(ST. PAUL, MN) – Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka has asked the state employee unions to come back to the negotiating table in light of their scheduled 2.5% pay raise and the $2.4 billion budget deficit.

“These are unprecedented times that call for unprecedented solutions,” Gazelka wrote in the letter. “I appreciate that your contracts were negotiated in good faith last year before anyone could imagine the damage a virus could do to our economy and the state budget. I believe state employees deserve the raises and benefit increases included in these contracts. But in light of recent events, the proposed contracts are not sustainable and if approved as is will lead to greater employee layoffs next year. I don’t want that to happen.”

The legislature must ratify the contracts before adjourning or the contracts revert back to the previous contract agreements. That would mean current state employees would lose the pay raise they received in July 2019. Gazelka has asked for the Walz Administration to re-engage with the state employee unions so they can keep their current pay, avoid exacerbating the projected deficit, and prevent state layoffs in the midst of the COVID-19 economy.

Read the letter from Senator Gazelka to state employee union leaders