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Members of AFSCME Council 5 rallied in Saint Paul March 24, 1,000-plus strong, calling for the Legislature to adopt a state budget that delivers quality of life for all Minnesotans. The rally came the same day that Minnesota House Republican leaders released a budget calling for budget cuts to human services programs, despite a projected state budget surplus of nearly $2 billion.
“They want to fill potholes with human services workers,” charged Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Council 5. “Their plan is to fill the potholes with your jobs,” said Seide, addressing the crowd of AFSCME members at the Crowne Plaza Hotel as part Council 5’s “Day on the Hill.”
“Minnesota is only a great state if we get to do our jobs and produce the quality of life in our state,” Seide said.
Seide introduced five rank-and-file AFSCME members who work maintaining state roads, staffing a state university, and providing social services.AFSCME member John Gaither works for the Minnesota Department of Transportation and highlighted AFSCME’s support for a transportation funding package advocated by the Move MN coalition.
“We all have a stake in transportation. Transportation is about opportunity for everyone,” Gaither said. “We are asking our legislature to fix transportation this session. “There’s no way our economy can grow on crumbling infrastructure.”
Gaiter said a true fix for the state’s transportation infrastructure would follow four principles: adopt a long-term strategy; balance metro area and Greater Minnesota needs; provide a comprehensive solution including roads, bridges, and mass transit as well as bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure; and, very importantly, raise new revenues dedicated to transportation through taxes and fees.
“If we all pay a little, the benefits will be huge,” Gaither said.
AFSCME member Mary Falk, a clerical worker for the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities in Anoka, responded to right-wing attacks on public employee pensions.
“We deferred wages for a pension that allows us to retire with dignity,” Falk said. She noted that the average public employee pension for Minnesota state employees is a modest $14,000 per year. “Combined with Social Security, it’s the difference between dignity and poverty,” she said.
Falk also noted, “we’re not snowbirds — 90 percent of retired public workers stay in Minnesota, where our pensions fuel the local economy and keep us self-sufficient.”
In addition, Falk pointed out, “Minnesota taxpayers pay for only 16 cents of every dollar in public pension benefits. The remaining 84 cents comes from our contributions and our investment earnings.”
Falk took direct aim at the American Legislative Exchange Council — ALEC — a right-wing organization which provides sample legislation that Republican legislatures in other states like Wisconsin have used to attack public employee bargaining rights and pensions. “Listen up, ALEC! Public workers are not the culprits. We live here. We pay taxes here. We work hard to support our families. We’re not the problem and we’re not the enemy!”
AFSCME member David Ruth, who works for the Minnesota Department of Human Services at a Cambridge mental health care facility, spoke about the need for increased job safety measures for state human service workers.
“We’re taking a beating inside state mental health facilities,” he said, citing a range of abuse from patients including kicking, punching, choking, sexual assault and more.
“We are willing to accept some level of danger in our jobs,” Ruth said, “but we are not willing to risk our lives.”
In a dramatic moment, he asked AFSCME members in the crowd to stand up if they had ever been assaulted on the job — and all across the room, women and men stood.
As a solution, Ruth said DHS supervisors need to recognize that AFSCME members have real concerns about safety on the job and that the state legislature needs to support additional funding for safety measures and make assault on workers within state institutions a felony.
AFSCME member Angela Marlow, who works as a child support agent in Ramsey County, highlighted the differences between Minnesota under Governor Mark Dayton and Wisconsin under Governor Scott Walker. “Walker cut taxes for the wealthy and attacked workers. Dayton raised taxes for the wealthy and supported workers. Four years later, we’re doing much better than our neighbors in the Badger state.
Marlow cited statistics that a typical Minnesota family earns $10,000 more per year than a family in Wisconsin.
She cited a Forbes magazine report ranking Minnesota fifth best in the nation in job growth while Wisconsin ranked 34th.
“Scott Walker has a $2 billion budget deficit. Minnesota has a $2 billion surplus,” she observed.
“Now that the rich are finally paying their fair share [of taxes],” she noted, “Minnesota can afford all-day kindergarten for every child. Kids in Wisconsin got larger class sizes.”
“Walker’s Wisconsin lags behind Minnesota in every measure,” she said. “It’s proof that pro-worker policies trump anti-worker policies when it comes to job creation, economic growth and quality of life.”
AFSCME member Dennis Frazier, who works as a social worker in St. Louis County, spoke about AFSCME’s support for the proposed Working Parents Act. “It’s a step toward paycheck stability for more workers, especially those who don’t enjoy protection of a union contract,” he explained.
The act would provide earned sick leave, paid parental leave, fair scheduling, and wage theft protection. The act also would prohibit restaurants from subtracting credit card fees from servers’ tips.
“As union members, we fight for all workers,” Frazier said. Quoting the late U.S. Senator from Minnesota, Paul Wellstone, he said, “We know that when we all do better, we all do better.”
Following a morning of workshops on state issues and the speakers at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, green-clad AFSCME Council 5 members boarded buses to State Capitol offices to lobby legislators.
“Just as Dr. King marched on Washington for jobs and justice in 1968, we march on our State Capitol today,” said AFSCME Council 5 president Judy Wahlberg. “We keep his dream alive by marching for good jobs and just wages for all workers.”
AFSCME Council 5 represents 43,000 workers in Minnesota, including local and state public employees and private sector employees.