Gubbins, who was laid off from her job as a school cook 18 months ago, addressed reporters at a news conference where the Minnesota AFL-CIO announced its 2011 legislative agenda.
“I’ve been trying to find work since then,” said Gubbins, a Hopkins resident and member of Working America, the AFL-CIO\'s community affiliate. “You’re lucky if you can find a job at $10 or $12 an hour. You can’t live on that.”
But Gubbins is willing to try almost anything, as she struggles to pay the bills and keep her house. She has gone to food shelves, applied for heating assistance and taken in renters to make ends meet.
“I’m just the common person that needs to be heard,” she said. “I’m not the only one that is going through this. All I need is a job to get back on my feet.”
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| Gretchen Gubbins (center) joined Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson at a news conference to outline the federation\'s 2011 legislative agenda. |
Lawmakers need to put a focus on job creation for Gubbins and the 200,000 other Minnesotans who are out of work, Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson said.
“While we face many challenges as a state, there is an opportunity to build a better Minnesota for everyone,” she said. “We can create new, family-sustaining jobs in the private sector, while balancing the budget and making taxes fairer for middle class Minnesotans.”
The labor federation said its “Three Steps to a Better Minnesota” provides lawmakers a roadmap to address those problems:
Step 1: Create Family Sustaining Jobs Now
While Minnesota is better off than many areas of the country in its overall unemployment rate, the construction sector is lagging behind with nearly 20 percent of workers in the Building Trades unable to find work. A billion dollar jobs and infrastructure bill targeting shovel-ready projects, for example, would quickly put 27,000 Minnesotans back to work in private sector jobs, the federation said.
"Both Governor Dayton and legislative leaders have said job creation is their No. 1 priority. But it must be more than ‘trickle down jobs’ in some unnamed future," said Minnesota AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Steve Hunter. "Minnesotans need jobs now; jobs that can support a family."
Step 2: Balance the Budget Fairly
While there is no easy solution to balancing the state budget, it must be done fairly and it must preserve quality public services, Knutson said.
“If we want our kids to attend the best public schools in the nation, have a highly-skilled workforce that attracts business, efficient public services, and safe infrastructure; we cannot continue this current course,” she said.
“The richest Minnesotans pay less than 9 percent of their household income in state and local taxes while the average working family pays more than 12 percent,” she added. “If lawmakers want to balance this budget without hurting every Minnesotan’s quality of life, there must be new revenue, and it must come from those who have benefitted most, the rich.”
Step 3: Stay Focused
With so many people out of work and a budget crisis of this magnitude, the Minnesota AFL-CIO urged lawmakers to stay focused on what Minnesotans elected them to do.
Said Hunter, “Now is not the time to focus on divisive social issues, settling political scores, or scoring political points for the next election. It’s time to do what is best for Minnesotans.”
At the news conference, Knutson and Hunter addressed a proposal by one Republican lawmaker to have Minnesotans vote on a “right to work” amendment to the state Constitution. The measure would weaken unions and would really mean the “right to work for less,” they said.
Knutson said the proposal is also misguided because labor-management relations is a legislative, not constitutional issue.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that people on both sides of the aisle recognize there is a downside to this issue and it won’t get to the ballot,” Hunter said.
For more information
Read more on the Minnesota AFL-CIO legislative policy proposals
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Gubbins, who was laid off from her job as a school cook 18 months ago, addressed reporters at a news conference where the Minnesota AFL-CIO announced its 2011 legislative agenda.
“I’ve been trying to find work since then,” said Gubbins, a Hopkins resident and member of Working America, the AFL-CIO\’s community affiliate. “You’re lucky if you can find a job at $10 or $12 an hour. You can’t live on that.”
But Gubbins is willing to try almost anything, as she struggles to pay the bills and keep her house. She has gone to food shelves, applied for heating assistance and taken in renters to make ends meet.
“I’m just the common person that needs to be heard,” she said. “I’m not the only one that is going through this. All I need is a job to get back on my feet.”
|
| Gretchen Gubbins (center) joined Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson at a news conference to outline the federation\’s 2011 legislative agenda. |
Lawmakers need to put a focus on job creation for Gubbins and the 200,000 other Minnesotans who are out of work, Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson said.
“While we face many challenges as a state, there is an opportunity to build a better Minnesota for everyone,” she said. “We can create new, family-sustaining jobs in the private sector, while balancing the budget and making taxes fairer for middle class Minnesotans.”
The labor federation said its “Three Steps to a Better Minnesota” provides lawmakers a roadmap to address those problems:
Step 1: Create Family Sustaining Jobs Now
While Minnesota is better off than many areas of the country in its overall unemployment rate, the construction sector is lagging behind with nearly 20 percent of workers in the Building Trades unable to find work. A billion dollar jobs and infrastructure bill targeting shovel-ready projects, for example, would quickly put 27,000 Minnesotans back to work in private sector jobs, the federation said.
"Both Governor Dayton and legislative leaders have said job creation is their No. 1 priority. But it must be more than ‘trickle down jobs’ in some unnamed future," said Minnesota AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Steve Hunter. "Minnesotans need jobs now; jobs that can support a family."
Step 2: Balance the Budget Fairly
While there is no easy solution to balancing the state budget, it must be done fairly and it must preserve quality public services, Knutson said.
“If we want our kids to attend the best public schools in the nation, have a highly-skilled workforce that attracts business, efficient public services, and safe infrastructure; we cannot continue this current course,” she said.
“The richest Minnesotans pay less than 9 percent of their household income in state and local taxes while the average working family pays more than 12 percent,” she added. “If lawmakers want to balance this budget without hurting every Minnesotan’s quality of life, there must be new revenue, and it must come from those who have benefitted most, the rich.”
Step 3: Stay Focused
With so many people out of work and a budget crisis of this magnitude, the Minnesota AFL-CIO urged lawmakers to stay focused on what Minnesotans elected them to do.
Said Hunter, “Now is not the time to focus on divisive social issues, settling political scores, or scoring political points for the next election. It’s time to do what is best for Minnesotans.”
At the news conference, Knutson and Hunter addressed a proposal by one Republican lawmaker to have Minnesotans vote on a “right to work” amendment to the state Constitution. The measure would weaken unions and would really mean the “right to work for less,” they said.
Knutson said the proposal is also misguided because labor-management relations is a legislative, not constitutional issue.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that people on both sides of the aisle recognize there is a downside to this issue and it won’t get to the ballot,” Hunter said.
For more information
Read more on the Minnesota AFL-CIO legislative policy proposals