# Portal - PELRA Regime _An entry point to this project's articles on Minnesota's Public Employment Labor Relations Act of 1971, the agencies and unions that work under it, the fair-share and dues cases decided in Washington, the extensions and contests of 2012–2026, and the unions' political activity as the official record shows it_ | Portal - PELRA Regime | | |---|---| | Type | portal; publish: false; restates the record; not a finding | | Regime, as the corpus frames it | the workforce's political engine, as the first essay puts it: the statute that, in its account, organized the public workforce every other regime employs[^1] | | Statute, as the corpus frames it | Minn. Stat. ch. 179A, dated by the corpus to May 26, 1971 and treated as unchanged in substance for fifty-five years[^1][^2] | | Toll, as the corpus frames it | dues and fair-share fees collected through public payrolls, which the corpus puts at an estimated $100 million a year from some 500,000 workers[^2] | | Immunity, as the corpus frames it | a statute that the essays describe as corrected once in fifty-five years, by the Supreme Court in *Janus*, with the Legislature answering by widening the architecture[^3][^4] | | Federal caption, as the corpus frames it | *Janus v. AFSCME*, 585 U.S. 878 (2018); and, in the regime folder, *United States v. Minneapolis Public Schools*, filed December 9, 2025[^1][^5] | | What the record shows | an act approved November 3, 1971, amended in 1973, 1976, 1980, 1984, 2013, 2014, 2023 and 2024, among other years, under governors of both parties; a fair-share fee added in 1973, held unconstitutional in 2018, its text still in the statute; a 2012 ballot effort that died in committee; a 2016 providers' vote of 1,014 to 392 against a union[^6][^7][^8][^9][^10][^11] | | Federal actions | *Minnesota State Board for Community Colleges v. Knight*, 465 U.S. 271 (1984), upholding PELRA's meet-and-confer rule; *Janus*, No. 16-1466 (June 27, 2018), in which Minnesota joined a twenty-state amicus brief filed January 19, 2018; *United States v. Board of Directors of Special School District No. 1*, No. 0:25-cv-04571 (D. Minn.), dismissed August 10, 2026[^12][^13][^99][^5][^15] | | Main article | [[Public Employment Labor Relations Act, PELRA]] | | Parent article | [[How Minnesota Got Here]] | | Status | portal; nineteen articles in five parts; adjudicates nothing | **The PELRA Regime** is the name this project's corpus gives to one of the ten _regimes_ in its At Issue folder: in the corpus's framing, the Public Employment Labor Relations Act of 1971 is the state's political engine, because one certified union speaks for every employee in a unit whether or not a member, and the dues that follow fund the politics that choose the officials across the bargaining table.[^1][^3] This portal is the entry point to the project's articles on that subject: the vault's page on the [[Public Employment Labor Relations Act, PELRA]] treats the statute, and the nineteen articles below treat the strike that preceded it, the acts that wrote and rewrote it, the agencies and unions under it, the Supreme Court cases and the contests of the last fifteen years. The record is longer and less uniform than the corpus's frame. The act was approved on November 3, 1971, in an extra session, by a Legislature whose two houses were held by the Conservative caucus, and was signed by a DFL governor, Wendell Anderson; it kept the prohibition on public-employee strikes and created a five-member board appointed by the chief justice.[^6][^17][^18][^19][^20] The fair-share fee the corpus places at the act's center was added in 1973; the broad right to strike, the sixteen statutory state units and the Department of Employee Relations came in 1980 under an Independent-Republican governor, Al Quie; the chapter 179A text dates from a 1984 recodification signed by Rudy Perpich, a DFL governor.[^7][^21][^22][^23] A 1981 task force under Quie's commissioner recommended making fair share bargainable; it was not adopted.[^24] The corrections and extensions since 2012 came from several directions. The Supreme Court's decisions in *Knox* (2012), *Harris v. Quinn* (2014) and *Janus* (2018) ended compelled fees for nonmembers, and the fair-share subdivision of § 179A.06 stands in the 2026 statutes as text the courts no longer allow to be enforced.[^25][^26][^13][^27] A Republican Senate advanced a right-to-work amendment out of committee in March 2012 and no further; a DFL Legislature extended the act to child-care and home-care providers in 2013, and the child-care providers voted the union down in 2016; a DFL Legislature in 2023 added certification without an election and new access rights; in 2025 the United States sued a school district over a teachers' contract.[^28][^29][^11][^30][^5] The corpus's claims are set against the record in [[#Corpus claims checked]].[^2][^3] ## How to read this portal The articles are grouped in five parts: the statute and its history from 1970 to 2024; who bargains, meaning the agencies, units and the three largest unions; dues, fair share and the Supreme Court cases; the extensions and contests of 2012–2026; and the unions as political actors, written only from filings, statutes and the organizations' own statements. Each section gives a footnoted summary, the article it leads to and the articles it connects to, listed from both ends. Fourteen articles marked *new* are not yet written; their sections rest on the records read for this portal. Officials, legislators and union officers appear in their official capacity, by their acts, votes, filings and public statements only; the corpus whose claims they are set against is cited at each point.[^1][^2] ## The spine | # | Part | Article | What it covers | Kind | |---|---|---|---|---| | — | — | [[Public Employment Labor Relations Act, PELRA]] | the statute, Minn. Stat. ch. 179A, as it stands and as it was built | vault page (main article) | | 1 | I. The statute | [[Minneapolis teachers' strike of 1970]] | the April 1970 strike | new | | 2 | I. The statute | [[Laws 1971, Extra Session ch. 33]] | the 1971 act | new | | 3 | I. The statute | [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.18]] | strikes: the 1971 ban, the 1973 exception, the 1980 right | new | | 4 | II. Who bargains | [[Bureau of Mediation Services]] | certification, units, mediation | vault page | | 5 | II. Who bargains | [[Public Employment Relations Board (Minnesota)]] | the board of 1971–1991 and 2014– | new | | 6 | II. Who bargains | [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.10]] | the statutory state units, 1980–2025 | new | | 7 | II. Who bargains | [[Education Minnesota]] | the 1998 merger and teacher units | new | | 8 | II. Who bargains | [[AFSCME Council 5]] | the 2004 merger and its units | new | | 9 | II. Who bargains | [[Minnesota Association of Professional Employees]] | the general professional unit since 1980 | new | | 10 | III. Dues and fair share | [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.06]] | employee rights, fair share, payroll deduction | new | | 11 | III. Dues and fair share | [[Harris v. Quinn]] | *Abood*, *Knox* and fees from providers | new | | 12 | III. Dues and fair share | [[Janus v. AFSCME]] | the 2018 decision and Minnesota's brief | new | | 13 | IV. Extensions and contests | [[2012 Minnesota right-to-work amendment]] | S.F. 1705 and its committee history | new | | 14 | IV. Extensions and contests | [[Laws 2013 ch. 128 (provider unionization)]] | child-care and home-care providers, 2013–2017 | new | | 15 | IV. Extensions and contests | [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.12]] | elections, and the 2023 majority verification procedure | new | | 16 | IV. Extensions and contests | [[Minneapolis Public Schools]] | the 2022 settlement and the 2025 suit | vault page | | 17 | V. Political actors | [[Campaign Finance Board]] | political funds and the unions' PAC statements | vault page | | 18 | V. Political actors | [[Minnesota Legislature]] | both parties' recorded votes on PELRA amendments | vault page | ## Part I — The statute and its history The main article, [[Public Employment Labor Relations Act, PELRA]], treats the chapter as it stands. The three articles in this part treat how it got there: the strike that the state's encyclopedia says produced it, the extra-session act of 1971, and the strike provisions that were rewritten in 1973 and 1980 and recodified in 1984. The act's own policy statement, carried in substance, reworded, into § 179A.01, subjects everything that follows to "the paramount right of the citizens of this state to keep inviolate the guarantees for their health, education, safety, and welfare."[^33][^6] ### Minneapolis teachers' strike of 1970 The [[Minneapolis teachers' strike of 1970]] is the event the Minnesota Historical Society's encyclopedia names as the origin of the act. Its entry states that in April 1970 Minneapolis public school teachers "went on strike to demand higher pay and smaller class sizes" and that "The strike resulted in the passage of the Public Employment Labor Relations Act".[^34] The Legislature had prohibited all strikes by public employees in 1951, five years after a St. Paul teachers' strike the entry calls the first organized teachers' strike in the nation.[^34] On April 6, 1970 Local 59 of the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers voted to strike; the Minneapolis Education Association did not, and asked instead for two days' leave for its members, which the district declined.[^34] On April 9, 1970, by the entry's account, 2,200 teachers picketed, "an act that was illegal under Minnesota law"; the district closed all schools from April 13; the strike ended April 29 with a revised wage and a "no-reprisal clause".[^34] The entry's chronology places the act in the same 1971 session as the school-finance changes known as the Minnesota Miracle, and records that Minneapolis teachers did not strike again until March 2022, "this time, they struck with the legal protection of PELRA."[^34] The 1971 act did not legalize strikes; it retained the ban and added penalties aimed at organizations as well as individuals.[^19][^35] The Senate counsel's 1971 summary attributes the act to interim legislative studies and a governor's advisory council and does not mention the strike.[^36] _Main article:_ [[Minneapolis teachers' strike of 1970]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Laws 1971, Extra Session ch. 33]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.18]] · [[Education Minnesota]] · [[Minneapolis Public Schools]] ### Laws 1971, Extra Session ch. 33 [[Laws 1971, Extra Session ch. 33]], S.F. No. 4, is the act. Its title describes it as "An act relating to labor relations between public employees" and their employers, creating a public employment relations board, providing for exclusive representation, for meeting and conferring by professional employees and for arbitration, and prohibiting "strikes by public employees and providing penalties for violation" of the ban.[^37] Section 2 provided that it should be known and "cited as the public employment labor relations act" of 1971.