Team MAPE News 2/25

Team MAPE Newsletter

February 25th, 2009

Join us for Team MAPE Virtual Day on the Hill! Whether at the Capitol, at home or at work, all MAPE member are encouraged to contact legislators as part of Virtual Day on the Hill. On March 4th, nearly 200 MAPE members will converge at the Capitol to lobby their legislators on key MAPE issues, like preventing layoffs, protecting retirement benefits and stopping the privatization of state services. Virtual Day on the Hill will complement the in-person Day on the Hill event and allow MAPE members from across Minnesota to participate in the process by contacting their legislators on March 4th. MAPE members can participate in Virtual Day on the Hill in multiple ways. Members are encouraged to email, call and write letters to their legislators. CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE ABOUT TEAM MAPE VIRTUAL DAY ON THE HILL.

MAPE members around the state are attending budget Town Hall meetings. The remaining meetings will be held Thursday in Coon Rapids, Forest Lake, Plymouth and St. Paul. MAPE Government Relations Committee member Carol Logan attended the Woodbury meeting and reported that over 200 people were in attendance. Logan said most attendees urged legislators to not cut vital state services.Click here for more information about a budget Town Hall meetings.

PLANNING TO ATTEND A TOWN HALL MEETING? CLICK HERE TO RSVP.

"At my house my mom asked me how it went. I said it was great!" Those are the words of Ben Jorgenson. Ben, age 10, is the son of MAPE Statewide President Chet Jorgenson. Ben attended last year's MAPE Day on the Hill and wrote this report for school. (Click here to read Ben's report.) The 2009 Day on the Hill is on track to be even more "great." Over 190 MAPE members have already registered. With a huge budget deficit and a bill introduced threatening to freeze our salaries, it is more important than ever to make our collective voices heard. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Read the Team MAPE weekly Legislative Update. In preparation for Team MAPE Day on the Hill and Virtual Day on the Hill, the weekly Team MAPE legislative report provides a through run-down of everything at the Capitol that affects state employees. CLICK HERE TO READ THE TEAM MAPE LEGISLATIVE UPDATE.

Read the MAPE Professional. The new issue of the MAPE Professional is out. Check-out an update from the MAPE negotiations team and a column from MAPE President Chet Jorgenson. CLICK HERE FOR A PDF VERSION OF THE MAPE PROFESSIONAL.

To contact your legislators, please visit TeamMAPE.org.

Join us for Team MAPE Virtual Day on the Hill!

On March 4th, nearly 200 MAPE members will converge at the Capitol to lobby their legislators on key MAPE issues, like preventing layoffs, protecting retirement benefits and stopping the privatization of state services.

The state faces a huge budget deficit, currently pegged at $4.8 billion. The Governor has proposed a budget that would eliminate 1100 state jobs and give tax breaks to corporations. Legislation has been proposed in both chambers to freeze state employee salaries.

Virtual Day on the Hill will complement the in-person Day on the Hill event and allow MAPE members from across Minnesota to participate in the process by contacting their legislators on March 4th.

MAPE members can participate in Virtual Day on the Hill in multiple ways. The idea here is for us to hit legislators through multiple mediums. Here are some options:

• Use the Team MAPE website to contact your legislators
• Call your legislators using the Team MAPE script
• Sign a mail merged letter that will be delivered to your legislators
• Write a hand written note or card to your legislator, working off the Team MAPE script

The easiest way to contact legislators is through the Team MAPE website. Go to http://www.teammape.org now to contact your legislators!

This is the core message we are encouraging members to use in legislative communications:

I am a proud member of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees.

The work we do for the state is vitally important, particularly in times like this. We as MAPE members help unemployed Minnesotans find jobs. We help people go back to school. We collect revenues for the state through unpaid taxes, fees and unemployment insurance. This is exactly the wrong time to cut these vital services.

We as MAPE members oppose any legislation that aims to take away benefits we have earned through collective bargaining. This includes legislation to institute a pay freeze, reduce retirement benefits or open up our health insurance pool without first measuring the potential ramifications.

We support a comprehensive solution that mixes revenue increases with strategic spending cuts. In addition, we will work to find ways to save money in state government and to recoup revenues that are currently going uncollected.

