2024 Legislative Priorities

2023’s Legislative session set Minnesota on a path towards becoming the best state for working people in the nation with historic gains in labor standards and protections. Now it’s time to continue building a state where every working Minnesotan, no matter what they look like, where they live, or what type of work they do, has a safe workplace, a job with family-sustaining pay & benefits, a dignified retirement, and the freedom to organize and join a union. The Minnesota AFL-CIO’s 2024 Legislative Priorities are another step towards that vision.

 

History shows that every time working people successfully join together to improve their conditions, opponents fight back with an attempt to return to the status quo. As we’ve done in the past, Minnesota’s Labor Movement will defend the historic gains we won in 2023. We will defend new worker freedoms and protections like paid family & medical leave, expanded union rights like the ban on captive audience meetings, and more.

 

Working people have an expectation that state and federal laws designed to protect them will apply no matter where they work. Sadly, far too many employers across industries break the rules to save money by classifying workers as independent contractors while demanding the same expectations as if they were employees. Misclassification deprives working people of all of the longstanding labor rights and protections like minimum wage, workers compensation, overtime pay, access to unemployment benefits, the right to collectively bargain, as well as the hard-fought progress we made in 2023 on new paid leave laws and laws strengthening collective bargaining rights It’s time for Minnesota to strengthen and streamline enforcement of our worker misclassification laws to discourage this unfair and illegal practice.

 

Collective action – like going on strike or even threatening to go on strike – is still the most effective way for workers to improve their pay and conditions. However, a strike is a tactic of last resort because it often means no pay for workers and families. Even though unemployment insurance payments don’t come anywhere near a livable income, it would allow a worker to put food on the table and meet the bare minimum of family expenses until they return to work. Our nation’s labor laws remain heavily skewed in favor of employers – who can temporarily replace workers, stall negotiations, make threats, and cut off healthcare. It’s time to balance the scales between workers and management by allowing working Minnesotans to access unemployment insurance while on strike.

 

We will also support our affiliated unions and community allies in moving their legislative priorities: