Union leaders blasted Gov. Tim Pawlenty and legislative leaders Thursday night for refusing to stop a partial government shutdown that has thrown more than 9,200 state employees out of work and is jeopardizing services supplied not only by the state, but also by counties and hundreds of nonprofits under state contracts.

"It is outrageous failure ? and it is a bipartisan, not partisan, fully partisan failure of all of this place," said Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, which represents 19,000 state employees.

Before negotiations broke down late Thursday, Seide and Jim Monroe, executive director of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, especially singled out House Speaker Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, whom they called "irresponsible" for opposing "lights on" legislation that would keep state government operating at current spending levels until a broader budget agreement is reached.

The DFL-controlled Senate passed a version of such "lights-on" legislation Thursday, but the Republican-controlled House rejected it, with Sviggum saying the Senate plan was too open-ended and removed the pressure of reaching an overall budget agreement.

Sviggum said he and Pawlenty were willing to support a short-term "lights-on" plan, but the Senate adjourned about 9:30 p.m., shutting the door on that possibility.

Eliot Seide: "We think this is outrageous, irresponsible and uses state employees and the citizens of this state as pawns." Union Advocate photo

Workers become pawns
"We think this is outrageous, irresponsible, and uses state employees and the citizens of this state as pawns," Seide said at a Capitol news conference earlier Thursday.

"Our members are in a state of complete anxiety," he said. "They don't know if they're going to be working or not.? They don't know what the future holds for them. There's a great deal of frustration, anxiety and growing anger."

If a private employer were laying off that many workers, Monroe said, the governor would take the lead in finding a solution. "It's time for him to take a lead to get this situation resolved," he said.

"Our members want to work," Seide said. "State employees want to work. Find the revenue. Get the job done."

Agreement reached on only one bill
The one bright spot Thursday came when both chambers passed and Pawlenty signed a $686 million bill that will keep state parks open this holiday weekend and keep more than 6,000 state workers on the job by providing funding for the departments of Natural Resources, Agriculture, Employment and Economic Development, and other agencies.

But overall, Seide accused Pawlenty and the Legislature of playing a game of chicken in which the citizens and workers of the state are the losers.

"All the politicians and the governor have already passed legislation that allows them to get paid tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock, that allows them to go to work tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock, that allows them to make sure that they get to take care of their families tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock," Seide said late Thursday. "But I have 9,259 state employees who will not be getting their bread and butter in the morning. And that is simply outrageous. The services they provide, the jobs that they do, the families that they care for, the homes that they take care of, the parents they take care of, all are in jeopardy."

Budget deficit, spending, revenue still unresolved
The Legislature and governor previously approved appropriations for government operations, public safety, and higher education. But despite weeks of private negotiations, Pawlenty and the two top leaders from the House and Senate have failed to agree on budgets for K-12 education, transportation, or health and human services. Nor have they agreed on how to pay for it all while also eliminating a projected deficit of at least $466 million.

The structural gap in the budget actually may be worse. Recent court rulings upheld one form of corporate tax shelter, which may cost the state $300 million more in revenue. Further, adding the impact of inflation onto budget expenditures could add $675 million more to the deficit ? bringing the total revenue gap for the next two-year budget to more than $1.4 billion.

But a solution needs to be more than just making sure the numbers add up, said Brian Rusche, executive director of the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition and one of the leaders of the Minnesota is Watching coalition of labor, faith and nonprofit groups.

"We're still talking about life-and-death decisions," he said, "policy decisions that really make a huge difference in the well-being of our state . . . Philosophically it's not just an accounting exercise, counting the beans, making it balance, get out of town. We're saying this is people's lives and how we live, how we make progress as a state."

Michael Kuchta edits the Union Advocate, the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail him at advocate@mtn.org