[^38] It was approved November 3, 1971; the Legislative Reference Library's control chart shows both houses of the 1971 Legislature in the hands of the Conservative caucus, which the chart says roughly matched the Republican Party, and a DFL governor, Wendell Anderson, in office from January 4, 1971.[^6][^17][^18] It took effect in stages between March 1 and July 1, 1972.[^39] The act defined an exclusive representative as an organization "designated by more than 50 percent of" the appropriate unit and certified by the director of the Bureau of Mediation Services, who was to hold secret-ballot elections on a 30 percent showing; it made all the teachers of a school district one unit.[^40][^41][^42] It gave public employees the right to form and join organizations "and shall have the right not" to form and join them, required employers and exclusive representatives to meet and negotiate in good faith on "terms and conditions of employment", and reserved to employers "matters of inherent managerial policy".[^43][^44][^45] It created a five-member board appointed by the chief justice, required binding grievance arbitration in every contract and limited contracts to three years, teachers' to two.[^20][^46] Section 4 kept the strike ban for all public employees and made a striking organization lose its certification and its dues checkoff for two years.[^19][^35] The Senate counsel's summary of November 10, 1971 describes the act as the first to recognize last-offer arbitration for essential employees and states that it repeals and supplants all previous statutory provisions on the subject.[^36][^47] _Main article:_ [[Laws 1971, Extra Session ch. 33]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Minneapolis teachers' strike of 1970]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.18]] · [[Bureau of Mediation Services]] · [[Public Employment Relations Board (Minnesota)]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.06]] ### Minn. Stat. § 179A.18 [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.18]], headed _Strikes authorized_, is the section through which the act's history of strikes can be read. The 1971 act forbade strikes by anyone in public service, whether included in or "excepted from this act", and by any organization of such persons.[^19] Laws 1973, ch. 635, H.F. No. 295, approved May 24, 1973 under Anderson, with Liberal majorities in both houses, added an exception: a strike became lawful where the employer refused a request for binding arbitration or refused to comply with an arbitration award, "except as to essential employees."[^48][^18][^49] Laws 1980, ch. 617, S.F. No. 2085, approved April 24, 1980 under Quie, rewrote the section as "STRIKES AUTHORIZED: NON-TEACHERS" and let employees other than confidential, essential, managerial and supervisory employees strike after a contract expired and 45 days of mediation, on ten days' notice; teachers after 60 days.[^21][^50][^51] The House Research Department's 1996 brief states that this broad right "was granted in 1980" and that before then employees could strike only if the employer turned down binding arbitration or refused to implement an award.[^52] The 1984 recodification carried the provisions into § 179A.18 and § 179A.19.[^23][^53] Today the section opens "Essential employees may not strike."; other employees may strike after a contract has expired and 45 days of mediation, or after the employer violates an arbitration award, or, for state employees, after the Legislative Coordinating Commission or the Legislature rejects a negotiated agreement.[^54] Teachers' mediation period is 30 days and they are limited to one notice of intent to strike per negotiation.[^55] Section 179A.19 provides that "all strikes by public employees are illegal" except as § 179A.18 authorizes, that strikers may be terminated and that a striking organization loses its status for two years.[^56] The essential-employee list in § 179A.03, subd. 7, names firefighters, licensed peace officers, dispatchers, correctional guards, confidential and supervisory employees, assistant county and city attorneys and principals; for state employees it names six units, among them law enforcement, health care professionals, correctional guards and supervisors.[^57] The corpus cites § 179A.11 for strikes; that section concerns University of Minnesota units.[^2][^58] _Main article:_ [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.18]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Minneapolis teachers' strike of 1970]] · [[Laws 1971, Extra Session ch. 33]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.10]] · [[Minneapolis Public Schools]] ## Part II — Who bargains Six articles treat the parties to bargaining: the bureau, whose commissioner certifies representatives, determines units and mediates; the board, which hears unfair labor practice charges; the statutory state units; and the three largest unions in the state sector. The House Research Department's issue page reports that "Approximately 90 percent of the state work force is represented by unions."[^59] The commissioner of management and budget is the employer of executive-branch employees for bargaining; since 2024 state agreements are implemented once the exclusive representatives approve them, with copies to the Legislative Coordinating Commission within 14 days, the interim-approval and ratification procedure having been repealed by Laws 2024, ch. 127, art. 72.[^60][^61][^62] ### Bureau of Mediation Services The [[Bureau of Mediation Services]] is the agency the act has relied on since 1971, when the act defined its director as "the director of the bureau of mediation services established by" § 179.02 and made him the certifying officer.[^63] The Legislative Reference Library's record traces the bureau to the Division of Conciliation created to administer the Minnesota Labor Relations Act of 1939 and renamed in 1969, "administered by the state labor conciliator, appointed by the governor."[^64] Under § 179A.04 the commissioner accepts petitions for certification, decertification, mediation, elections and arbitration, determines units under § 179A.09, conducts and certifies elections, maintains the schedule of state classifications by unit and keeps a roster of up to 60 arbitrators.[^65][^66] The 1996 House Research brief notes that the bureau is headed by a single commissioner serving at the governor's pleasure, which it contrasts with multi-member boards in other states.[^67] The bureau's certification orders show the act in operation. On June 4, 2025 the commissioner certified AFSCME Council 5 for the legal project assistants of the University of Minnesota Law School without an election, finding that "The Bureau conducted a card check" showing majority support under § 179A.12, subd. 2a; on September 25, 2025 and January 13, 2026 the same procedure certified Teamsters Local 320 for Redwood County highway employees and for the clerks of the City of Long Prairie.[^68][^69][^70] Each order excludes supervisory and confidential employees, lifts a status-quo notice and directs posting for fourteen days.[^68][^70] Two bureau web pages fetched for this portal returned bot-check screens; the bureau's own count of units and representatives was not obtained.[^71] _Main article:_ [[Bureau of Mediation Services]] _Connects to:_ [[Laws 1971, Extra Session ch. 33]] · [[Public Employment Relations Board (Minnesota)]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.10]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.12]] · [[Laws 2013 ch. 128 (provider unionization)]] ### Public Employment Relations Board (Minnesota) The [[Public Employment Relations Board (Minnesota)]] has existed twice. The 1971 act created a board of five members appointed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court, two representing employees, two employers and one the public, to hear appeals from the director and administer arbitration; the Legislative Reference Library records that in 1991 "the duties of the Board were transferred to the Department of Administration" and the board ceased to function.[^20][^72] The 1996 House Research brief states that Minnesota then differed from the federal model in that "no administrative agency hears complaints of unfair labor practices" and that district courts heard them.[^67] Laws 2014, ch. 211, H.F. No. 3014, re-created the board with three members: one an officer or employee of an exclusive representative and one a representative of public employers, both appointed by the governor, and one representing the public, appointed by the other two.[^73][^74] The House passed it 74–59 on April 7, 2014, the Senate 35–26 on April 28, the House again 74–59 on May 5; Governor Mark Dayton, DFL, signed it May 9, 2014, under DFL majorities in both houses.[^75][^76][^18] The act moved unfair labor practice charges from district court to the board, provided for investigators and for hearing officers licensed to practice law in Minnesota (the current text requires a juris doctor), authorized back pay with seven percent interest, added a right to concerted activity to § 179A.06, appropriated $125,000 and set July 1, 2015 for the board to be ready.[^77][^78][^79] Under § 179A.041 the board hears appeals from recommended decisions on unfair labor practices and from the commissioner's rulings on election misconduct, and since 2023 its deliberations on charges are exempt from the Open Meeting Law.[^80] The corpus states that the board administers the act; the record places certification, mediation and units with the bureau and only unfair labor practices with the board.[^2][^65][^81] _Main article:_ [[Public Employment Relations Board (Minnesota)]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Laws 1971, Extra Session ch. 33]] · [[Bureau of Mediation Services]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.06]] · [[Minnesota Legislature]] ### Minn. Stat. § 179A.10 [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.10]], headed _State units_, lists the only appropriate units for executive-branch state employees. The 1980 act created them: sixteen units, from a law enforcement unit of State Patrol, conservation officers and criminal apprehension agents through craft, service, health care, clerical, technical, correctional guard, instructional, engineering, health treatment, general professional and supervisory units, each defined by a unit composition schedule the Legislative Commission on Employee Relations adopted on March 24, 1980.[^22][^82] The House Research Department's brief explains that "Before 1980, there were well over 100" state bargaining units, with employees of different agencies and places in different units.[^83] The section now lists nineteen units, including a public safety radio communications operator unit and two licensed peace officer units; its unit list was amended in 2001, 2005, 2022, 2023 and 2024.[^84] The commissioner of management and budget negotiates for each unit; managerial and confidential positions, constitutional officers' appointees and the staff of the bureau and the board are excluded from every unit.[^60] Attorneys, physicians and higher-education professionals may petition to sever from their units in a 60-day window before a contract ends, after which they retain only a right to meet and confer.