We do recognize the seriousness of the situation we face.  We are willing to work together to find a consensus solution. But the place for many of these discussions is at the negotiations table, not the Capitol.

Do you have questions about Virtual Day on the Hill? Please contact Kendal Killian and MAPE at kkillian@mape.org or 651-287-8768.

Team MAPE Legislative Update 2/23

Team MAPE Day on the Hill is March 4^th :

I have made appointments for almost 200 MAPE employees who signed up to attend our annual MAPE Day on the Hill.  The current registration will result in a record turnout.  We are also working to organize virtual day on the hill to have members who work in out-state MN. call their legislators with the same message legislators will hear from constituents in person.  All registrants should have received a call and/or message at home this past Friday letting them know about the times of their scheduled appointments.   All but a few appointments have been scheduled.   We are still scheduling speakers for the morning rally.  So far the Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie and the Speaker of the House, Margaret Anderson Kelliher have confirmed to speak to those in attendance.  If you are still considering attending Day on the Hill, please go to the TeamMAPE.org web site to sign up.  Talking points have been sent to home e-mails and will be updated and e-mailed a second time so you have them in advance of March 4th.  Please watch your e-mails for them. 

Outsourcing of State IT Jobs:

It is clear the Governor’s budget proposal consolidates all the state data centers in an outsourced location.  That means corporations could stand to gain a lucrative contract exceeding $12 million to store data currently stored at OET or other state agencies.  Imagine outsourcing storage of BCA data, Public Safety information, data for every Sheriff’s department in the state of Minnesota, the Criminal Justice Information System, 50,000 phone lines, and even the equipment to do teleconferencing in state classrooms.  The job loss would be detrimental.

Last Wednesday, the Senate’s State Government Budget Division held a hearing to hear presentations from IBM, Deloitte, the City of Minneapolis, and MAPE on alternative funding ideas for IT.  The room was full of companies looking for a piece of Governor Pawlenty’s lucrative pie to outsource data centers.   The City of Minneapolis, which currently outsources all their computer work and equipment to Unisys, made a presentation on their alleged cost savings from outsourcing which was actually the cost savings from not purchasing any IT equipment.  Currently all of Minneapolis’ desk top computers are even owned by Unisys.  Minneapolis’ CIO stated that she would be in favor of outsourcing IT even if there were no cost savings.

I will continue to provide legislators with actual information rather than the dishonest information being spread in the Governor’s budget proposal.  OET’s narrative claims there are no video recording equipment, commercial grade heating and cooling, or disaster recovery plans and locations in the state.  In fact, in relationship to all of the state’s major data centers, just the opposite is true.  The difference is that the narrative is a copy of what was in a secret report prepared for OET upper management, without employee input, by Unisys. 

Corrections Early Retirement Program:

Last Wednesday, the Senate’s Public Safety Budget Division held a hearing on the Governor’s budget proposal to remove all employees except Security Counselors and Corrections Officers from the Corrections Early Retirement Plan.  His proposal removes employees from the plan back to 1996, requires them to work ten years longer to qualify for a pension, it fails to inform employees about what happens to their additional retirement money they put into the corrections plan, and removes ten years of health insurance without bargaining.  MAPE had three members testify; two Case Workers and a Psychologist from the Minnesota Correctional Facilities.

Earlier in the week, the Commissioner from the Department of Corrections told the House of Representatives Public Safety Finance committee that the proposal came from the DOC and Minnesota Management and Budget.  Commissioner Fabian admitted that employees have 75% offender and patient contact.  She agreed that the employees affected risk their lives every day they go to work.  The DOC’s Asst. Commissioner of Finance simply stated they made a retroactive proposal because it was the only way they could save money off of the proposal.  The Commissioner was clear that she felt the Correctional plan needs changes to deal with an exceedingly growing health insurance expected to cost $250,000 for eligible employees from age 55 to 65 years old. 

MAPE employees currently have to work ten years, not three, to get the early retirement benefits under the retirement plan.  MMD Asst. Commissioner has made a repeated issue out of the fact that someone can work three years and receive the health insurance benefit.  There are still employees who have three years of vesting in their collective bargaining units.

