Minnesota AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Steve Hunter, chief fiscal officer of the state’s largest labor federation, said, “The governor has kept his hopes for a national office alive by killing tens of thousands of Minnesota jobs – jobs in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and police and fire departments across the state.”
Job losses include thousands of public service workers, said Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, Minnesota’s largest union of public employees. The union estimates at least 3,400 public sector jobs could be lost as a result of Pawlenty’s $2.7 billion of budget cuts. That includes 1,100 state jobs, 1,000 MnSCU jobs, and at least 1,300 city, county and school district jobs.
“This session Gov. Pawlenty protected the wealthy and punished working families,” said Seide. “He chose stubbornness over compromise and presidential ambition over the people of Minnesota. He could have saved vital public services by making taxes fair. Instead he chose to balance the budget on his own with cuts alone.”
The 2009 legislative session ended Monday night with the governor protecting his national Republican Party ambitions—and ignoring the needs of working Minnesotans, Hunter said.
“The governor has already used line-item vetoes to withhold health care coverage from the working poor. Our communities will be more dangerous as a result of public safety layoffs driven by Pawlenty’s cuts to local government and our property taxes are being forced up, as well. Finally, his vetoes in the bonding bill means 1,000 jobs that Minnesotans need won’t be created.”
“In Governor Pawlenty’s almost seven years in office, wages have decreased, more jobs have been lost than were created, more of us are without health insurance – raising the cost for everyone else – and our property taxes have shot up by 32.1% in the metro area and 39.6% in greater Minnesota.
AFSCME said the winners under Pawlenty’s budget are wealthy Minnesotans who won’t have to pay their fair share of income taxes and credit card companies that won’t have to pay for charging excessive interest.
The losers, AFSCME said, include:
• Caregivers at hospitals and nursing homes that will be forced to close because of Pawlenty’s $381 million cut to Medical Assistance for the poor, elderly and disabled.
• Homeowners who will have to pay higher property taxes to keep police on the street, potholes patched and libraries open due to Pawlenty’s $450 million cut to Local Government Aid.
• Parents who will struggle to afford college for their daughters and sons because of Pawlenty’s $190 million cut to higher education.
For more information
Wage data for Minnesota:
http://www.deed.state.mn.us/lmi/tools/projections/detail.asp?code=000000&geog=2701000000
Job loss:
http://www.deed.state.mn.us/lmi/publications/jobvacancy.htm
Health care:
http://www.shadac.org/publications/mn-health-access-survey-2007-fact-sheet
Property taxes:
http://www.greatermncities.org
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Minnesota AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Steve Hunter, chief fiscal officer of the state’s largest labor federation, said, “The governor has kept his hopes for a national office alive by killing tens of thousands of Minnesota jobs – jobs in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, and police and fire departments across the state.”
Job losses include thousands of public service workers, said Eliot Seide, executive director of AFSCME Council 5, Minnesota’s largest union of public employees. The union estimates at least 3,400 public sector jobs could be lost as a result of Pawlenty’s $2.7 billion of budget cuts. That includes 1,100 state jobs, 1,000 MnSCU jobs, and at least 1,300 city, county and school district jobs.
“This session Gov. Pawlenty protected the wealthy and punished working families,” said Seide. “He chose stubbornness over compromise and presidential ambition over the people of Minnesota. He could have saved vital public services by making taxes fair. Instead he chose to balance the budget on his own with cuts alone.”
The 2009 legislative session ended Monday night with the governor protecting his national Republican Party ambitions—and ignoring the needs of working Minnesotans, Hunter said.
“The governor has already used line-item vetoes to withhold health care coverage from the working poor. Our communities will be more dangerous as a result of public safety layoffs driven by Pawlenty’s cuts to local government and our property taxes are being forced up, as well. Finally, his vetoes in the bonding bill means 1,000 jobs that Minnesotans need won’t be created.”
“In Governor Pawlenty’s almost seven years in office, wages have decreased, more jobs have been lost than were created, more of us are without health insurance – raising the cost for everyone else – and our property taxes have shot up by 32.1% in the metro area and 39.6% in greater Minnesota.
AFSCME said the winners under Pawlenty’s budget are wealthy Minnesotans who won’t have to pay their fair share of income taxes and credit card companies that won’t have to pay for charging excessive interest.
The losers, AFSCME said, include:
• Caregivers at hospitals and nursing homes that will be forced to close because of Pawlenty’s $381 million cut to Medical Assistance for the poor, elderly and disabled.
• Homeowners who will have to pay higher property taxes to keep police on the street, potholes patched and libraries open due to Pawlenty’s $450 million cut to Local Government Aid.
• Parents who will struggle to afford college for their daughters and sons because of Pawlenty’s $190 million cut to higher education.
For more information
Wage data for Minnesota:
http://www.deed.state.mn.us/lmi/tools/projections/detail.asp?code=000000&geog=2701000000
Job loss:
http://www.deed.state.mn.us/lmi/publications/jobvacancy.htm
Health care:
http://www.shadac.org/publications/mn-health-access-survey-2007-fact-sheet
Property taxes:
http://www.greatermncities.org