The Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) voted on Friday to oppose a ballot measure that, if approved by the voters 2012, would place a ban on same-sex marriage in the Minnesota Constitution. MAPE’s board of directors voted unanimously on the issue.
Supporters of 22,000 furloughed public employees rallied at the Minnesota State Capitol in support of a tax hike on the rich Wednesday evening. Their protest was nicknamed “Downeyville” for Edina Republican Rep. Keith Downey, who introduced legislation that unions said would eliminate 5,000 state jobs and threaten collective bargaining rights for public employees.
Laid-off public employees plan to gather at the State Capitol Wednesday evening to put in some hard work building a town from the ground up. They’re naming the fantasy city Downeyville in honor of Edina Republican Rep. Keith Downey, who authored legislation that would eliminate the jobs of 5,000 state workers and threaten collective bargaining rights for public employees.
With Gov. Mark Dayton unable to come to terms with Republican legislative leaders on a budget deal late Thursday night, the state government shut down and the fate of up to 23,000 state employees who have received layoff notices is highly uncertain. A crowd of hundreds of state workers, including members of Minnesota’s two largest public employees’ unions — MAPE and AFSCME Council 5 — filled the steps of the Capitol Thursday night for a Shutdown Eve Vigil.
In today’s roundup, a judge ruled that core services — including prisons, nursing homes and hospitals — must stay open should the government shut down. Bracing for such an event are immigration groups, unions and FEMA, which is concerned about the safety of nuclear plants.
A representative from a union that represents 13,000 state employees said Gov. Mark Dayton’s letter to public employees in the wake of a possible government shutdown was a “class act” and “exemplary.”
Rep. Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar, courted controversy last week after he emailed a member of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees (MAPE) asserting that union members are communists and likening calls to raise revenues by taxing the top 2 percent of Minnesotans to the rise of Hitler in Germany and Fidel Castro in Cuba. The email prompted a sharp rebuke from MAPE, which asked Hackbarth to explain his comments.
Gubernatorial candidate Margaret Anderson Kelliher picked up an endorsement from Minnesota’s largest union of state professional employees today. MAPE — the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees — announced its support for Anderson Kelliher, who is speaker of the…
Reaction to Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s Tuesday press conference announcing his unallotment of nearly $2.7 billion from the state budget has been swift and, at times, scathing.
Do you know where to vote on Election Day? Do you know what to bring with you? Get comprehensive voter information for your state here.
