Kare11
GOP wants more power over state worker wages
GOP lawmakers contend the legislature should regain the power to reject contracts with unionized state employees.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Republican lawmakers are frustrated that the legislature doesn’t have veto power over state worker union contracts. They’re raising those objects at a time when unionized state government employees have secured historic wage hikes in contract negotiations.
The largest union contracts featured a 5.5% raise in Fiscal 2024, which began in July. That will be followed by a 4.4% increase starting in July of 2025. More than half of the state government workforce is also eligible for a 3.5% merit raise each calendar year.
The average person today is not getting 5.5%, nor are they getting an additional 3.5%. And the average citizen has no idea.
State Senator Mark Koran, a North Branch Republican, told his colleagues Tuesday during a meeting of the Legislative Coordination Commission’s Subcommittee of Employee Relations. He asserted it’s rare for someone to be denied a merit increase in a state government job, so the actual raises for some could add up to 17% across a two-year period.
That’s 17% over a biennium — there’s nobody in the private sector getting that, even in these difficult times.
There are roughly 50,000 state employees in Minnesota, and 90% of them are covered by negotiated union contracts. They range from prison guards, state troopers, park rangers, game officers, bridge inspectors, pollution monitors, disease trackers, medical staff, snowplow drivers and many other positions.
Koran’s fellow Republican, Rep. Marion Rarick, decried the fact the full legislature no longer has the power to accept or reject those contracts. Those deals are negotiated between the union bargaining units and Minnesota Management and Budget, a department within the executive branch.
The interim approval portion is taken away. The ratification of the legislature has been taken away. So, it’s just really on autopilot. And it’s really, really sad to me.
Democrats said they needed to remove legislative control because they didn’t want state worker contracts to be held hostage as bargaining chips in last-minute negotiations in the legislature. They assert that unions negotiate contracts with the executive branch, not the legislative branch.
Sen. Erin Murphy, the St. Paul Democrat who chairs the subcommittee, noted that lawmakers indirectly control pay by setting how much state agencies can spend each during a two-year cycle through budget bills.
“But I want to remind everybody that what we’re really talking about are Minnesotans who live across the state,” Sen. Murphy told fellow lawmakers.
“They live in every part of the state. They’re working to serve the people of Minnesota. We’re recognizing their work in different places with these contracts that we did not negotiate.”
One of the major arguments for better state contracts is that the state must compete with cities, counties and private sector for the same group of workers. Republicans on the panel acknowledged that reality, but they still maintain that the legislature should have more control over how high those contracts can go and more controls in place to ensure that merit pay raises are actually warranted.
Megan Dayton, the president of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, or MAPE, released this statement:
“The Minnesota Legislature determines what the agencies receive in terms of funding during the budget process. After the budget is set, our members negotiate with the executive branch to ensure that the state employees responsible for delivering vital services and programs to all Minnesotans have fair terms and conditions of employment.”
Bart Andersen, the interim executive director of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Council 5 defended the new system.
“The need for this historic change in the state contract ratification process is clear because the 43,000 union members we represent, including 18,000 Minnesota state employees, are sick and tired of being treated as political pawns in a chess match at the capitol and constantly used as bargaining chips by politicians,” Andersen told KARE.
“Now, once a collective bargaining agreement is reached in good faith by both sides and our union members vote to ratify the agreement, they are implemented without anti-worker lawmakers holding state employees hostage for political purposes.”
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities and across Minnesota in our YouTube playlist:
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Maturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said his department “failed” after a man was shot, allegedly by his neighbor in the city.
“We failed this victim. 100%, because that should not have happened to him,” said O’Hara in a Sunday evening press conference.
The chief was discussing the shooting of Davis Moturi, who for months had been contact with the MPD about escalating harassment from his neighbor, John Sawchak.
Sawchak was charged with shooting Moturi as he was pruning a tree on his front yard on Oct. 23.
Moturi remains hospitalized with a fractured spine, two broken ribs, and a concussion.
O’Hara and the MPD came under a heavy attack from the Minneapolis City Council after it was revealed that the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office had charged Sawchak, but the MPD had not arrested him.
