By Jonathan Walters

It was heartening to read that labor and management in Minnesota had finally come to terms on a contract this weekend after a tough two-week strike that saw 23,000 state employees walk off their jobs. But that relief is mixed with some trepidation. What’s worrisome is that the Minnesota job action may be a harbinger of tough times to come in state and local government labor relations.

The acute issue in Minnesota was the cost of health care and the fact that the state wanted employees to agree to such a large increase in their co-payments that any accompanying pay raises would basically be wiped out. It sounds like run-of-the-mill stuff when it comes to battling over collective-bargaining agreements. But there was an important subtext to this fight: In past, tough economic times, Minnesota employees had been asked to make certain sacrifices with the tacit understanding that future state contracts would help them catch up. The contract in question was one that employees expected would reflect some of that catching up. Instead, the Ventura administration put the squeeze on.

The fact that Minnesota — with its history of good labor relations — would become a battleground over such broken trust should serve as an early warning to every state and locality looking at looming negotiations. With the economic downturn souring state and local government budgets just at a time when government employees nationwide are being asked to step up to the plate as never before, requests by management that labor take a hit for the team — with a promise to play catch-up when economic times get better — should not be made lightly.

Indeed, in the wake of the Minnesota mess, organized labor may be much less willing to make those kinds of deals. Peter Benner, executive director of AFSCME Council 6, which represents 19,000 Minnesota employees, has a well deserved reputation as one of the nation’s more enlightened labor leaders, a guy who is committed to “interest-based” collective bargaining rather than grandstanding on behalf of his membership. If he can be provoked to take his folks off the job, then anybody can.

Jonathan Walters is a staff correspondent for Governing.

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