[^85] The House Research issue page of 2016 reports seventeen units, AFSCME holding seven of them with "approximately 17,000 employees" and the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees representing more than 13,500; a 2015 press report gives 17,000 members for AFSCME Council 5 and 13,000 for MAPE.[^86][^87] The University of Minnesota's nine units, including a Graduate Assistant Unit, are set separately by § 179A.11, which in 2024 gained a provision for joint bargaining with the regents.[^58] _Main article:_ [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.10]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.18]] · [[Bureau of Mediation Services]] · [[AFSCME Council 5]] · [[Minnesota Association of Professional Employees]] · [[Laws 2013 ch. 128 (provider unionization)]] ### Education Minnesota [[Education Minnesota]] is, by its own account, the union formed in 1998 when the Minnesota Education Association and the Minnesota Federation of Teachers merged; the association, "originally called the Minnesota State Teachers Association, started in 1861", and the federation began in 1898.[^88] It states that "Education Minnesota is made up of 477 local unions." and is affiliated with the AFT, the NEA and the AFL-CIO.[^89] Its members, it says, work in pre-K–12 schools and higher education; its delegates meet each spring at a Representative Convention, and a governing board sets dues and adopts the budget.[^89] The act gives teachers a distinctive position. For school districts "unit means all the teachers in the district"; the term teacher is defined to include licensed positions, therapists and audiologists and, since 2023, those creating and delivering instruction in prekindergarten and early-education programs.[^90][^91] Teachers' contracts must run two years from July 1 of each odd-numbered year and fix compensation for the whole term; terms and conditions for school employees include "adult-to-student ratios in classrooms, student testing, and student-to-personnel ratios", added in 2023.[^92][^93] The House Research Department's 2024 summary states that a school district employee "is not required to join the union and cannot be required to pay union fees" and that the agreement governs all unit members regardless.[^94] The statute names the organization once: each year "Education Minnesota shall provide a list of up to 14 names" of arbitrators for teacher discharge hearings, as the Minnesota School Boards Association does.[^95] The locals of the two predecessors were the rival unions of the 1970 strike.[^34] _Main article:_ [[Education Minnesota]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Minneapolis teachers' strike of 1970]] · [[AFSCME Council 5]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.06]] · [[Minneapolis Public Schools]] · [[Campaign Finance Board]] ### AFSCME Council 5 [[AFSCME Council 5]] is the Minnesota council of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. A labor publication reported on October 4, 2004 that "three AFSCME councils have merged to form a new organization: AFSCME Council 5." at a founding convention held the preceding Friday and Saturday: Council 6, which had represented primarily state and University of Minnesota employees; Council 14, primarily local government workers in the Twin Cities; and Council 96, local government employees in Duluth and the Arrowhead.[^96] "The new union will represent more than 40,000 workers", the report said.[^96] The corpus's No Kings amendment file dates the merger to 2007 and names two councils; the contemporaneous report gives 2004 and three.[^97][^96] Membership figures differ by source: the 2016 House Research page gives AFSCME "approximately 17,000 employees" in seven of seventeen state units; a 2015 report gives "roughly 17,000 members" in state employment; a 2016 report gives "43,000 public workers in the state" for the whole council.[^86][^87][^98] In June 2015 the council and MAPE announced tentative state agreements for 2.5 percent raises in each of two years, subject to ratification and legislative approval.[^87] The council was the organization that sought to represent family child-care providers under the 2013 law and lost the 2016 vote; its executive director said after the count, "we're disappointed that the providers won't have the opportunity to negotiate higher state subsidy rates".[^98] On June 4, 2025 the bureau certified the council, by card check, for the Law School's legal project assistants.[^68] *Janus* was brought against AFSCME Council 31 of Illinois, an affiliate of the same international; Council 5 was not a party.[^13][^99] _Main article:_ [[AFSCME Council 5]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.10]] · [[Education Minnesota]] · [[Minnesota Association of Professional Employees]] · [[Janus v. AFSCME]] · [[Laws 2013 ch. 128 (provider unionization)]] · [[Campaign Finance Board]] ### Minnesota Association of Professional Employees The [[Minnesota Association of Professional Employees]] describes itself as "an independent union representing approximately 18,000 primarily State of Minnesota professional employees."[^100] It represents the General Professional Unit, unit 14 in § 179A.10 (the union's own text numbers it 214), and it dates its origin to 1980, when "state professional employees elected to decertify their association with AFSCME" and formed a separate union, the year the statutory units were created.[^100][^84] It has no national affiliation.[^100] The House Research Department's issue page lists it as the next largest union after AFSCME, with over 13,500 employees; a 2015 report gives 13,000 members.[^86][^87] The general professional unit is one from which attorneys, physicians and higher-education professionals may sever by petition under § 179A.10, subd. 3; it is not an essential unit, so its members may strike under § 179A.18 after a contract expires and 45 days of mediation.[^85][^57][^54] The union's own page states that "MAPE's Political Action Committee (PAC) screens, endorses and supports candidates for state office" who back its positions; that statement is the organization's own and is treated in Part V.[^100] _Main article:_ [[Minnesota Association of Professional Employees]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.10]] · [[AFSCME Council 5]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.18]] · [[Campaign Finance Board]] ## Part III — Dues, fair share and the Supreme Court cases Three articles follow the money the act lets an exclusive representative collect and the federal cases that narrowed it. The 1971 act provided a dues checkoff on request; the 1973 act added a fair-share fee from nonmembers, limited to a pro rata share of bargaining and grievance costs; Laws 1976, ch. 102, approved March 31, 1976, under Anderson, recast it as dues less members-only benefits and capped it at 85 percent of dues; the 1984 recodification carried that text into § 179A.06, subd. 3.[^101][^7][^163][^102] The Supreme Court allowed such fees in *Abood* (1977), narrowed them in *Knox* (2012) and *Harris* (2014), and struck them in *Janus* (2018); the one PELRA case the Court has decided in the record read, *Knight* (1984), upheld the act's meet-and-confer rule.[^103][^25][^26][^13][^12] ### Minn. Stat. § 179A.06 [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.06]], headed _Employee rights and obligations_, holds the provisions on organizing, fair share and payroll deduction. Subdivision 2 keeps the 1971 language that public employees "have the right not to form and join such organizations."[^104][^43] Subdivision 3 is the fair-share fee. Laws 1973, ch. 635, first provided that nonmembers "may be required by said representative to contribute a fair" share fee for services rendered, which the employer was to check off, limited to a pro rata share of negotiation and grievance costs; Laws 1976, ch. 102, set the fee at dues less members-only benefits and provided that in no event shall the fee exceed 85 percent of the regular membership dues; the 1984 recodification carried the cap into § 179A.06, subd. 3.[^7][^163][^102] The 2026 text still reads "In no event may the fair share fee exceed 85 percent of the regular membership dues." and still routes challenges to the commissioner; the 2023 bill summaries describe a proposed defense to fair-share refund claims that does not appear in the enacted chapter as read.[^27][^65][^105][^106] Subdivision 6 is the dues provision the corpus attributes to § 179A.03. The 2012 text read "Dues check off" and gave employees "the right to request and be allowed dues check off for the exclusive representative."[^107] Laws 2023, ch. 53, retitled it "Payroll deduction, authorization, and remittance", let an employee request deduction for the exclusive representative "and its associated political fund under section" 10A.12, required employers to rely on the union's certification that a signed authorization exists, made authorizations run until the union reports a cancellation, and made the union indemnify the employer for unauthorized deductions.[^108][^109] Section 179A.03 is the definitions section; the corpus's annotator itself records that the $100 million figure it attaches to the checkoff is unverified.[^110][^2] *Knight* belongs to the neighboring § 179A.07, subd. 4, which bars an employer from conferring with unit employees except through the exclusive representative; the Court held in 1984 that community-college instructors had no constitutional right to force the government to listen to their views.[^111][^12] The 1981 task force's recommendation to "Make terms and conditions of employment such as fair share" bargainable was not enacted.[^24] _Main article:_ [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.06]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Laws 1971, Extra Session ch. 33]] · [[Public Employment Relations Board (Minnesota)]] · [[Education Minnesota]] · [[Harris v. Quinn]] · [[Janus v. AFSCME]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.12]] · [[Campaign Finance Board]] ### Harris v. Quinn [[Harris v. Quinn]], No. 11-681, decided June 30, 2014, is the case whose holding bears first on Minnesota's 2013 provider law. The line begins with *Abood v. Detroit Board of Education*, 431 U.S. 209, decided May 23, 1977, which upheld an agency-shop clause insofar as the charges financed bargaining, contract administration and grievances, but held that "a union's expenditures for ideological causes not germane to its duties as a collective-bargaining representative" must be financed only by employees who do not object.[^103][^112] *Knox v. SEIU Local 1000*, No. 10-1121, decided June 21, 2012, held that a union imposing a special assessment "may not exact any funds from nonmembers without their affirmative consent."[^25] *Harris* concerned Illinois personal assistants paid by Medicaid whose customers hired, fired and supervised them and whose employer status was created, the syllabus says, "solely to permit PAs to join a labor union".[^26] The Court, by Justice Alito, declined to extend *Abood* to what it called partial public employees and held that the First Amendment "prohibits the collection of an agency fee from personal assistants in the Rehabilitation Program who do not want to join or support the union."