Photos No money A warning not to cancel contracts In no hurry More from MPR Debate over possible state worker strike spills onto airwaves (09/18/2003) With contracts set to expire, negotiators and state workers square off (06/13/2003) Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

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State workers vote down contract proposals, authorize strike
September 29, 2003

Jim Monroe, the executive director of MAPE, says despite the strong rejections, the unions aren't in a rush to the picket line. (MPR Photo/Michael Khoo)

The largest state workers' unions have overwhelmingly voted to reject contract offers characterized by state negotiators as their last, best proposals. The votes authorize the workers to strike, but union leaders say they'll postpone setting a strike date in order to attempt another round of negotiating. State officials say they're also eager to return to the table, but they say they simply can't offer any more money for compensation.

South St. Paul, Minn. — The votes give union officials a strong mandate to stand firm against what they say are unacceptable increases in state workers' share of rising health insurance costs. For the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 6, more than 80 percent of those voting cast "no" votes. AFSMCE represents 17,000 mainly clerical, custodial, and maintenance workers who are now authorized to strike.

The 11,000-member Minnesota Association of Professional Employees counted two-thirds of its members rejecting the state's offers.

	No money

Jim Monroe, the executive director of MAPE, which represents computer technicians, accountants, and other white-collar employees, says despite the strong rejections, the unions aren't in a rush to the picket line.

"We are willing to negotiate. We want to negotiate and expect to return to the table. We are not, at the point in time, setting a strike date. It's an option that remains," he said.

Union officials say members are particularly upset that the state's offer requires employees to shoulder a larger portion of health care costs than they've been asked to do previously. Not only will premiums rise, but out-of-pocket maximums would roughly double by the second year of the contract. A family could then face up to $5,000 a year in costs that insurance wouldn't pick up.

But state officials say the premium increases are moderate -- and that the out-of-pocket exposure compares favorably with plans found in the private sector.

Employee Relations Commissioner Cal Ludeman notes that the state Legislature didn't allow for increases in wages or benefits in the two-year budget passed last spring. That budget erased a projected $4.2 billion deficit. Ludeman says despite those constraints, he managed to come up with an extra $66 million to put on the table. Nothing else, he says, remains.

	A warning not to cancel contracts

"We do know that $1 million, after we've already put this much money on the table, could mean 17 more state employees losing their jobs. And someone has to take the responsibility to try to prevent the layoff of state employees who we value and feel are doing qualified work," according to Ludeman.

Ludeman says he's eager to return to the bargaining table. But, he says, time is running short. In roughly two weeks, he says the state must have settled on a health plan or administrative costs will begin to mount unnecessarily. And Ludeman says, strike or not, the state has the authority to cancel the current contracts which, technically, expired last summer.

But AFSCME Executive Director Peter Benner says such a move would be counterproductive. "Cancelling our contracts doesn't resolve the dispute on health insurance. He has to come back to the table with AFSCME and MAPE and the other state unions and negotiate that through."

Benner says AFSCME would contest that sort of unilateral action in court. And Commissioner Ludeman himself acknowledges that in order to substitute a new health care plan, he'd need support from the Legislative Coordinating Commission's Subcommittee on Employee Relations.

DFLer Linda Scheid of Brooklyn Park chairs the subcommittee. She says she'd be reluctant to wade into the negotiations.

"These are big guys. They can figure this out. And the Legislature's just not going to want to make those decisions," she said.

But Republican vice-chair Bill Haas says the state simply can't afford to maintain the current health plan indefinitely. The Champlin representative is an employee benefits broker. He says health care pressures are hitting employees across the state.

"So it's not unique to state employees. It's everybody in the state of Minnesota. This is reality because it's all part of what they classify as medical inflation every year," according to Haas.

Commissioner Ludeman says he'd like to see talks conclude by the end of the week. But he didn't say whether, if they continue past that point, he'd immediatly cancel the current contracts and seek a more affordable replacement.

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