It is apparent that the DOC and MN. Management and Budget are attempting to remove insurance benefits for employees through legislation.  Pension language is legislated.  Insurance benefits are negotiated.  When you speak to your legislator, it is critical that you remind them of that.

 

Committee Hearings:

The Minnesota Health Plan (H.F.135), a comprehensive single-payer health plan for all Minnesotan’s will receive its first hearing in the House of Representative in the Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight committee on February 25^th at 2:45 in room 200 of the State Office Building.   On Saturday, February 28^th, the Campaign for the Minnesota Health Plan will provide Organizing and Advocacy Training at the Brookdale Library, 6125 Shingle Creek Parkway in Brooklyn Center.  The training will be held from 10 am to 3:30 pm.  

 

Bills Introduced This Week: 

H.F. 992 and S.F.814 permits local school districts to choose to provide health coverage to their employees through the state employee group insurance plan.  MAPE will be working against this bill allowing groups, regardless of health, time of collective bargaining, and age of group into SEGIP without paying their share of the reserves.  They can get into a pool through the Public Employee Insurance Plan at the proper cost including paying their own reserve money.  However, school districts want to get in based on the reserves you’ve paid over time to be used as payment for participant’s medical expenses.  Let’s remember, districts want to be part of your pool because it is cheaper than their insurance.  It is cheaper because their group is less healthy and more costly.  What will happen to the cost of your benefits when groups like these are added?  Groups who are healthier and have cheaper premiums have the choice not to join.
H.F. 834 and S.F. establishes a state employee suggestion system for making state government less costly or more efficient allowing for cash awards of up to $2500.

Other Bills of Interest: 

• H.F. 586 is the companion to S.F. 372 which freezes salaries and wages for all public employees.
• H.F. 691 and S.F. 702 modifies the vacation donation program allowing donation of up to 40 hours of vacation or sick time.  A recipient may use time as soon as their accruals run out for a total of up to 1044 hours.
• H.F.135 and S.F.118 are comprehensive single-payer health plan bills for all Minnesotan’s.
• H.F. 938 and S.F. 334 provide 40 annual additional sick leave hours for state employees
• who are veterans with service-related disabilities.
• H.F. 724 requires hospitals to report hospital acquired infections as adverse health care events.

Resources:

• The Senates web forum for citizens to comment on any piece of the state budget and provide budget reduction solutions is available at http://budgetforum.senate.mn/.  This site is full of budget information and even breaks down the state budgets by divisions in state government.
• The House of Representatives is continuing to accept budget cutting and revenue increasing ideas at http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/budgetsuggestions.asp. 
• Committee assignments for the House of Representatives are available at http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/commemlist.asp
• Senate committee assignment are available at http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/index.php?ls=#header.

In Solidarity,

Richard Kolodziejski - MAPE Legislative Affairs Director 

Team MAPE Legislative Update 2/17

Team MAPE Legislative Session Update

February 16th, 2009


Team MAPE Day on the Hill is March 4th :

We have made appointments for approximately 150 MAPE employees who have signed up to attend our annual MAPE Day on the Hill.  We would like to thank everyone for the additional consideration and advance notice.  This year has been extremely difficult to set all the appointments with a standing caucus meeting scheduled in the Senate and several major committees conflicting with appointments.  All but a few appointments have been scheduled.   We are still scheduling speakers for the morning rally.  So far the Secretary of State, Mark Ritchie and Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher have agreed to speak. If you are still considering attending Day on the Hill, please go to the TeamMAPE.org web site to sign up. 

Outsourcing of State IT Jobs:

It is clear that the Governor’s budget proposal includes the elimination of 1,100 full time equivalent state positions.  He also proposes consolidating all of the state data centers in a leased location.  That means corporations could stand to gain a lucrative contract to store information and equipment that is currently stored through OET.  Imagine outsourcing the storage of BCA data, Public Safety information, data storage for every Sheriff’s department in the state of Minnesota, 50,000 phone lines, and even the equipment to do teleconferencing in state classrooms.  The job loss would be hundreds more.