“MPD still has not arrested the suspect despite charges from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for Attempted Murder, 1st Degree Assault, Stalking, and Harassment and a request from the HCAO for a warrant with $1 million bail. MPD told the HCAO they do not intend to execute the warrant ‘for reasons of officer safety,’” said the letter from the Minneapolis City Council.
“We failed to act urgently enough,” said O’Hara, before citing staffing concerns as a contributing factor.
It was a stark difference from the tone the chief initially took on Friday, then saying “If we wound up in a deadly situation, the headlines would read ‘MPD shot mentally ill person’.”
On Sunday, O’Hara said his previous comments were meant as a response to accusations that the MPD “didn’t care,” about the case.
“This is the result of over-politicizing policing in Minneapolis,” said O’Hara.
O’Hara stated that the MPD will, for the moment, continue waiting for Sawchak to exit his home to arrest him, but the chief added “We are running out of options before we have to escalate the matter.”
The heated back-and-forth between the city council and the chief continued earlier Sunday when Minneapolis City Council member Emily Koski released a statement questioning O’Hara and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey actions in the matter.
“Our Chief of Police is hiding behind excuses, and our Mayor…is just hiding.” said Koski in the statement.
Cities across Minnesota expanded voting hours and locations for the upcoming presidential election.
MINNEAPOLIS — Expanded early voting hours and locations are giving Minnesotans more opportunities to cast their ballots before the general election.
Over 1,000 people visited Minneapolis Elections & Voter Services over the weekend to make their voice heard.
“We have always voted as a family. We have this right as Americans to vote, and we wanted him to know right from the get-go that you’ve got to vote in every single election because this is our voice, this is our opportunity to really pick the future that we want based on the candidate that we vote for,” said Kelly Wallander.
Kelly and her husband, Claude, picked up their son Harrison from college, so they could all vote in the general election for the first time as a family.
“It’s interesting. It’s cool to see elections on TV, basically as long as I can remember, and now know that I’m a part of it and being able to vote with my parents is cool,” Harrison said.
“I like voting early just because exactly you miss the line and you get it in there,” Claude said.
Director of Elections and Voter Services for the City of Minneapolis Katie Smith said the past two days have been busy.
“We’ve had really solid turnout. We’ve had about 42,000 people who have already voted in this election,” she said.
She anticipates next weekend will be even busier.
“Every year we kind of looking at how many people we’re planning for and how many people are coming through. We try to always expand our service hours as we get closer and closer to the election,” she said.
Smith said they’ve also started using pop-up voting locations to reach more people.
“In 2023, there was a legislative change that allows for us to have sites around the city that are open for different lengths of time as well as different dates form our main site. We’ve really taken the opportunity to host some one-day early vote pop-ups… in some unique and really great spaces throughout the city,” Smith said.
Sunday’s pop-up was at the Capri Theater. Paige Gayle voted here along with her sister.
“I like early voting because it’s convenient, it’s fast and it’s quick,” she said. “I work on actual election day, so for me it was important to get out beforehand.”
Smith said offering more voting opportunities for people in Minneapolis is crucial to their work.
“It’s so important to be able to offer all of these voting methods so that people can find something that works really well for them and make their voting plan,” Smith said.
Voters tell KARE 11 one of the perks to early voting is little to no wait. Voting early also gives them peace of mind and is one less thing to do on election day.
“It’s so much more convenient. This way I don’t have to worry about it. I’ll still be working on election day, so I would have had to go in before or after work. Now, I don’t have to worry about it. I know my vote will be counted,” Macy Bauers said.
Bauers said she votes in every election and hopes more people take advantage of early voting in the coming days.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
MINNEAPOLIS — Three people were shot, two of them fatally in a Minneapolis encampment on Sunday afternoon, according to the Minneapolis Police Department.
The shooting occurred on the 4400 block of Snelling Avenue shortly after 3 p.m., said the MPD.
The two adults who were killed were both male, according to the department, which is investigating the shooting.
A woman was also taken to the hospital after the shooting and is in critical condition, said the MPD.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
