...That's right...I said WE in MN...that's me...a Minnesotan (that cheers for a "foreign" football team). This is from the LA CROSSE TRIBUNE.
Minnesota lawmakers are considering changes to the state’s public work force, including paring the state work force by 15 percent and a proposed pay freeze for teachers.
But Minnesota officials aren’t expected to replicate Wisconsin’s efforts to have employees pay more for their benefits, as such efforts likely wouldn’t yield much savings in Minnesota.
A plan to end collective bargaining with teachers and thousands of other public employees is roiling Wisconsin, where Republican Gov. Scott Walker contends it would save hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.
Walker is calling for employee contributions to rise from less than 1 percent of their earnings to nearly 6 percent.
In Minnesota, state employees already pay nearly that, said Jennifer Munt, spokeswoman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union that represents about 20,000 state employees.
“In Minnesota, public employees pay 5 percent of their income toward their pension,” she said. “The average pension for AFSCME state employees is $13,000 a year.”
That’s currently a 50-50 match for the Minnesota State Retirement System.
Those contributions are defined by law — not in contract talks, said Jim Monroe, executive director of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, another large state public employee union. He said eliminating collective bargaining, as Wisconsin is considering, wouldn’t change that.
“If anybody here in Minnesota thinks that would generate savings, it would not,” Monroe said of Wisconsin’s plan.
Minnesota teachers have a similar deal. They contribute 5.5 percent of their pay to their pensions, which is matched by their districts. That’s scheduled to rise to 6 percent in July and 7.5 percent by 2014.
In Wisconsin, Walker’s plan also would require public employees to contribute more for their health insurance, to nearly 13 percent of the premium cost.
It’s hard to compare directly, because the benefits are a key factor in the cost of health insurance, but in Minnesota, AFSME and MAPE have bargained to pay 15 percent of a family plan for their employees. The state picks up the rest, with a $3,800 out-of-pocket limit.
Just as in Wisconsin, teachers in Minnesota bargain their health insurance locally, and it varies widely.
“We have a pretty good balance right now,” said Mike Parry, chairman of the Senate’s state government committee. “So I think we’re different from that.”
But lawmakers at the Capitol have been talking about statutory changes to public employment this session, including pay freezes for teachers and a 15-percent cut in the state work force.
Parry said he and other Republicans also would like the state to operate more like the private sector with pensions and other benefits.
“I would like to see the citizens, which is the state, be put in a position where they can decide what they’re going match, if they’re going to match, based on the surplus in the state’s coffers,” Parry said.
Bills have been introduced in the House this year attempting to change Minnesota to a right-to-work state, which would all but eliminate unions’ ability to organize. But so far, neither bill has made any progress in the House.
