Toxic Legislation!

Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature have introduced more than 50 toxic bills that attack public-sector workers and put public services at risk. They’re importing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s tactics to Minnesota. They want to give hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts to their rich friends and corporate donors. And they want public workers to pay for it with wage and benefit cuts. They’ve declared war on the middle class and they won’t stop until none of us can earn a decent living or retire with dignity.

It is an orchestrated, relentless and calculated war on workers. They’re trying to wipe out collective bargaining one chunk at a time – by interfering with, suspending, overriding, or limiting that right. They’re demanding even more sacrifice from public employees; they are not demanding a similar sacrifice from the state’s richest residents.

Here’s the Republican Legislative Agenda:

  • Instead of creating good jobs, they’re destroying them.

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  • Despite a $5 billion deficit, they want more tax breaks for their corporate donors. 

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  • They are accelerating their crusade against public workers. They want to cripple our unions, eliminate or privatize as many of our jobs as they can, and needlessly trash our pensions and health insurance. All of this does little to fix the budget.

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  • Instead of raising revenue, they are pursuing a budget that relies entirely on cuts. Their plans dismantle what unites us as a state. They put Minnesota’s quality of life at risk. Instead of asking the rich to pay their share, legislative Republicans are making everybody else pick up the tab.

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  • They are extracting political revenge – and pitting residents in different parts of the state against each other – by using state money as a weapon. Their budget proposals reward communities they represent, and punish communities they don’t. 

Read The Details of the Republicans’ Ideological Crusade!

Wages: Legislators can’t seem to decide how much they want to attack state employee wages. 

  • Cut wages by 6 percent for all state and MnSCU employees – immediately (SF812).

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  • Cut state employees’ pay by at least 5 percent beginning July 1 (HF756). The bill blocks contractual pay raises and step increases, and withholds 5 percent of wages each year. Workers get their full wage only if their supervisor gives them a satisfactory performance review and approves full pay. 

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  • Impose a two-year wage freeze for state employees beginning July 1 (HF127).

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  • Permanently freeze pay for state employees beginning July 1 (HF5, HF125).

Benefits: We’ve already taken pay freezes, unpaid furloughs, and made other sacrifice to help fix state and local budgets. But legislative Republicans want us to do even more so the rich can keep doing less. Among Republican plans:

  • Demolish health insurance for state employees beginning Jan. 1 (SF805). Who cares if the state insurance plan is a model for the rest of the nation? This bill would replace it with the worst kind of private-sector insurance: an HSA-style plan in which state workers pay all premiums and have a $5,000 deductible before insurance pays a dime. This could easily cost workers $20,000 out of pocket for family coverage.

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  • Close down the state’s defined-benefit pension plan on July 1(HF542). Current employees could continue to participate, but the bill freezes benefits by eliminating all future service credits. The bill also sets the stage so that public agencies no longer contribute to the plan. Current employees who are not vested will be kicked out of the plan (they get a refund for contributions they have made). New employees would not be eligible for any retirement benefits. 

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  • Keep defined-benefit pension plans, but shift most of the cost from employers onto workers beginning July 1 (SF813). Instead of paying roughly half the cost, public workers at all levels would pay roughly 75 percent. For most workers, it is the equivalent of a 3 percent pay cut.

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  • Prohibit public agencies from making any kind of a contribution to 401(k)-style defined-contribution retirement plans (HF594).

  • Study ways to “reform” state employee pensions (SF81).

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  • Destabilize the corrections retirement plan by removing the number of eligible employees and changing vesting and other service credit requirements (HF1072).

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  • Muck up the ability of public employees and retirees to participate in insurance programs (HF371, SF247).

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  • Drive up costs of retiree health insurance (HF404).

Jobs: Legislative Republicans Want To:

  • Cut the state workforce by 15 percent (HF4/SF81). This will eliminate 5,000 jobs.

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  • Slash funding for state agencies. Among the job-killing cuts the House is seeking: Jobs and Economic Development, 52 percent; Transportation, 33 percent; other state government agencies, 51 percent.

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  • Cut $1.6 billion from Human Services and $411 million in state aid to higher education. MnSCU alone says this means at least 880 layoffs, fewer courses, and higher tuition.

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  • Eliminate $872 million – including all LGA payments – to Minneapolis, St. Paul, Duluth and many Twin Cities suburbs – while preserving these payments for communities in Greater Minnesota. Cut state aid to counties by $72 million. These budget targets would wipe out hundreds of public jobs, and handcuffs cities and counties in how much they could raise property taxes to make up for the lost state aid (HF481). House research says the budget cuts could drive property taxes up by 30 percent. 

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  • Review privatization potential of all state agencies and nonprofit organizations that receive state funds. Assess situations that may constitute “inappropriate competition” with private enterprise (SF394). 

School District Employees: Legislative Republicans Want To:

  • Impose a two-year wage freeze on all public school employees and outlaw economic strikes by school employees. (SF56, HF381)

  • Restrict when school districts and their employees can negotiate collective bargaining agreements. (HF115, HF464) 

Attacks on Workers and Their Unions: Legislative Republicans Want To:

  • Add “work for less” requirements to the state constitution (HF65). This amendment could drive down wages for all workers – and handcuff unions and their members’ power to improve wages, benefits and working conditions.

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  • Eliminate equal pay for women (HF7, SF282).

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  • Weaken arbitration for employees of local units of government. (HF501)

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  • Forbid public employers from deducting union dues from members’ paychecks (SF623). 

Catering to Corporate CEOs: Legislative Republicans Want To:

  • Cut corporate income taxes – even though it makes the state’s budget deficit $200 million worse. (SF1)

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  • Cut corporate property taxes and phase out the corporate franchise tax – even though this would squeeze schools and local governments even more. These corporate tax breaks mean homeowners will have to pick up more of the property tax tab. (SF1, HF42)