SAINT PAUL, Minn. – Today, the House Labor, Industry, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee approved its 2022 Labor & Industry finance bill. The legislation contains increased protections for workers, new funding for apprenticeships and job training, and a permit fee holiday for building trades workers.
“All Minnesotans deserve to be safe and supported at work, with the ability to achieve economic security for themselves and their families,” said Rep. Rob Ecklund (DFL – International Falls), the committee chair and bill author. “Time and time again, House DFLers have proven we stand with workers by advancing solutions to support them, including those who work in dangerous fields and who could be vulnerable to exploitation. Workers are the backbone of our economy, and we have to do everything we can to deliver opportunities to be successful and safe on the job.”
The bill strengthens fair labor standards for agriculture and food processing workers, including updates to the Packinghouse Workers Bill of Rights, the law regulating the recruitment of food processing workers, and Minnesota’s migrant labor law. The legislation includes improvements such as a requirement for employers to provide notice to agriculture workers about their worker’s compensation rights, a requirement to provide basic employment terms to ag workers in their preferred language, and increased penalties for noncompliance.
Minnesota currently has some of the lowest OSHA penalties in the country, and to conform with federal requirements, the bill increases penalties for workplace safety violations. If lawmakers don’t enact these changes, the federal government would likely take over the state OSHA program.
To provide an economic boost to workers and their families, the bill includes a two-year fee holiday for building and construction trade licenses including electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, and other building trades workers. To improve safety in two highly dangerous fields, the legislation includes $1 million in new funding for a logger safety initiative Rep. Ecklund initially championed in 2021, and a requirement for most oil refinery workers to have apprenticeship-level training.
Other investments in the bill to help workers include $747,000 worth of funding for Youth Skills Training, $1.375 million for the Labor Education and Advancement program which encourages people of color and women to pursue apprenticeships, and $1.758 million toward prevailing wage enforcement to help ensure those employed on taxpayer-funded projects earn sustainable wages. The bill also includes a measure to ban “no-poach” clauses that prohibit franchisees from hiring a worker who works at or used to work for another franchisee in the same chain, an anti-competitive tool that often serves to keep wages low.
The investments in the bill for the Department of Labor and Industry, Bureau of Mediation Services, and Workers Compensation Court of Appeals largely mirror those Governor Walz has requested in his supplemental budget. The bill now heads to the Committee on Ways and Means. Video of today’s hearing will be available on House Public Information Services’ YouTube channel. Documents and other information from the hearing are available on the committee webpage.