On Wednesday at 12:30, the Senate State Government Budget Division will hear presentations from KPMG and Unisys on their desires to obtain outsourcing contracts from the state of Minnesota.  In addition, OET and Minnesota Management and Budget will make presentations on the Governor’s budget proposal.  The City of Minneapolis, which currently outsources all their computer work and equipment will make a presentation on their alleged cost savings from outsourcing while I present the consequences of outsourcing.

Corrections Early Retirement Program:

Last Tuesday, the Pension Commission heard testimony from the Asst. Commissioner of Minnesota Management and Budget and the Commissioner of Corrections on the Governor’s proposal to remove all employees except Corrections Officer and Security Counselor job classes from the Corrections Early Retirement Program.

The Commission was very opposed to the Governor’s proposal.  Asst. Commissioner Larson attempted to convince the Commission that a person off the street could be hired, work for three years and obtain a benefit of $160,000 in insurance benefits from age 55 to 65 years old.  However, MAPE employees currently have to work ten years, not three, to get the early retirement benefits under the retirement plan.

Asst. Commissioner Larson informed the Commission that he has had limited success negotiating take backs in the plan at the bargaining table.  However, it was apparent through questioning that Larson was attempting to remove insurance benefits for employees through legislation.  Pension language is legislated.  Insurance benefits are negotiated.  When you speak to your legislator, it may be useful to remind them of that.

Larson notified the Commission that the Governor’s proposal removes employees from the plan prospectively.  His plan is clear.  It removes employees from back to 1996, it requires them to work longer to qualify for a pension, it fails to inform employees about what happens to the additional retirement money they put into the corrections plan, and removes ten years of health insurance without bargaining.

 

On Wednesday at 3:00, the Senate’s Public Safety Budget Division will be meeting at 3:00 p.m. and will be taking public testimony on the Governor’s budget proposal to remove employees from the Corrections Early Retirement Plan.  MAPE has scheduled a case worker from one of the Minnesota Correctional Facilities to testify.

Committee Updates: Last Tuesday, the Minnesota Health Plan (S.F.118), a comprehensive single-payer health plan for all Minnesotan’s, received its second hearing in the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee.  The bill passed out of committee on a 7-3 party line vote.  On Saturday, February 28^th, the Campaign for the Minnesota Health Plan will provide Organizing and Advocacy Training at the Brookdale Library, 6125 Shingle Creek Parkway in Brooklyn Center.  The training will be held from 10 am to 3:30 pm.  

This Wednesday at 12:30, the Senate State Government Budget Division will hear presentations from KPMG, Unisys, OET, MMB, MAPE and possibly Deloitte on the outsourcing of state data centers and IT work.

This Wednesday at 3:00, the Senate’s Public Safety Budget Division will be meeting at 3:00 p.m. and will be taking public testimony on the Governor’s budget proposal to remove employees from the Corrections Early Retirement Plan. 

Bills of Interest this Week: 

H.F. 586 is the companion to S.F. 372 which freezes salaries and wages for all public employees.

H.F. 691 and S.F. 702 Modify the vacation donation program allowing donation of up to 40 hours of vacation or sick time.  A recipient may use time as soon as their accruals run out for a total of up to 1044 hours.

H.F. 692 continues appropriation at the end of a biennium at the current level of funding until a new budget is agreed upon.

H.F. 724 requires hospitals to report hospital acquired infections as adverse health care events.

Resources: The Senates web forum for citizens to comment on any piece of the state budget and provide budget reduction solutions is available at http://budgetforum.senate.mn/.  This site is full of budget information and even breaks down the state budgets by divisions in state government.

The House of Representatives is continuing to accept budget cutting and revenue increasing ideas at http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/budgetsuggestions.asp. 

Committee assignments for the House of Representatives are available at http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/commemlist.asp Senate committee assignment are available at http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/index.php?ls=#header.

In Solidarity, 

Richard Kolodziejski             

MAPE Legislative Affairs Director     

Team MAPE News 2/10

Oppose HF 586: State Employee Salary Freeze. Last week, wage freeze legislation was introduced in the Senate. Now there is a House companion bill, HF 586. A bill like this is the wrong way to deal with employee wage issues. Discussions over wage proposals belong at the negotiations table, not in the corridors of the Capitol. Tell your State Representative to oppose HF 586! CLICK HERE TO CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE RIGHT NOW!