[^26][^113] The Minnesota parallel is § 179A.54, enacted a year earlier, under which individual providers of direct support services "shall be considered, by virtue of this section," executive branch state employees for PELRA only and "are not state employees for purposes of section 3.736"; the section bars strikes, sends impasses to essential-employee arbitration and preserves the participant's right to select, direct and terminate the provider.[^114][^115] The bureau certified SEIU Healthcare Minnesota for that unit on August 26, 2014, eight weeks after *Harris*; the first contract, summarized for a legislative subcommittee in March 2015, set a $10.75 floor, paid time off and a $250,000 training contribution for "approximately 27,000 individual providers" at an estimated $16.2 million a biennium, subject to a ratifying bill.[^116][^117] _Main article:_ [[Harris v. Quinn]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.06]] · [[Janus v. AFSCME]] · [[Laws 2013 ch. 128 (provider unionization)]] ### Janus v. AFSCME [[Janus v. AFSCME]], No. 16-1466, was argued February 26, 2018 and decided June 27, 2018. The petition for certiorari was filed June 6, 2017 and granted September 28, 2017; the respondents were AFSCME Council 31 and Illinois officials.[^99][^13] The syllabus states the holding: "States and public-sector unions may no longer extract agency fees from nonconsenting employees." No payment may be deducted from a nonmember's wages "unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay", and *Abood* was overruled.[^13][^118] Minnesota's part in the case is on the docket. On January 19, 2018 the State joined a brief of twenty states and the District of Columbia, listed first as New York; on December 6, 2017 a group styled "Employees of the State of Minnesota Court System" filed an amicus brief, with counsel of record at an Arlington, Virginia firm. The docket entries do not state which party either brief supported; the dates fall at the deadlines for amici supporting the petitioner and the respondents respectively.[^119][^120][^99] The corpus's Essay III says the architecture was corrected over Minnesota's objection; the amicus filing is the official act that statement can rest on.[^4][^119] After the decision, § 179A.06, subd. 3, was neither repealed nor amended; it appears in the 2026 statutes with its 85 percent cap and its challenge procedure before the commissioner.[^27] The House Research Department's 2024 summary states the post-*Janus* rule as the law in force: an employee "cannot be required to pay union fees".[^94] The Legislature's first substantive response in the record came in 2023, when the payroll-deduction subdivision was rewritten to run on the union's certification of a signed authorization; a proposed liability shield for past fair-share collections appears in the House summary of S.F. 1384 but not in chapter 53 as read.[^108][^106][^105] _Main article:_ [[Janus v. AFSCME]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[AFSCME Council 5]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.06]] · [[Harris v. Quinn]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.12]] · [[Minnesota Legislature]] ## Part IV — Extensions and contests Four articles treat the fifteen years in which the act was contested from both sides: a right-to-work amendment that advanced in a Republican Senate in 2012 and did not reach the floor; the 2013 extension to child-care and home-care providers; the 2023 omnibus with majority verification, access rights and new categories of public employee; and the 2025 federal suit over a teachers' contract, dismissed in 2026 for want of the union as a party.[^28][^29][^30][^5][^15] ### 2012 Minnesota right-to-work amendment The [[2012 Minnesota right-to-work amendment]] was S.F. 1705, described in the Senate's status record as a "Constitutional amendment for freedom of employment", introduced February 8, 2012 by Senator Dave Thompson, a Republican, and four co-authors, in a Senate with a Republican majority.[^10][^28][^18] It was referred to Jobs and Economic Growth; on March 8, 2012 the Senate voted 34–30 to withdraw it and re-refer it to Judiciary and Public Safety; on March 13 that committee reported it to pass and re-referred it to Rules and Administration, where the record ends.[^10] A press account of the March 12, 2012 hearing reports a 7–6 vote, seven of the committee's eight Republicans in favor and one Republican with five DFL members against; the report paraphrased the chief author as telling the committee that his bill would let voters decide whether workers should be compelled by law to join a union or pay dues, quoted him that "This is really all about choice and freedom", and noted that under current law fair-share fees "are capped at 85 percent of the full membership dues."[^28] A second report of March 20, 2012 states that the Senate majority leader had said the votes were not there in either house, that the author would not force a floor vote, and that the House version had not received a hearing.[^122] The House companion was H.F. 2140.[^10] It is the one recorded legislative attempt in the record read to end compelled fees before *Janus*; the corpus's statement that no Legislature of either party has ever moved to unwind the act does not account for it, though nothing was enacted.[^1][^10] _Main article:_ [[2012 Minnesota right-to-work amendment]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.06]] · [[Janus v. AFSCME]] · [[Minnesota Legislature]] ### Laws 2013 ch. 128 (provider unionization) [[Laws 2013 ch. 128 (provider unionization)]], S.F. No. 778, was an act "relating to collective bargaining; authorizing collective bargaining for family child care providers; authorizing collective bargaining for home and community-based long-term care services".[^123] Article 1, the Family Child Care Providers Representation Act, made providers who receive child-care assistance state employees for PELRA purposes only, in a single statewide unit, with no right to strike: "Family child care providers shall not have the right to strike."[^124][^125] Article 2 did the same for individual providers of direct support services, with strikes barred and impasses sent to essential-employee arbitration.[^114][^126] Both articles were to expire on June 30, 2017 if no representative had been certified by then; article 3 appropriated $1,010,000 and $890,000 to the Department of Human Services.[^127][^128] The bill's passage was close. The Senate passed it 35–32 on May 15, 2013 after votes to table and a failed motion to re-refer; the House passed it 68–66 on May 20, 2013 after a 71–59 vote to take it from the table; Governor Dayton signed it May 24, 2013, in a session with DFL majorities in both houses.[^129][^130][^18] It followed Executive Order 11-31 of November 15, 2011, by which Dayton had ordered a bureau-run mail-ballot election among subsidized child-care providers, any union to meet and confer rather than bargain.[^131] The two paths diverged: SEIU Healthcare Minnesota was certified for home-care providers on August 26, 2014 and reached a first contract in 2015; in the child-care election of early 2016, "providers voted 1,014 to 392 against" AFSCME Council 5, among roughly 2,348 eligible of about 11,000 providers.[^116][^11][^98] Section 179A.50 and § 179A.52 now carry the Revisor's note "[Expired, 2013 c 128 art 1 s 6]"; § 179A.54 remains in force and was amended in 2023, 2024 and 2025 to add a Home Care Orientation Trust and a Minnesota Caregiver Retirement Fund Trust.[^132][^133][^134] After the 2016 count the Senate Republican minority leader said his caucus would seek repeal.[^11][^98] _Main article:_ [[Laws 2013 ch. 128 (provider unionization)]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Bureau of Mediation Services]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.10]] · [[AFSCME Council 5]] · [[Harris v. Quinn]] · [[Minnesota Legislature]] ### Minn. Stat. § 179A.12 [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.12]], headed _Exclusive representation; elections; decertification_, carries the 1971 election procedure and the 2023 alternative to it. Its first subdivision still certifies every organization that held recognition "on the effective date of Extra Session Laws 1971, chapter 33"; an organization may obtain an election on a 30 percent showing, employees may obtain a decertification election on the same showing, and a representative candidate is certified upon "receiving a majority of those votes cast in an appropriate unit".[^135][^136][^137] The 1973 act had changed the majority from one of the unit to one of votes cast.[^138] Laws 2023, ch. 53, art. 11, added subdivision 2a, the majority verification procedure: on a petition with dated authorization signatures from "over 50 percent of the employees in the proposed appropriate unit", the commissioner "must certify the employee organization" as exclusive representative "without ordering an election under this section"; it repealed the old joint-request certification, made electronic signatures valid and gave signatures a one-year life.[^139][^140][^141] The same article struck "and the number" of personnel from inherent managerial policy, required employers to give the union each new employee's home address, personal phone and e-mail within 20 days and the unit's every 120 days, and required access to orientations for 30 minutes on paid time, to employer e-mail and to facilities, barring use of government buildings for partisan candidates.[^142][^143][^144] It extended "public employee" to MnSCU instructors of record teaching more than three credits and to temporary and seasonal school employees, and made staffing ratios a term and condition of employment.[^145][^93] These provisions travelled in S.F. 3035, the jobs and labor omnibus; the Senate passed it 35–31 on April 14, 2023, the House 69–61 on April 24, and after conference the Senate adopted the report 34–32 on May 16 (the same status page records the third reading as 34–33) and the House repassed it 70–61; Governor Tim Walz, DFL, signed it May 24, 2023, with DFL majorities in both houses.[^146][^147][^18] The bureau's 2025 and 2026 card-check orders are the procedure in use.[^68][^69][^70] The corpus describes the post-*Janus* legislation as an expansion of exclusive-representation access to new employee categories; the 2023 chapter did add categories and change how a representative is chosen, five sessions after *Janus*, in the first DFL trifecta since 2014.[^1][^145][^18] _Main article:_ [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.12]] (new) _Connects to:_ [[Bureau of Mediation Services]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.06]] · [[Janus v. AFSCME]] · [[Minnesota Legislature]] ### Minneapolis Public Schools [[Minneapolis Public Schools]] is the district whose teachers struck in 1970 and again in March 2022, the second time, as the encyclopedia puts it, "with the legal protection of PELRA."[^34] The 2022 settlement produced provisions that became the subject of a federal suit. On December 9, 2025 the United States filed *United States v. Board of Directors of Special School District No. 1*, No. 0:25-cv-04571, in the District of Minnesota, naming the board, the district and the superintendent in her official capacity.