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Cathy Wurzer
ST. PAUL, Minn.

State employee labor contracts hit turbulence at the Capitol

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A Minnesota House-Senate subcommittee meets today to discuss state employee labor contracts negotiated by the Dayton administration.

It's possible those contracts could run into some trouble in the GOP-controlled Legislature. The contracts set wages and benefits for more than 31,000 state workers. Those workers are currently being paid under the terms of contracts which expired over a year ago.

The new deal includes small pay increases and increases co-pays for health care. But health insurance premiums are covered in full for employees; 85 percent is covered for dependents.

The health care benefits are sticking points for some Republican lawmakers. They say those benefits are out of step with what's happening in the private sector.

MPR's Cathy Wurzer spoke first with Republican Minnesota state Sen. Mike Parry and then with AFSCME's Executive Director Eliot Seide about the contracts.