·  Register now for the 2009 Team MAPE Day on the Hill! Over 130 MAPE members have already registered. This is on track to be our biggest Day on the Hill ever. With a $5.2 billion budget deficit and a bill introduced threatening to freeze our salaries, it is more important than ever to make our collective voices heard. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

·  Legislative Town Hall Meetings... MAPE members are strongly encouraged to take part in town hall meetings that will be held all across the state. Lawmakers will be visiting communities around the state to get input on the Pawlenty budget recommendations and listen to ideas from the public to address the $4.8 billion budget deficit for the next biennium. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT A TOWN HALL MEETING IN YOUR AREA

·  Stewards News MAPE Stewards play a crucial role in representing MAPE members and disseminating information in the work place. The newest version of the MAPE Stewards' News is now available on the MAPE website. The January edition includes a story about organizing by MAPE business agent Kelly Ahern. CLICK HERE TO READ THE JANUARY STEWARDS' NEWS

·  Participate in the Senate Budget Forum. Contacting your legislators is one great way to stand up for state employees. Another way is to participate in online forums seeking budget solving solutions. Leaders in both legislative chambers are seeking ideas on how to best solve the deficit crisis. The Senate launched a brand-new Senate Budget Discussion forum, where you can share your ideas. CLICK HERE TO SHARE YOUR BUDGET IDEAS.

·  Read the Team MAPE weekly Legislative Update for information about the Corrections Early Retirement Plan. The hottest issue today involving MAPE employees may surround the proposal to remove all state employees other than those in the Corrections Officer and Security Counselor job classes from the Corrections Early Retirement Plan. Also, read the Legislative Update for information about outsourcing and single payer universal health care. FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THESE AND OTHER ITEMS, CLICK HERE TO READ THE TEAM MAPE LEGISLATIVE UPDATE.

Team MAPE Legislative Session Update 2/9

MAPE Legislative Session Update
February 9th, 2009

Updates:

Pensions: The hottest issue today involving MAPE employees may surround the Governor’s proposal to remove all state employees other than those in the Corrections Officer and Security Counselor job classes from the Corrections Early Retirement Plan. The state estimates that 800 employees will be removed from the early retirement plan and placed in the General Retirement Plan.  MAPE is working with MSRS to get the actual numbers.  Employees added to the retirement plan in statute in 1996 or after are proposed to be removed from the Corrections Early Retirement Plan and immediately placed in the General Retirement Plan.  No bill removing any job class or changing the early retirement qualifications has been introduced yet.

On Tuesday, February 10th at 6:15 p.m., the Pension Commission will meet and hear testimony from the Commissioner of Minnesota Management and Budget regarding the Governor’s proposal to remove employees from the Corrections Early Retirement Plan. Public testimony will not be heard at that meeting.  The meeting is in room 5 of the State Office Building.

On Wednesday, February 18th, the Senate’s Public Safety Budget Division will be meeting at 3:00 p.m. and is planning on taking public testimony on the Governor’s budget proposal to remove employees from the Corrections Early Retirement Plan.  MAPE has scheduled a case worker from one of the Minnesota Correctional Facilities to testify.

Outsourcing: I am compiling information to assist in our opposition to the Governor’s attempt to outsource state IT jobs through a leased data center. Unisys has met with state legislators and will likely be granted hearings in both legislative bodies in the near future.  We know the state of Texas halted their attempt on an $863 million dollar consolidation project citing data losses.  We know that the state of Florida is involved in a lawsuit over its flawed outsourcing deal, and we know that Pennsylvania had issues surrounding their outsourcing attempts including loss of union protection, less benefits, and layoffs after a one year job guarantee.  If you have information about outsourcing failures, please feel free to contact me at rkolodziejski@mape.ord or on my cell phone at (612) 963-2489.

Let’s remember what the state’s CIO, Gopal Khana, said in public testimony on more than one occasion in 2007.  He said, “I look at outsourcing as a failure.” What the Office of Enterprise Technology does not want you to know is they privately met with Executives from the Unisys Corporation who flew in to have closed door discussions with upper management that lasted an entire day.  Unisys Corporation also did a state wide survey of data centers, their equipment and staffing.

