Tentative agreement reached on MAPE's 2015-17 contract

Nearly four months of intense negotiations culminated Friday when MAPE’s Negotiations Team passed a recommendation that MAPE Board of Directors recommend approval of the 2015-17 tentative contract agreement.

The Board voted Friday to recommend membership approve the tentative contract agreement.

UPDATE: Summary of proposed changes to MAPE’s 2015-17 contract

The tentative agreement includes a 2.5 percent salary increase effective July 1, 2015, and another 2.5 percent salary increase effective July 1, 2016, and progression steps both years (for those who are eligible).

Manageable health-care increases were agreed to by MAPE negotiators, with leadership acknowledging the increasing costs of health-care coverage across the country. The limited increases proposed in the tentative agreement assure that all MAPE members will have access to high quality and affordable health care.

The governor's team dropped its most onerous health-care proposals after hearing from seven MAPE and AFSCME members who shared their personal stories Thursday morning with Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Myron Frans. Each member spoke of how detrimental any serious increases to out-of-pockets or premiums would be for them and their families.

MAPE and AFSCME members shared their personal health-care stories with state management (photo on the right).

MAPE’s Negotiations Team collaborated with AFSCME throughout push week, and the unions together fought hard in the uphill battle to secure the 2.5 percent wage increases (each year) for MAPE and AFSCME members.

“I truly believe we squeezed every penny possible from the governor’s team in terms of what they were willing to offer our members in pay increases,” MAPE President Chet Jorgenson said.

With the governor team’s opening proposal of yearly 1 percent pay increases, MAPE negotiators battled back, unwilling to accept any pay increase that would not more than offset the increases being proposed to the health care plan.

But MAPE negotiators are left disappointed in what they’re calling a “missed opportunity.”

“Our Negotiations Team is most dissatisfied with the lack of recognition given to the thousands of state employees working daily to make state government a leading workforce in Minnesota,” said Mike Landers, MAPE Negotiations Team co-chair. “Governor Dayton truly lost an opportunity to modernize the state’s workforce and to attract, support and recruit the best employees.”

Gov. Dayton loses opportunity to modernize state workforce
MAPE leaders say Gov. Dayton turned his back on proposals that could save the state money. MAPE’s Negotiations Team offered telecommuting proposals that would save money on infrastructure and office buildings, but those ideas were in large part turned down by the governor’s team, and only a watered down version of the proposal was agreed to.

The governor’s team would only agree to a token improvement in employees’ professional development and growth.

MAPE’s paid parental leave proposal was met with hesitation, but the governor eventually agreed to establish a task force to assess opportunities for paid parental leave for all employees of the State of Minnesota. The task force will analyze current state policies and examine potential new policies. MAPE will have a representative on that task force along with Gov. Dayton’s Chief of Staff Jaime Tincher and Frans.

“It’s disappointing to see that our governor does not want to invest in a 21st century workforce,” said Sandy Dunn, MAPE Negotiations team Co-Chair. “Instead he’s continuing hierarchical management structures that impede innovation, outdated approaches to compensation and policies that discourage professional growth.”

MAPE negotiators are frustrated by the slow pace of change toward modernizing state personnel policies.

“Governor Dayton’s leadership team is behind the times. He’s operating a 20th century-model government and it’s time to pick up the pace,” Landers said. “It’s clear he values command and control characterized by layers of hierarchical management. But what he should be doing is leading innovation and advocating for employee participation.”

Though left with a feeling of disappointment, MAPE negotiators are ready to move forward and plan to hold top leadership accountable for managing a 21st century workforce.

“Now we will focus on advocating for progress and will ask for a commitment to building a modern work force from every leader in every state agency,” Jorgenson said. “We will reach out to those within the leadership structure who are willing and up to the challenge.”

In the photo below, MAPE's negotiators discussed issues during push week.