Minnesota’s Democratic governor and legislature has enacted one of the most pro-worker packages of legislation that any US state has passed in decades which includes paid family and medical leave, prohibits non-compete clauses, bars employers from holding anti-union captive audience meetings, and strengthens protections for meatpacking workers and Amazon warehouse employees.
Minnesota’s new legislation mandates paid sick days, allows teachers’ unions to bargain over educator-to-student ratios and creates a statewide council to improve conditions for nursing home workers.
These moves come as labor rights in the US – which are far more limited than in other industrial nations – have come under sustained attack from business groups and many conservative politicians.
Minnesota’s commissioner of labor and industry, Nicole Blissenbach, said the new laws “truly make Minnesota the best state for workers and their families”.
The legislation’s backers say these pro-worker measures were made possible by the Democrats’ winning control of Minnesota’s state senate in last November’s midterm elections, giving that party trifecta control of the house, senate and governor’s office. The Democrats now have a 34-to-33 majority in the state senate.
“This legislation represents work that has been a long time coming,” said Jennifer McEwen, a Democrat who is chair of the senate labor committee. “These are things that most workers in our peer nations take for granted and enjoy.” The US is the only wealthy industrial nation and one of a handful of nations worldwide that doesn’t guarantee all workers paid parental leave.
Minnesota’s governor, Tim Walz, a Democrat, signed the Paid Family and Medical Leave Act as well as an omnibus labor bill that contains a raft of pro-worker provisions. In signing the paid leave legislation, Walz said: “We’re ensuring Minnesotans no longer have to make the choice between a paycheck and taking time off to care for a new baby or a sick family member.”
The law allows Minnesota workers to take up to 12 weeks a year with partial pay to care for a newborn or sick family member and also allows workers 12 weeks to recover from a serious illness or health problem. The law places a cap of 20 weeks a year for employees who use both provisions.
Alice Mann, a medical doctor and the bill’s main senate sponsor, said: “Paid family and medical leave leads to so many great things: better maternal health, better child health, decreased hospitalization for children, increased rates of breastfeeding, increased employee retention, greater participation in the workforce for women and decreased gender disparities in the workplace.”
The bill passed Minnesota’s senate 34 to 33, with business groups opposing it and every Republican voting against.
“This is a long time coming and it’s definitely long overdue,” said Representative Ruth Richardson, the bill’s main sponsor in the house. “The vast majority of Minnesotans don’t have access to paid family and medical leave. We see who is left out – it is disproportionately women and communities of color and low-income workers who often can’t afford to take leave.”
Some supporters say that several of the newly enacted provisions should be embraced and enacted in other trifecta blue states, such as Michigan.
“Paid family and medical leave is extremely popular, not only in Minnesota, but nationally as well,” Richardson said. “It’s one of those issues that are incredibly bipartisan. I believe that passing paid family and medical leave is possible in blue and red trifecta states and in everything in between.”
The omnibus labor bill that Walz signed was full of pro-worker provisions ranging from paid sick leave to warehouse safety to setting up a new standards board for nursing home workers.
Under the new legislation, non-compete provisions are void and unenforceable. Walz’s office said the law, by prohibiting a practice that bars workers from taking jobs with competing employers, gives workers “the freedom to seek better working conditions and higher wages without restrictions”. The ban doesn’t invalidate non-compete clauses entered into before 1 July 2023.
To help workers take care of themselves or a family member, the new legislation also allows employees to earn one hour of sick and safe time for every 30 hours worked. The law allows accrual of up to 48 hours of sick time each year.
The law calls for creating a nursing home workforce standards board with an equal number of worker and employer representatives that will set statewide minimum standards for nursing-home employees, while seeking to improve working conditions and care.
It also requires Amazon and other warehouses to tell employees about every work quota they are required to meet, how their work speed is measured and what happens if they fail to meet their quota. The law also allows employees to see work speed data and prohibits employers from retaliating against workers who seek such data.
Under the new legislation, Minnesota employers also cannot require workers to attend anti-union propaganda sessions, often called “captive audience” meetings. The law makes it illegal for an employer to retaliate against a worker for refusing to attend a political or religious meeting, and under the law an anti-union meeting is considered a political meeting.
The state labor department will appoint a meatpacking industry worker-rights coordinator to submit an annual report recommending ways to improve conditions for meat and poultry processing workers. The law also calls for enhanced workplace safety standards for meatpacking plants with 100 or more workers.
Finally, the new legislation tackles wage theft by ensuring a contractor entering into a construction contract assumes liability for any unpaid wages, fringe benefits or damages that a subcontractor owes to its workers.
Bernie Burnham, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, heaped praise on the new laws, calling them “some of the most sweeping pro-labor legislation in state history” and saying they “will improve the lives of workers in every corner of our state”.
Burnham added: “Minnesota has a strong labor movement, and we worked hard to advance our legislative priorities.”
Corporate lobbyists complained that the paid leave law would impose too great a burden on business – employers will have to pay 0.35% of their payroll to finance paid leave, while employees will have to contribute 0.35% of their paychecks.
John Reynolds, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said the paid leave “mandate” is “deeply flawed” and “will cost much more than expected and make it harder for small businesses to keep their doors open”.
Mann said the business community was crying wolf. “They’re saying businesses are all going to go out of business and close their doors,” she said. “That hasn’t happened in the 11 other states that have passed paid family and medical leave.”
Mann added: “I am someone who believes that when we lift all boats and make a better standard of living for people, I don’t think corporations actually lose. I think we all gain.”
McEwen said: “Those of us who are more progressive say this is exactly how we win the next election. This is what we do. We do the things we promised we would do, and we hope people will say, ‘Please, more of that.’”
This story has been co-published with the Century Foundation