The legislature may also be hearing from management for the City of Minneapolis in a formal hearing about what a great success story their outsourcing of IT work has been.

We will need all IT employees to pay very close attention to the legislative updates so we can tell everyone that despite the state’s CIO’s feelings of failure, you do good work and outsourcing will only lead to more problems for the State of Minnesota.  Outsourcing will lead to corruption, just as we have seen nationally.  Once all the state’s data centers are consolidated, a vendor has the ability to control all the costs the state will have no choice but to pay the vendor’s inflated rates.

Team MAPE Day on the Hill is March 4th : We are continuing to make appointments for the 124 MAPE employees who have signed up to attend our scheduled Day on the Hill.  We would like to thank everyone for their consideration and advance notice.  This is a very important legislative session to ensure a great turnout. This year has been extremely difficult to set all the appointments with a standing caucus meeting scheduled in the Senate and several major committees conflicting with appointments.  Most appointments have been scheduled.   This allows us to notify attendees in advance of their appointments and provide talking points ahead of time.  If you know of other coworkers who may be interested, please encourage them to sign up as soon as possible.  This year, more than ever, we need to ensure as many legislators as possible hear our message.

Bill Hearings: The Minnesota Health Plan (S.F.118/H.F135), has two hearings already scheduled for the month of February.  The Minnesota Health plan is a comprehensive single-payer health plan for all Minnesotan’s.

On February 10th from 12:30 – 2:45, the bill will receive a hearing in the Senate Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee in room 112 of the State Capitol.
On February 25th at 2:45, the bill will receive a hearing in the Health Care and Human Services policy Committee which meets in room 200 of the State Office Building.

Bills of Interest this Week:  S.F. 372 was introduced by Senator Michel and freezes wages of all public employees.  Let’s remember one thing before we jump to any opinions on this subject.  Regardless of what any one person may be willing to accept for wages in your next collective bargaining agreement, realize that employees fought repeatedly and will continue fighting to maintain our right to collectively bargain.  We cannot stand back and allow the legislature to bargain on behalf of public employee unions and the Governor’s Team.  MAPE has never bargained through legislation and has no plans on doing it now.  Let me remind you of one more thing, wages are just one part of what is bargained on your behalf.  Your hours of work, vacation time, sick leave, holidays, severance, seniority, layoff rights and insurance could be next.  I urge all of you to visit the TeamMAPE web page at http://ga0.org/campaign/No_wage_freeze to send a letter to your Senator telling them not to infringe on your rights to a collective bargaining process.  Let collective bargaining with the Governor’s Team dictate your wages and benefits.  To date, there is no companion bill in the Minnesota House of Representatives.

H.F.489 was introduced last week by Rep. Paul Kohls.  The bill can be read at https://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H0489.0.html&session=ls86. The bill essentially eliminates all state agencies in the next 12 years unless legislation is passed keeping the agency going.  Before September of the year the agency is scheduled to be abolished, it must report to the legislative audit commission a list of established criteria that includes the agencies overall efficiency, whether less restrictive or alternative methods of performing any function that the agency performs could adequately protect or provide service to the public; and the extent to which the jurisdiction of the agency and the programs administered by the agency overlap or duplicate those of other agencies, the extent to which the agency coordinates with those agencies, and the extent to which the programs administered by the
agency can be consolidated with the programs of other agencies.

Resources: The Senate is continuing to run their web forum for citizens to comment on any piece of the state budget.  You can comment or put fourth budget reduction ideas, as many MAPE members already have, in this forum at http://budgetforum.senate.mn/.  This site is full of budget information and even breaks down the state budgets by divisions in state government.

The House of Representatives is continuing to accept budget cutting and revenue increasing ideas at http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/budgetsuggestions.asp.

Committee assignments for the House of Representatives are available at http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/commemlist.asp

Senate committee assignment are available at http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/index.php?ls=#header.