[^5] The complaint pleads two Title VII counts against Article 15 of the agreement with Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local 59, sections 15.2.5, 15.9.2, 15.10.7 and 15.10.12, on excessing, reassignment, reinstatement and layoff, and the Black Men Teach Memorandum of Agreement.[^5] The Department's press release of December 10, 2025 described the agreement as one that "classifies teachers for involuntary reassignment, layoff, and reinstatement" by membership in an "underrepresented population".[^148] The corpus's timeline lists "BIPOC salary enhancements" among the challenged provisions; the complaint as read identifies none.[^149][^5] On August 10, 2026 the district court dismissed the action; a press report quotes the order: "The Court concludes that this action cannot proceed 'in equity and good conscience' without the Union." The union was a necessary party the United States could not join, because its pattern-or-practice authority under Title VII runs only against governmental employers; whether the dismissal was with prejudice was not established.[^15] The suit is the one federal action here aimed at the content of a PELRA contract; the provision was bargained under § 179A.07's duty to meet and negotiate, and § 179A.20, subd. 2, provides that "No provision of a contract shall be in conflict with" the laws of Minnesota.[^150][^151] The allegations are the government's claims, not findings.[^5] _Main article:_ [[Minneapolis Public Schools]] _Connects to:_ [[Minneapolis teachers' strike of 1970]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.18]] · [[Education Minnesota]] · [[Minnesota Legislature]] ## Part V — Unions as political actors: the official record The corpus's thesis is that dues fund the political operations that elect the officials who appoint the negotiators across the bargaining table.[^1] This part states only what statutes, filings, votes and the organizations' own publications show, through the [[Campaign Finance Board]], registrar of political funds under chapter 10A, and the [[Minnesota Legislature]], whose recorded votes give both parties' records. The Campaign Finance Board's online viewers were not readable for this portal, so the figures the corpus cites for union political spending are neither confirmed nor contradicted here.[^2] ### Campaign Finance Board The [[Campaign Finance Board]] administers chapter 10A, under which an association that contributes more than $750 in a year to candidates, political committees or party units, or makes approved expenditures above that amount, must do so through a political fund; "The contents of an association's political fund may not be commingled" with other funds, and the fund must have a treasurer.[^153][^154][^155] Subdivision 5 of § 10A.12 provides that an association may, if not prohibited by other law, deposit money derived from dues or membership fees into its political fund.[^156] Since 2023, § 179A.06, subd. 6, lets a public employee request payroll deduction for the exclusive representative "and its associated political fund under section" 10A.12, a deduction the employer must provide on the union's certification of a signed authorization.[^108][^109] The unions' own statements describe their funds. Education Minnesota states that its PAC is "a group of educators from across the state", that "Regular member dues do not fund the PAC and all members may choose to opt-out of the yearly PAC contribution.", that "The PAC makes candidate endorsements representing the collective voice of 84,000 educators." and that it endorses candidates of both parties.[^157] MAPE states that its political action committee "screens, endorses and supports candidates for state office".[^100] AFSCME Council 5's political fund was not read for this portal. The corpus's figures of $60 million in receipts and $3 million in PAC spending for Education Minnesota are attributed by its own annotator to a think-tank estimate and marked for verification against federal LM-2 filings, which were not read here.[^2] For the No Kings rally the corpus treats as the regime's output, an advisory posted March 18, 2026 by Women's March Minnesota – Action Fund for No Kings Twin Cities lists among the March 28 speakers at the State Capitol the presidents of the AFL-CIO, SEIU and the American Federation of Teachers, the Attorney General, the Lieutenant Governor and the mayor of St. Paul; it names neither Education Minnesota nor AFSCME Council 5 and said more speakers would be announced.[^158] The record read says nothing about who paid for the rally.[^158] _Main article:_ [[Campaign Finance Board]] _Connects to:_ [[Education Minnesota]] · [[AFSCME Council 5]] · [[Minnesota Association of Professional Employees]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.06]] · [[Minnesota Legislature]] ### Minnesota Legislature The [[Minnesota Legislature]] has amended the act under both parties' control, and the recorded votes give each party's record. The 1971 act passed a Legislature whose two houses were held by the Conservative caucus and was signed by a DFL governor; the 1973 amendments passed Liberal majorities under the same governor; the 1980 right-to-strike act passed a DFL Senate and a House tied in 1979 and DFL in 1980, and was signed by an Independent-Republican governor, Al Quie; the 1984 recodification passed a DFL Legislature under Perpich.[^17][^18][^6][^48][^21][^23] The 1981 task force that recommended narrowing the act, by making fair share bargainable and moving supervisors to meet-and-confer status, was appointed by Quie's commissioner; the 1984 text kept fair share statutory.[^24][^159][^102] The recent votes are closer and sharper. The 2013 provider act passed 35–32 and 68–66 under DFL majorities; the 2014 board act 35–26 and 74–59 under the same majorities; the 2012 right-to-work amendment moved 34–30 in a Republican Senate and died in its Rules Committee; the 2023 omnibus carrying majority verification passed 34–32 in the Senate and 70–61 in the House under DFL majorities, with motions to reject the conference report failing 33–34.[^129][^75][^10][^146][^18] From 2015 to 2022 Republicans held at least one house in every session, and no amendment of the 2013 or 2023 kind appears in the section histories for those years; the 2022 amendment of the § 179A.10 unit list passed a DFL House and a Republican Senate.[^18][^84] After the 2016 providers' vote, the Senate Republican minority leader announced a repeal effort for the 2013 law; the law's child-care articles expired by their own terms on June 30, 2017, under a Republican Legislature and a DFL governor.[^11][^127][^18] _Main article:_ [[Minnesota Legislature]] _Connects to:_ [[Public Employment Relations Board (Minnesota)]] · [[Janus v. AFSCME]] · [[2012 Minnesota right-to-work amendment]] · [[Laws 2013 ch. 128 (provider unionization)]] · [[Minn. Stat. § 179A.12]] · [[Minneapolis Public Schools]] · [[Campaign Finance Board]] ## Two readings The two readings below are the strongest forms of the positions the record supports. This portal adopts neither; the corpus's own account is at the head of each.[^1][^3] **Reading one: a self-sustaining arrangement that both parties built and neither has dismantled.** On this reading the act does what the corpus says, by its own terms. One certified organization negotiates for "all employees in the appropriate unit", and the employer may deal with unit employees, even to confer on policy, only through it, a rule the Supreme Court upheld in 1984.[^160][^111][^12] From 1976 to 2018 nonmembers could be made to pay up to 85 percent of dues, and the 1981 recommendation to make that bargainable was not taken up.[^7][^102][^24] When the Supreme Court ended the fee, the Legislature did not strike the subdivision; in 2023 it made the union's certification suffice for payroll deduction, including to its political fund, let a union be certified on signatures without an election, required employers to hand over new employees' home contacts and open orientations, e-mail and buildings to the union, and brought new workers under the act.[^27][^108][^139][^142][^143][^145] The 2013 act reached people who are not public employees for any other purpose, at an estimated $16.2 million a biennium for the first contract.[^114][^117] The foundations are bipartisan: a Conservative Legislature passed the act, an Independent-Republican governor signed the right to strike and the statutory units, and Republican legislatures from 2015 to 2022 left the chapter's core untouched; the DFL's record is the expansions of 2013, 2014 and 2023, the first and third passed by two votes in one house and the second by wider margins; the one attempt to put compelled fees to the voters stopped in the Senate Rules Committee after the Republican majority leader said the votes were not there and its author said he would not force a floor vote.[^17][^21][^18][^129][^75][^146][^122] **Reading two: an ordinary public-sector labor statute, repeatedly amended, policed by courts and tested at the ballot box.** On this reading the record shows a statute in motion. The 1971 act kept the strike ban and built arbitration; the 1973 act let strikes proceed only where the employer refused arbitration; the 1980 act granted a general right to strike and consolidated more than a hundred state units into sixteen; the 1980 act excluded state and university confidential employees from bargaining and the 1984 recodification kept the exclusion; the 1981 task force's broader recommendation, to move all supervisory and confidential employees to meet-and-confer status, was not enacted.[^19][^49][^50][^83][^22][^24][^161] Employees have had the right not to join since 1971, and every election ballot must offer "no representation".[^43][^162] The fair-share fee was narrowed and ended by the courts, Minnesota defended it in an amicus brief as other states did, and the House Research Department now states the post-*Janus* rule as the law.[^25][^13][^119][^94] Extensions were tested: the child-care providers voted 1,014 to 392 against a union and the articles expired; the right-to-work amendment failed for want of votes in a Republican Senate.[^11][^127][^122] Both parties fall short of their own accounts: the DFL's 2023 majority-verification procedure replaced the election, and the joint-request certification the 1971 act had allowed, with certification on a union's petition and signatures, and Republican legislatures holding the Senate from 2017 to 2022 repealed nothing in the chapter, including the unenforceable fair-share subdivision.[^43][^139][^18][^27] The federal suit over a Minneapolis contract was dismissed on a limit in Title VII, not in PELRA.[^15] **What both readings foreclose.** Both rest on the same session laws, statutes, dockets and bureau orders. Neither is supported by the claims that the act was enacted on May 26, 1971, that fair share ran for forty-seven years, that § 179A.03 is the dues provision or § 179A.11 the strike provision, that the Public Employment Relations Board administers the act, that no Legislature ever moved against compelled fees, that *Janus* was brought against AFSCME's international, that Education Minnesota sponsored the March 28, 2026 rally, or that the record read establishes 500,000 covered workers or $100 million a year in dues.