Twelve hours of mediated negotiations Monday brought 500 employees of the Metropolitan Council no closer to a new contract, their union says.

Met Council negotiators continue to insist that members of AFSCME Local 668 accept microscopic pay raises while agreeing to an open-ended insurance plan that shifts future health-cost increases entirely onto workers and retirees, said AFSCME business representative Nola Lynch.

The Met Council employees, who perform nearly 100 different jobs ? including planning, housing assistance and wastewater treatment ? have not had a general pay raise in three years. Their contract expired a year ago, on last Sept. 30. Last week, more than 100 members and supporters of Local 668 rallied at Mears Park in downtown St. Paul and outside the Met Council's offices. "Never have I seen a contract offer that insults employees like this," said Art McGrane, president of Local 668 and a 27-year employee.

In Monday's bargaining session, Lynch said, the Council did move from no across-the-board raises to offering a 1 percent raise in the final two years of the three-year proposal.

But the Council's proposed shift in health insurance remains a huge obstacle, with the Council trying to cap its contribution to a defined dollar amount, Lynch said. "We offered to accept the defined-contribution concept ? only flip-flop it so it defines the worker's contribution," Lynch said. "They certainly didn't like that, because they know what it means."

Negotiators meet next on Nov. 2.

Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@stpaulunions.org