In Solidarity,

Richard Kolodziejski            
MAPE Legislative Affairs Director    

Team MAPE News 2/3

Team MAPE Newsletter

February 3rd, 2009

Oppose SF 372: State Employee Salary Freeze. Governor Pawlenty suggested a state employee wage freeze in his state of the state address. The wage freeze proposal now has a vehicle in the form of SF 372. Click here to read it. This wage freeze will make the state's finances worse, not better. Minnesota needs more good-paying jobs, not less. Our income stays right here in Minnesota, helping our local economy. Tell your State Senator to oppose SF 372! CLICK HERE TO CONTACT YOUR SENATOR, RIGHT NOW!

Advance Steward Training... MAPE members have two opportunities to participate in the advanced steward training class in 2009. The first advanced two-day course will be held Feb. 11-12. The second class will be taught Aug. 12-13. Both classes will be held at the MAPE office. Registrants for this advanced level course must verify participation in at least one grievance or one investigation. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION ON ADVANCED STEWARD TRAINING

Important Benefit Card information: MAPE members have now begun receiving their benefit card information. The first mailing will come directly from Eide Bailly and will include what the state refers to as a "Welcome Letter" and information about the amount you will receive. (The COBRA information in the first letter, by the way, is being sent to comply with Federal law.) Secondly, the Benny Card itself will arrive in a separate mailing, directly from the card vendor. So, once you receive the "Welcome Letter" from Eide Bailly, the Benny Card itself will arrive a few days later. Please visit the MAPE website for more information.

Participate in the Senate Budget Forum. Contacting your legislators is one great way to stand up for state employees. Another way is to participate in online forums seeking budget solving solutions. Leaders in both legislative chambers are seeking ideas on how to best solve the deficit crisis. The Senate launched a brand-new Senate Budget Discussion forum, where you can share your ideas. CLICK HERE TO SHARE YOUR BUDGET IDEAS.

Startribune Report: Governor Pawlenty's proposed budget would eliminate 1,100 state jobs. Click here to read the report from the Startribune.

Register now for the 2009 Team MAPE Day on the Hill! Over 100 MAPE members have already registered. This is on track to be our biggest Day on the Hill ever. With a $5.2 billion budget deficit and a bill introduced threatening to freeze our salaries, it is more important than ever to make our collective voices heard. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Read the Team MAPE weekly Legislative Report. This week read about the Governor's budget and how it would impact key items like our jobs and our pensions. FOR MORE INFO ABOUT THESE AND OTHER ITEMS, CLICK HERE TO READ THE TEAM MAPE LEGISLATIVE REPORT.

Please encourage your coworkers to sign up for the MAPE home email list. More so than ever before, we will be communicating through home e-mails about all these important developments. Please encourage members and coworkers to provide home e-mails at local meetings as well. CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE MAPE HOME EMAIL LIST.

MAPE opposes SF 372 - Wage Freeze

MAPE opposes SF 372 - Wage Freeze

In his State of the State address, the Governor proposed a wage freeze for state employees. Now, that proposal has a vehicle in the form of a bill: SF 372.

This wage freeze will make the state's finances worse, not better. Minnesota needs more good-paying jobs, not less. Our income stays right here in Minnesota, helping our local economy. The work we do for the state is vitally important. Particularly in times like this.

Click here to contact your sentators and tell them to oppose SF 372,

Team MAPE Legislative Session Update 2/2/2009

Team MAPE Legislative Session Update
MAPE Legislative Session Update
February 2nd, 2009

Last week the Governor unveiled his budget proposal. Here is a synopsis:

Governor Pawlenty’s Budget Proposal

Revenue: Despite a $4.8 billion deficit that is likely to grow, and hearing the Governor’s staff and task force appointees point out the state’s revenue problems, there is no additional revenue in the Governor’s budget.

Jobs: One month into the legislative session and we now know what the Governor has in store for state employees.  Those initiatives include tax breaks for businesses as he promised in his State of the State speech.  Corporate tax breaks will allegedly bring more jobs into the State of Minnesota. In reviewing his entire budget proposal, Governor Pawlenty cuts over 1,000 full time equivalent state positions, including MAPE positions.  Apparently, Governor Pawlenty does not want to admit that his proposal is to cut state government jobs to pad the pockets of corporate executives.  There is absolutely no proof that his tax break proposal will create any additional jobs in the State of Minnesota.