[^6][^7][^110][^58][^65][^10][^99][^158][^2] ## Timeline | Date | Event | |---|---| | April 9–29, 1970 | Minneapolis teachers' strike, illegal under the 1951 ban[^34] | | November 3, 1971 | Laws 1971, Extra Session ch. 33, approved (Anderson, DFL); Conservative majorities in both houses[^6][^17] | | May 24, 1973 | Laws 1973, ch. 635: fair-share fee; strike lawful where employer refuses arbitration (Anderson)[^48][^7] | | May 23, 1977 | *Abood v. Detroit Board of Education* upholds agency fees for bargaining costs[^103] | | April 24, 1980 | Laws 1980, ch. 617: general right to strike; sixteen state units; Department of Employee Relations (Quie, IR)[^21][^22] | | November 1981 | Commissioner's Task Force on PELRA recommends making fair share bargainable[^24] | | February 21, 1984 | *Minnesota State Board for Community Colleges v. Knight* upholds meet-and-confer rule[^12] | | March 31, 1976 | Laws 1976, ch. 102: fair-share fee capped at 85 percent of dues (Anderson, DFL)[^163] | | April 24, 1984 | Laws 1984, ch. 462, recodifies the act as chapter 179A, carrying the 85 percent fair-share cap of Laws 1976, ch. 102 (Perpich, DFL)[^23][^102] | | 1991 | Public Employment Relations Board's duties transferred; board ceases to function[^72] | | March 8–13, 2012 | S.F. 1705, right-to-work amendment, re-referred 34–30, reported to pass, sent to Rules; no further action[^10] | | June 21, 2012 | *Knox v. SEIU Local 1000*[^25] | | May 24, 2013 | Laws 2013, ch. 128: child-care and home-care provider bargaining (Dayton); 35–32 and 68–66[^130][^129] | | May 9, 2014 | Laws 2014, ch. 211: Public Employment Relations Board re-created (Dayton)[^76] | | June 30, 2014 | *Harris v. Quinn*[^26] | | August 26, 2014 | SEIU Healthcare Minnesota certified for individual providers[^116] | | March 1, 2016 | Child-care providers vote 1,014 to 392 against a union[^11] | | June 30, 2017 | Child-care articles of the 2013 act expire[^127][^132] | | January 19, 2018 | Minnesota joins a twenty-state amicus brief in *Janus*, filed at the deadline for briefs supporting the respondents[^119] | | June 27, 2018 | *Janus v. AFSCME* decided[^13] | | May 24, 2023 | Laws 2023, ch. 53: majority verification, access, payroll deduction, new categories (Walz, DFL); 34–32 and 70–61[^147][^146] | | December 9, 2025 | *United States v. Board of Directors of Special School District No. 1*, No. 0:25-cv-04571, filed[^5] | | March 28, 2026 | No Kings rally at the State Capitol; union presidents among listed speakers[^158] | | August 10, 2026 | Federal suit over the Minneapolis contract dismissed for want of the union as a party[^15] | ## Corpus claims checked The corpus for this regime consists of the *Ten Regimes, One Machine* essays, the regime folder's files and the No Kings research files, mined here only for primary-source pointers.[^1][^2][^3][^4][^97] Each claim is set beside what the record read for this portal shows. | Claim, as the corpus states it | What the record shows | Sources | |---|---|---| | PELRA was enacted May 26, 1971 (the corpus's date) | Extra Session Laws 1971, ch. 33, was approved November 3, 1971; its sections took effect March 1, May 1 and July 1, 1972 | [^2][^6][^39] | | For forty-seven years PELRA's fair-share mechanism compelled non-members to pay (the corpus's count) | The 1971 act had no fair-share fee; Laws 1973, ch. 635, added it; *Janus* came June 27, 2018, forty-five years later | [^1][^101][^7][^13] | | The dues checkoff is § 179A.03 | § 179A.03 is the definitions section; the checkoff, now payroll deduction, is § 179A.06, subd. 6 | [^2][^110][^108] | | § 179A.11 is the strike-permissibility provision | § 179A.11 defines University of Minnesota units; § 179A.18 authorizes strikes and § 179A.19 makes others illegal | [^2][^58][^54][^56] | | The Public Employment Relations Board administers the act | The bureau's commissioner certifies, mediates and determines units; the board, which did not exist from 1991 to 2014, hears unfair labor practice charges; the 1971 Senate counsel summary did describe the original board as established to administer the act | [^2][^65][^72][^81][^36] | | It covers about 500,000 public employees and routes about $100 million a year in dues | The corpus's own annotator marks the dues figure unverified and the coverage figure a partially validated estimate; the record read gives about 90 percent of the state workforce represented and no statewide count or dues total | [^2][^59] | | The act's only correction in fifty-five years came from the Supreme Court | The 1973, 1980, 1984, 2014 and 2023 acts changed strikes, units, the board and certification; *Knight* upheld it; the courts ended fair share | [^3][^4][^49][^50][^23][^73][^139][^12] | | No Legislature of either party has ever moved to unwind it | S.F. 1705 (2012) was reported to pass by a Senate committee and re-referred by a 34–30 floor vote; the 1981 task force recommended narrowing it; nothing was enacted | [^1][^10][^24] | | The Legislature answered *Janus* by expanding exclusive-representation access to new employee categories | Laws 2023, ch. 53, added MnSCU instructors, temporary school employees and pre-K teachers, majority verification and access rights, five sessions later and under the first DFL trifecta since 2014 | [^1][^145][^139][^18] | | *Janus* was brought against the very international whose Council 5 anchors Minnesota's state workforce | The respondent was AFSCME Council 31 of Illinois; Council 5 and the international were not parties; Minnesota filed as an amicus for the respondents | [^1][^99][^119] | | The 1970 strike was illegal and PELRA followed it | MNopedia: the picketing was "an act that was illegal under Minnesota law" and "The strike resulted in the passage of the Public Employment Labor Relations Act" | [^2][^34] | | AFSCME Council 5 was formed by a 2007 merger of Councils 6 and 14 | A 2004 report records a merger of Councils 6, 14 and 96 at a founding convention that October | [^97][^96] | | Education Minnesota was the flagship public-sector labor sponsor of the March 28, 2026 rally, organized with AFSCME Council 5 and others | The organizers' advisory lists the AFL-CIO, SEIU and AFT and their presidents among speakers and names neither Education Minnesota nor AFSCME Council 5; the corpus's annotator records the same correction | [^97][^158][^2] | | *United States v. Minneapolis Public Schools* challenges Article 15, the Black Men Teach MOA and "BIPOC salary enhancements" | The complaint challenges Article 15 and the Black Men Teach Memorandum; it identifies no salary enhancements; the suit was dismissed August 10, 2026 | [^149][^5][^15] | | Education Minnesota receives $60 million a year and spends $3 million per cycle through its PAC | Attributed by the corpus's annotator to a think-tank estimate; the union's page says PAC dues are set by delegates and may be declined; no filing was read | [^2][^157] | ## Other portals The ten At Issue regimes each have a portal; the others are [[Portal - Affirmative Action Regime]] · [[Portal - Climate Regime]] · [[Portal - Community Action Programs Regime]] · [[Portal - Feminism Regime]] · [[Portal - Metropolitan Council Regime]] · [[Portal - New Minnesotans Regime]] · [[Portal - One Minnesota Regime]] · [[Portal - Professional Association Regime]] · [[Portal - University of Minnesota Regime]]. The Affirmative Action portal shares the Minneapolis contract suit; the University of Minnesota portal shares the units of § 179A.11. ## See also - [[Public Employment Labor Relations Act, PELRA]] · [[How Minnesota Got Here]] · [[Bureau of Mediation Services]] - [[Campaign Finance Board]] · [[Minnesota Legislature]] · [[Minneapolis Public Schools]] · [[Wendell R. Anderson]] · [[Al Quie]] · [[Rudy Perpich]] · [[Mark Dayton]] · [[Tim Walz]] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota record, *Ten Regimes, One Machine* (Regime Essays no. 1, 5,000-word steelman), section VI, "The Political Engine — PELRA Regime" — PELRA as the statute that "organized the public workforce"; exclusive representation; dues funding politics; fair share for forty-seven years ended by *Janus*; the Legislature "expanding exclusive-representation access"; no Legislature "has ever moved to unwind it". [^2]: Minnesota record, PELRA regime folder, *PELRA_RICO_Annotated* and *PELRA_Three_Indictments* (April 2026) — enactment dated May 26, 1971; ~500,000 employees; ~$100 million a year in dues under "§ 179A.03"; § 179A.07 and § 179A.11 as bargaining and strike provisions; the annotator's own notes marking the dues figure unverified and the coverage figure a partially validated estimate, correcting the strike section to § 179A.18, and correcting the No Kings organizer list and [^3]: Minnesota record, *Ten Regimes, One Machine* (Regime Essays no. 2, 850-word positioning) — the engine votes its own payroll; PELRA hands one union exclusive voice over every public employee; its only structural correction in fifty-five years was Janus; the Legislature answered by widening the architecture. [^4]: Minnesota record, *Ten Regimes, One Machine* (Regime Essays no. 3, killshots), PELRA entry — the union architecture corrected exactly once in fifty-five years, by the United States Supreme Court, over Minnesota's objection; sources listed as Minn. Stat. ch. 179A and *Janus v. AFSCME*, 585 U.S. 878 (2018). [^5]: Complaint, *United States v. Board of Directors of Special School District No. 1, Minneapolis Public Schools, et al.*, No. 0:25-cv-04571 (D. Minn. filed Dec. 9, 2025) — two Title VII counts; Article 15, §§ 15.2.5, 15.9.2, 15.10.7, 15.10.12; the Black Men Teach Memorandum of Agreement; Local 59 as union party; no salary enhancement identified. https://www.justice.gov/crt/media/1420496/dl [^6]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33 (S.F. No. 4), approval line — "Approved November 3, 1971." Office of the Revisor of Statutes scan, Extra Session Laws 1971, p. 2734. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^7]: Laws of Minnesota 1973, ch. 635 (H.F. No. 295), sec. 10, amending § 179.65, subd. 2 — nonmembers "may be required by said representative to contribute a fair" share fee, checked off by the employer, not to exceed a pro rata share of negotiation and grievance costs; teachers exempt until January 1, 1975. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1973/0/635 [^8]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.06 (2026), history line — 1984 c 462 s 7; 1987 c 186; 1989 c 255; 1997 c 7; 1999 c 216; 2000 c 387; 2005 c 125; 2014 c 211 s 8; 1Sp2015 c 1; 1Sp2021 c 10; 2023 c 53 art 11 s 13; 2024 c 110 art 5 s 17–19; 2024 c 127 art 8 s 6. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.06 [^9]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.03 (2026), history line — 1984 c 462 s 4 through 2024 c 127 art 8 s 2, 3, with amendments in 1986–2000, 2003, 2005, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 to the definitions of public employee, employer, teacher and terms and conditions of employment. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.03 [^10]: Office of the Revisor of Statutes, bill status, S.F. 1705 (87th Legislature, 2012), "Constitutional amendment for freedom of employment" — introduced Feb. 8, 2012; re-referred to Judiciary and Public Safety on a 34–30 vote Mar. 8; committee report to pass and re-referral to Rules and Administration Mar. 13, 2012; no further action. