Members vote to ratify 2021-2023 contract; contract sent to legislative subcommittee

MAPE members voted overwhelmingly to approve the recently negotiated 2021-2023 contract. Members ratified the contract by 97.5 to 2.5 percent.

The contract is also on its way to a legislative subcommittee, the first step in the passage by the Legislature.

“Engagement was high because the member survey response was the highest it’s ever been, and we introduced open bargaining and people were able to sit in the room and hear our arguments and management’s responses. This will set a bargaining precedent for the future of MAPE negotiations,” Negotiations Committee Co-Chair Adam Novotney said.

“The 97 percent ‘yes’ vote is indicative of the Negotiations team being able to effectively listen and bring forward topics of concern to our members. It shows that member participation in surveys and voices in listening sessions made actual impacts,” added Negotiations Co-Chair Carolyn M.J. Murphy.

MAPE negotiators secured wage increases of 2.5 percent each year, added significant benefits to member health insurance with no major changes in out-of-pocket expenses or share of premium costs, added Juneteenth as a holiday, and secured an increase to employer contribution to deferred compensation and more.

The Negotiations Team also made gains in the areas of equity, diversity and inclusion; telework and temporary unclassified employees. More information is available at www.mape.org.

“The team wrote a ton of proposals and did lots of work after hours so we could go into negotiations strategically to get a reasonable contract, and I think we did,” Novotny said.

Last night, Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) forwarded the contract to the Subcommittee on Employee Relations (SER). SER will vote to make a recommendation to the Legislature on whether to approve the contract. Upon receiving the contract, SER has 30 days to act; if approved or there is no vote, the contract goes into interim effect.

The Legislature must approve the contract by mid-May of next year.

“We need to get our contract through a highly partisan legislature at a time when politicians are gearing up for re-election. We often say, ‘When we fight, we win!’ We know when we work together and support each other, we can do great things, including helping to pass our contract so we can better serve our fellow Minnesotans,” MAPE President Megan Dayton said.