AFSCME Council 5 represents 43,000 public and non-profit workers across the state. The theme of this year’s Day-on-the-Hill was “For a Better Minnesota.”
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| Hundreds of AFSCME members made their voices heard Wednesday. Workday Minnesota photos |
On Monday, Governor Tim Pawlenty announced a proposed state budget that would address a project $1.2 billion shortfall through deep cuts in health and human services, city and county aid, state agencies and higher education. The budget, which provides massive tax cuts for business, also relies heavily on temporary funding from the federal government.
AFSCME members called the proposal unrealistic and said it fails to recognize the major reductions already made to many services.
“We’re down to the bare bone,” said Jean Diederich, president of AFSCME Local 34, which represents more than 2,000 human service workers, public health nurses and other employees of Hennepin County.
“These cuts mean layoffs of workers, insane workloads and erosion of public services.”
Many of the governor’s decisions may save a little money in the short term, but will cost much more in the long run, AFSCME members said. Local 1164 President Stephen Fitze, a health care worker at Fairview University Medical Center, cited the elimination of General Assistance Medical Care as one example.
“Eliminating GAMC isn’t just heartless – it’s fiscally idiotic,” Fitze said. The thousands of very poor Minnesotans who depend on the program for health care will get sicker – and everyone else will also suffer as hospitals cut staff because they’ve lost the state funding, he said.
At Day on the Hill, AFSCME members fanned out to tell state legislators their priorities:
• Raise revenue, including fair taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations.
• Protect the essential public services that families need most during tough times.
• Save and create good jobs to jumpstart economic recovery.
• Restore aid to state and local governments to stabilize property taxes.
• Rescue General Assistance Medical Care.
• Stop privatization that threatens the quality of public services.
• Defend pensions so public employees can retire with dignity.
• Mitigate layoffs with an early retirement incentive for state employees.
At the rally, Council 5 Executive Director Eliot Seide said AFSCME members will hold elected officials accountable when they go to the polls in November.
“If we lose our jobs, you’re going to lose yours,” he vowed.
For more information
Visit the AFSCME Council 5 website
 |
| Council 5 Executive Director Eliot Seide used a prop to illustrate his point as he urged Democrats in the state Legislature to "get a backbone!" |
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AFSCME Council 5 represents 43,000 public and non-profit workers across the state. The theme of this year’s Day-on-the-Hill was “For a Better Minnesota.”
|
| Hundreds of AFSCME members made their voices heard Wednesday.
Workday Minnesota photos |
Nearly 800 union members participated, the union said. They packed the Capitol rotunda and filled the balconies to call on lawmakers to save jobs and preserve important public services.
On Monday, Governor Tim Pawlenty announced a proposed state budget that would address a project $1.2 billion shortfall through deep cuts in health and human services, city and county aid, state agencies and higher education. The budget, which provides massive tax cuts for business, also relies heavily on temporary funding from the federal government.
AFSCME members called the proposal unrealistic and said it fails to recognize the major reductions already made to many services.
“We’re down to the bare bone,” said Jean Diederich, president of AFSCME Local 34, which represents more than 2,000 human service workers, public health nurses and other employees of Hennepin County.
“These cuts mean layoffs of workers, insane workloads and erosion of public services.”
Many of the governor’s decisions may save a little money in the short term, but will cost much more in the long run, AFSCME members said. Local 1164 President Stephen Fitze, a health care worker at Fairview University Medical Center, cited the elimination of General Assistance Medical Care as one example.
“Eliminating GAMC isn’t just heartless – it’s fiscally idiotic,” Fitze said. The thousands of very poor Minnesotans who depend on the program for health care will get sicker – and everyone else will also suffer as hospitals cut staff because they’ve lost the state funding, he said.
At Day on the Hill, AFSCME members fanned out to tell state legislators their priorities:
• Raise revenue, including fair taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations.
• Protect the essential public services that families need most during tough times.
• Save and create good jobs to jumpstart economic recovery.
• Restore aid to state and local governments to stabilize property taxes.
• Rescue General Assistance Medical Care.
• Stop privatization that threatens the quality of public services.
• Defend pensions so public employees can retire with dignity.
• Mitigate layoffs with an early retirement incentive for state employees.
At the rally, Council 5 Executive Director Eliot Seide said AFSCME members will hold elected officials accountable when they go to the polls in November.
“If we lose our jobs, you’re going to lose yours,” he vowed.
For more information
Visit the AFSCME Council 5 website
|
| Council 5 Executive Director Eliot Seide used a prop to illustrate his point as he urged Democrats in the state Legislature to "get a backbone!" |