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/87/2012/0/SF/1705 [^11]: CBS Minnesota / Associated Press, "Minnesota Child Care Providers Vote Not To Unionize" (Mar. 1, 2016) — "providers voted 1,014 to 392 against" a union that would have been AFSCME; the 2013 law and the governor who signed it; the Senate Republican minority leader's statement that his caucus would push repeal. https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/child-care-union/ [^12]: *Minnesota State Board for Community Colleges v. Knight*, 465 U.S. 271 (1984), Nos. 82-898 and 82-977, argued Nov. 1, 1983, decided Feb. 21, 1984, syllabus — PELRA's meet-and-confer provisions do not violate the instructors' rights; "Appellees have no constitutional right to force the government to listen to their views." https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/465/271 [^13]: *Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31*, No. 16-1466, argued Feb. 26, 2018, decided June 27, 2018, syllabus — "States and public-sector unions may no longer extract agency fees from nonconsenting employees."; Illinois exclusive representation described; *Abood* overruled. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/16-1466 [^15]: Sahan Journal, "Minneapolis Public Schools teachers of color DOJ lawsuit dismissed" (Aug. 10, 2026, updated Aug. 11) — dismissal by U.S. District Judge Patrick Schiltz on August 10, 2026 because the union was a necessary party the government could not join; the order quoted. https://sahanjournal.com/education/minneapolis-public-schools-teachers-of-color-doj-lawsuit-dismissed/ [^17]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, "Legislative Party Control Chart, 1901-present" — 67th session, 1971: House Conservative, Senate Conservative, Governor DFL; 68th, 1973–1974: Liberal, Liberal, DFL; note that Liberal and Conservative caucuses roughly matched the DFL and Republican parties until party designation returned in 1974 and 1976. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/histleg/caucus_table [^18]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, "Governors, 1849-Present" and "Legislative Party Control Chart" — Anderson (DFL) from 1/4/1971; Quie (Independent-Republican) from 1/4/1979; Perpich (DFL) from 1/3/1983; Dayton (DFL) from 1/3/2011; Walz (DFL) from 1/7/2019; party control for 1979–80, 1983–84, 2011–12 through 2025–26. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/lrl/mngov/gov.aspx [^19]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 4 [179.64], strikes; prohibition; penalties — no person in public service "whether included or excepted from this act may engage in a strike"; termination on written notice; two-year probation on rehire; presumption of striking from unexcused absence. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^20]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 12 [179.72], Public Employment Relations Board — "The board shall consist of five members appointed by the chief" justice; two employee, two employer, one public representative; four-year terms; the director of mediation services to provide staff. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^21]: Laws of Minnesota 1980, ch. 617 (S.F. No. 2085), title and approval — "creating a state department of employee relations; establishing appropriate units for state and university of Minnesota employees; providing for a right to strike"; approved April 24, 1980. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1980/0/617 [^22]: Laws of Minnesota 1980, ch. 617, sec. 40 [179.741], state and University of Minnesota employees; units — sixteen state units from the law enforcement unit to the supervisory employees unit, each defined by the unit composition schedule adopted by the Legislative Commission on Employee Relations on March 24, 1980. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1980/0/617 [^23]: Laws of Minnesota 1984, ch. 462 (S.F. No. 1986), the 1984 Public Employment Labor Relations Recodification Act — sec. 1, intent "to eliminate obsolete and redundant language"; new chapter 179A; repeal of §§ 179.61 to 179.76; "Approved April 24, 1984". https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1984/0/462/ [^24]: Minnesota Department of Employee Relations, *Commissioner's Task Force on PELRA* (Nov. 1981), Issue IC — recommendation to "Make terms and conditions of employment such as fair share" and dues deduction, grievance procedure, union leave and arbitrator selection bargainable rather than statutorily mandated; task force created by the commissioner for the governor's 1982 plans. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/pre2003/other/820216.pdf [^25]: *Knox v. Service Employees International Union, Local 1000*, No. 10-1121, argued Jan. 10, 2012, decided June 21, 2012, syllabus — a special assessment requires fresh notice and the union "may not exact any funds from nonmembers without their affirmative consent."; opinion by Justice Alito. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/10-1121 [^26]: *Harris v. Quinn*, No. 11-681, argued Jan. 21, 2014, decided June 30, 2014, syllabus — Illinois Rehabilitation Program personal assistants; the State's employer status created "solely to permit PAs to join a labor union"; the First Amendment bars an agency fee from PAs who do not want to join or support the union. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/11-681 [^27]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.06, subd. 3 (2026), fair share fee — fee equal to dues less members-only benefits; "In no event may the fair share fee exceed 85 percent of the regular membership dues."; challenges filed with the commissioner within 30 days; escrow pending decision. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.06 [^28]: MPR News, Tim Pugmire, "Right-to-work bill passes Minn. Senate panel" (Mar. 12, 2012) — Senate judiciary committee vote of seven to six; seven of eight Republicans in favor, one Republican and five DFL members opposed; the chief author's statement; fair-share fees "capped at 85 percent of the full membership dues." https://www.mprnews.org/story/2012/03/12/union-dues-ballot-question [^29]: Laws of Minnesota 2013, ch. 128 (S.F. No. 778), title — "An act relating to collective bargaining; authorizing collective bargaining for family child care providers; authorizing collective bargaining for home and community-based long-term care services; appropriating money"; presented May 22, signed May 24, 2013. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2013/0/128/ [^30]: Laws of Minnesota 2023, ch. 53 (S.F. No. 3035), art. 11, secs. 18–20 and 59 — § 179A.12, subd. 2a, majority verification procedure; subd. 6, authorization signatures; subd. 11, unfair labor practices; repeal of § 179A.12, subd. 2; presented May 23, signed May 24, 2023. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2023/0/53/ [^33]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 1 [179.61], public policy — orderly and constructive relationships "subject however, to the paramount right of the citizens" to keep inviolate their health, education, safety and welfare; three means: rights to organize, duty to meet and negotiate, special rights and limitations. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^34]: Jessica Ellison, "Minneapolis Teachers' Strike, 1970," MNopedia (Minnesota Historical Society; first published July 19, 2023, modified Aug. 28, 2026) — the 1946 St. Paul strike; the 1951 ban; the April 6 vote; April 9 picketing by 2,200 teachers; schools closed April 13; settlement April 29 with a no-reprisal clause; PELRA in 1971; the 2022 strike. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/event/minneapolis-teachers-strike-1970 [^35]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 4, subd. 6, and sec. 15, subd. 4 — an organization found to have struck loses exclusive-representative status, may not be certified for two years and loses dues checkoff for two years; courts to order decertification of representatives violating injunctions. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^36]: David J. Kennedy, Office of Senate Counsel, *The Minnesota Public Employment Labor Relations Act of 1971, Extra Session Laws 1971, Chapter 33: Summary and Analysis* (Nov. 10, 1971) — the act embodies recommendations of interim legislative studies and a Governor's Advisory Council; covers virtually all public employees; repeals and supplants prior law; strike prohibition retained with modified penalties. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/pre2003/other/I437.pdf [^37]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, title — "An act relating to labor relations between public employees and their public employers"; creating a board; exclusive representation; meet and confer; arbitration; "prohibiting strikes by public employees and providing penalties for violation thereof"; repeals of §§ 125.19–.26, 179.50–.58 and 418.21–.24. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^38]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 2 [179.62], citation — "This act shall be known and may be cited as the public employment labor relations act of 1971." https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^39]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 18, effective dates — sec. 12, subd. 1 (the board) effective March 1, 1972; secs. 7 and 9, subds. 1 and 7 (elections and mediation) May 1, 1972; all other sections July 1, 1972; pending negotiations to conclude by July 1, 1972. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^40]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 3 [179.63], subd. 6 — "Exclusive representative" means an organization "designated by more than 50 percent of the appropriate unit" and certified under section 7; subd. 2, the director of the Bureau of Mediation Services under § 179.02. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^41]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 7 [179.67], subds. 4–12 — certification election on a petition stating that at least 30 percent of a proposed unit wish representation; secret ballot at the workplace; a space for "no representation"; absentee ballots; runoff; certification on a majority of all employees in the unit. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^42]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 3, subd. 17 — "Appropriate unit" excludes supervisory and confidential employees and principals, and "in the case of school districts, the term means all the teachers in the district." https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^43]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 5 [179.65], subd. 2 — public employees "shall have the right to form and join labor or employee organizations, and shall have the right not to form and join such organizations"; secret-ballot designation of an exclusive representative. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^44]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 3, subd. 16 and subd. 18 — "Meet and negotiate" as the mutual obligation to meet with good-faith intent of agreement, compelling no concession; "terms and conditions of employment" as hours, compensation including fringe benefits and personnel policies, excluding school districts' educational policies. