“Anti-worker,” say Democrats after a Republican-controlled committee Thursday recommended the state legislature reject new two-year tentative contracts with the AFSCME and MAPE state employee unions. Hutchinson Republican Senator Scott Newman responds the two-percent wage increases rely on projected savings in health insurance, which might not pan out. He says, “If they don’t have a good year from an insurance standpoint, because Minnesota is self-insured, they will be back for more money.”
AFSCME head Eliot Seide says Republicans are rejecting their contracts “while they approve massive tax breaks for corporations and their wealthy cronies.” Newman responds the tax breaks Republicans tried to implement last year had nothing to do with that.