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Mike Mulcahy
St. Paul, Minn.

GOP leaders: Deficit fix to involve public workers

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Republican Legislative leaders say they want to work with state employees to balance Minnesota's budget.

Some public employees in Wisconsin, including teachers have been protesting this week against a plan by the governor there to curtail their ability to bargain collectively.

Minnesota Republican Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch said that's not the approach she favors in dealing with public employees here.

"Our intention would be to work with the public employees," Koch said. "We would invite them in to our committee hearings. We would invite them into our offices. Come to us and talk to us about ways that we can make government more user friendly, more effective and also save some money."

Koch and House Majority Leader Matt Dean said Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton's proposal for a 6 percent reduction in the state work force goes in the right direction.

The Minnesota Senate has passed a bill to freeze pay for school employees but House committees have yet to hold a hearing on the measure.