind the walls of our prisons, state workers provide for our civilization,” said Rep. Jack Considine (DFL – Mankato). “In the current crisis, they have been the backbone to our response and many of them are working in harm's way, potentially sacrificing their health to deliver the services we all count on. I was proud to vote for their contracts today.”

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.