Outsourcing: Pawlenty’s job cuts do not consider job loss resulting from what appears to be a shift to outsource the state’s information technology work.  What the Office of Enterprise Technology does not want you to know is that an Executive from the Unisys Corporation flew in to have closed door discussions with upper management that lasted an entire day.  They have also had lengthy meetings with lobbyists representing companies that provide outsourced information technology work.  Furthermore, the legislature will be hearing from management for the City of Minneapolis in a formal hearing about what a great success story their outsourcing of IT work has been. I will be watching this process very closely and providing continuous updates on what the Governor’s consolidated initiatives in IT really are intended to accomplish. 

In reference to the state’s MAPS computer system and the computer system much needed at the Department of Revenue, he proposes, what is sure to be debated at length, that we lease the new systems resulting in tax payers paying more than the actual cost of the systems themselves.

Pensions: Think your pension is still safe?  The Department of Corrections initiated a budget proposal that removes all state employees other than those in the Corrections Officer series from the Corrections Early Retirement Plan.  The Department of Human Services followed suit.  Their proposed budgets were approved by Minnesota Management and Budget and put forth as part of the Governor’s budget proposal.  Over 2000 state employees added to the retirement plan after 1996 are proposed to be removed from the Corrections Early Retirement Plan and immediately placed in the General Retirement Plan.  However, no bill removing any job class or changing the early retirement qualifications has been introduced yet.

Other:  Governor Pawlenty has drastically cut Local Government Aid which in turn just shifts and adds to the tax burden we all pay to support our local governments. He has cut aid to hospitals and our struggling nursing homes. 

MAPE will be watching all of these areas closely.  We have discussed these issues with legislators and will continue to discuss them at every possible opportunity.  We will seek legal assistance when it is appropriate.  These will be major issues as we approach our Day on the Hill on March 4th.  I would encourage everyone to make sure they follow the TeamMAPE website for updates and send letters through the site to your legislators as legislation gets introduced.  We will also be comparing these initiatives to the initiatives in both the House of Representatives and the Senate’s budget proposal when they are released.

Committee Updates: The Minnesota Health Plan (S.F.118), a comprehensive single-payer health plan for all Minnesotan’s, received its first hearing in the Health, Housing, and Family Security Committee on Monday the 26th at 12:30.  The bill passed out of committee on an 8-3 vote with Sen. Lynch being the only Democrat to vote against it.

The Minnesota Health Security Act (H.F. 174) passed out of the Health Care and Human Services policy committee on a voice vote Wednesday, Jan 28 with Rep. Julie Bunn being the only member voting in opposition to the party line.

This week, committees will continue to be briefed on what the Governor’s budget proposal means to agencies within the oversight of each committee so the committees themselves can move forward in the budgeting process.

Bills of Interest this Week:  H.F.312 and S.F.295 require state conferences to be conducted via videoconference unless otherwise approved by the Commissioner of Administration to avoid any and all travel expenses.

H.F.313 and S.F.296 prohibits state employee travel outside of Minnesota unless the Commissioner of Administration deems it essential to the employee’s job duties.

Resources: The Senate has started a brand new web forum for citizens to comment on any piece of the state budget.  You can comment or put fourth budget reduction ideas, as many MAPE members already have, in this forum at http://budgetforum.senate.mn/.  This site is full of budget information and even breaks down the state budgets by divisions in state government.

The House of Representatives is continuing to accept budget cutting and revenue increasing ideas at http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/budgetsuggestions.asp.

Committee assignments for the House of Representatives are available at http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/comm/commemlist.asp. Senate committee assignment are available at http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/committees/index.php?ls=#header.

Team MAPE Day on the Hill is March 4th: We have made appointments for approximately 90 MAPE employees who have signed up to attend our scheduled Day on the Hill.  We would like to thank everyone for the additional consideration and advance notice.  This year has been extremely difficult to set all the appointments with a standing caucus meeting scheduled in the Senate and several major committees conflicting with appointments.  Most appointments have been scheduled.   This allows us to notify attendees in advance of their appointments and provide talking points ahead of time.  If you know of other coworkers who may be interested, please encourage them to sign up as soon as possible.  This year, more than ever, we need to ensure a large turnout. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

In Solidarity,

Richard Kolodziejski            
MAPE Legislative Affairs Director