House GOP, Minnesota public unions ready to battle over contracts

Contract agreements between Minnesota and its public sector unions typically sail through the Legislature. This year, however, those deals may get caught up in a broader fight over union dues and political activities.

House Republicans this spring have altered the traditional process of putting all the two-year contracts up for a single vote. Instead, they've spread ratification votes across several bills, and the bill they've crafted for the state's biggest unions is coming with some serious strings attached. It calls for limiting vacation cash outs, making union dues optional and relieving the state of the duty to collect fees.

The legislative showdown over the contracts starts Thursday in a House committee hearing. Union leaders are bracing for the fight. Republicans, though, say the unions need to change how they do business.

"The union bosses traditionally have framed out a lot of this policy we have in law, so the union bosses are going to want to continue to protect what they have," said bill sponsor Rep. Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa. "What we're looking for in here is looking out for what's in the best interest of all workers in the state of Minnesota and state government and the public as well."

Drazkowski tried to stall the contracts last fall over cost concerns. They went into effect provisionally after a tie vote by a House-Senate panel. If the Legislature deadlocks this spring, the new contracts would cease and old ones would resume.

Union leaders are calling out Drazkowski's plan with some comparing the coming battle to the monumental showdowns between Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker and public employee unions.

The Minnesota GOP proposal "would make Scott Walker blush," said Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, the largest state employee union. Along with the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, the two unions represent most of the state's more than 30,000 public employees.

"What this is not about is not the provisions of the contract, "Seide said. "What this attack by Representative Drazkowski is about is continuing the war on workers to attack the rights on workers to have a voice in the workplace, to continue to trash the public sector unions."

The AFSCME and MAPE agreements call for 2.5 percent across-the-board raises this year and next, with many employees qualifying for seniority and merit raises on top of that. But employees will see higher health insurance premiums and other care costs.

The settlements could add $300 million to state labor costs over the two years.

The money has to come from somewhere, said state Rep. Jim Knoblach, R-St. Cloud.

"In some cases the state settled for more than we had anticipated last year," said Knoblach, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, which all spending bill must go through. "Individual committee chairs will have to decide whether they want to actually want allocate additional money or they just want to have the agencies find it," he said.

House Minority Leader Paul Thissen, however, said he's worried about the livelihoods of public employees being used as political leverage.

"These are public servants," said Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis. "These are people that do the public's business. They shouldn't be scapegoated just because that's the career that they're in."