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^45]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 6 [179.66], subd. 1 — a public employer "is not required to meet and negotiate on matters of inherent managerial policy", including functions and programs, overall budget, technology, organizational structure and the selection, direction and number of personnel. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^46]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 10 [179.70], subd. 1 — written contracts "shall not be for a term exceeding three years"; teachers' contracts for two years; every contract to contain a grievance procedure providing compulsory binding arbitration. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^47]: Office of Senate Counsel, *Summary and Analysis* (Nov. 10, 1971), arbitration section — the act described as the first in the nation to recognize the last offer–last demand concept, available by agreement in disputes involving essential employees; grievance arbitration required in every contract; a five-member board appointed by the chief justice. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/pre2003/other/I437.pdf [^48]: Laws of Minnesota 1973, ch. 635 (H.F. No. 295), title and approval — "An act relating to public employees; giving public employees and employers certain rights and obligations; defining unfair practices; amending the public employment labor relations act of 1971"; "Approved May 24, 1973." https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1973/0/635 [^49]: Laws of Minnesota 1973, ch. 635, secs. 7–8, amending § 179.64, subds. 1 and 7 — strikes prohibited "except as may be provided in subdivision 7"; a refusal by the employer to request binding arbitration, or a violation of § 179.68, subd. 2, clause (9), is a defense to a strike violation "except as to essential employees." https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1973/0/635 [^50]: Laws of Minnesota 1980, ch. 617, sec. 22, amending § 179.64, subd. 1 — "STRIKES AUTHORIZED: NON-TEACHERS"; strikes permitted after contract expiration or impasse and at least 45 days of mediation with ten days' written notice, or after rejection of binding arbitration, or after legislative rejection of a state agreement. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1980/0/617 [^51]: Laws of Minnesota 1980, ch. 617, sec. 22, § 179.64, subd. 1a and 1b — teachers may strike after expiration or impasse and 60 days of mediation, 30 after expiration, if arbitration has been rejected or not requested; "all strikes by public employees shall be illegal" except as authorized; contract terms continue until the right to strike matures. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1980/0/617 [^52]: Mark Shepard, House Research Department, *Public Employment Labor Relations Act* information brief (Jan. 1996), p. 4, strikes — the broad right to strike "was granted in 1980"; before 1980 employees could strike only if the employer turned down binding interest arbitration or refused to implement the award; essential employees may never strike. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/pre2003/other/960066.pdf [^53]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.18 (2026), history line — 1984 c 462 s 19; 1985 c 157 s 7, 8; 1987 c 186 s 15; 1992 c 582 s 20; 1994 c 560 art 2 s 19; 2000 c 501 s 5; 2024 c 110 art 5 s 27, 28. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.18 [^54]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.18, subd. 1 (2026), when authorized — "Essential employees may not strike."; other employees may strike after expiration or impasse and 45 days of mediation, after an employer violates § 179A.13, subd. 2, clause (9), or, for state employees, after the Legislative Coordinating Commission or the Legislature rejects an agreement. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.18 [^55]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.18, subds. 2–3 (2026), school district requirements; strike notice — teachers may strike after expiration or impasse and 30 days of mediation if arbitration is not requested or is rejected; ten days' notice; teachers limited to one notice per negotiation, renewable once on rejection of a tentative agreement. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.18 [^56]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.19 (2026), illegal strikes — "all strikes by public employees are illegal" except as § 179A.18 authorizes; termination on written notice; presumption from unexcused absence; two-year probation on rehire; an organization found to have struck loses exclusive status and may not be certified for two years. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.19 [^57]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.03, subd. 7 (2026), essential employee — firefighters, licensed peace officers, 911 and police and fire dispatchers, correctional guards, confidential and supervisory employees, assistant county and city attorneys, principals and assistant principals; for state employees, the law enforcement, radio communications, health care professional, correctional guard, professional engineering and supervisory units. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.03 [^58]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.11 (2026), University of Minnesota — nine units from law enforcement through the Graduate Assistant Unit; subds. 1–2 amended and subd. 3 added by 2024 c 127 art 12; severance rights for health sciences and law faculty and supervisors; subd. 3, joint bargaining with the regents by mutual agreement of exclusive representatives. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.11 [^59]: Minnesota House Research Department, issue page "Collective Bargaining/PELRA" (July 2016) — "Approximately 90 percent of the state work force is represented by unions."; almost all executive employees who can be unionized have chosen to be; seventeen executive-branch units. https://www.house.mn.gov/hrd/issinfo/gvst_colbg.aspx?src=10 [^60]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.10, subd. 1 (2026), exclusions — the commissioner of management and budget negotiates with each unit's exclusive representative; the listed units are the only appropriate units for executive branch employees; managerial positions, constitutional officers' appointees, bureau and board staff and confidential employees excluded. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.10 [^61]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.22 (2026), state and its employees; negotiations — the commissioner of management and budget is the employer of executive-branch employees and represents the State in negotiations; agreements entered under § 43A.06 and implemented after approval by the exclusive representatives. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.22 [^62]: Minn. Stat. § 3.855 (2026), employee relations — subd. 5 (interim approval) marked repealed by 2024 c 127 art 72 s 8; the Legislative Coordinating Commission receives compensation plans and, within 14 days of implementation, copies of collective bargaining agreements, memoranda and arbitration awards with biennial cost comparisons; monitors the civil service and chapter 179A bargaining; history from 1979 c 332. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/3.855 [^63]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 3, subd. 2, and sec. 11 [179.71] — "Director of mediation services" means the director of the bureau "established by section 179.02"; the director's powers to certify, determine units, mediate and hold hearings. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^64]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Minnesota Agencies, "Mediation Services Bureau" — active from 1969; authority Minn. Stat. 179.02 and 1969 Minn. Laws ch. 1129; the 1939 Minnesota Labor Relations Act and Division of Conciliation, "administered by the state labor conciliator, appointed by the governor."; renamed in 1969. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/agencies/detail?AgencyID=1010 [^65]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.04, subds. 1–2 (2026), commissioner's duties — petitions for certification and decertification, mediation, elections, certification to arbitration and fair share fee challenges; "The commissioner shall hear and decide all issues in a fair share fee challenge."; unit determination under § 179A.09. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.04 [^66]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.04, subd. 3 (2026), other duties — mediation until agreement; conducting and certifying elections; rules; a public file of arbitration decisions; a default grievance procedure; the schedule of state classifications by unit; a roster of up to 60 arbitrators; Education Minnesota and the School Boards Association each naming up to 14 for teacher discharge hearings. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.04 [^67]: House Research Department, *Public Employment Labor Relations Act* (Jan. 1996), p. 5, the bureau — headed by a single commissioner appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the governor, unlike multi-member boards elsewhere; "no administrative agency hears complaints of unfair labor practices"; district courts hear them. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/pre2003/other/960066.pdf [^68]: Bureau of Mediation Services, Case No. 25PCE1241, *University of Minnesota and AFSCME MN Council 5*, Determination of Appropriate Unit and Certification of Exclusive Representative Order (June 4, 2025) — petition of April 4, 2025; "The Bureau conducted a card check"; certification for legal project assistants of the Law School; posting for fourteen days. https://mn.gov/bms/documents2/270042-25PCE1241%20-%20Certfication%20of%20Exclusive%20Representative.pdf [^69]: Bureau of Mediation Services, Case No. 26PCE0305, *Teamsters Local 320 and Redwood County*, order of Sept. 25, 2025 — petition of Sept. 16, 2025; majority verification under § 179A.12, subd. 2a, requiring over 50 percent; card check conducted; certification for Highway Department employees excluding clerical, supervisory and confidential employees. https://mn.gov/bms/documents2/271722-Cert-%20Card%20Check%20%2826PCE0305%29.pdf [^70]: Bureau of Mediation Services, Case No. 26PCE0657, *City of Long Prairie and Teamsters Local 320*, order of Jan. 13, 2026 — petition of Dec. 12, 2025; card check; certification for administrative staff and clerks; status quo notice lifted; posting for fourteen days. https://mn.gov/bms/documents2/273261-26PCE0657%20-%20Certfication%20of%20Exclusive%20Representative.pdf [^71]: Bureau of Mediation Services, "Public Sector Representation" page, as retrieved Oct. 29, 2026 — the fetch returned a bot-manager verification screen with no page content; the page is listed here as attempted and is not cited for any fact. https://mn.gov/bms/representation/pubrep [^72]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, Minnesota Agencies, "Public Employment Relations Board" — active 1971–1991 and 2014– (the record says the 1971 members were appointed by the governor; the act says the chief justice); authority Minn. Stat. 179.72, repealed 1984, and § 179A.041; "In 1991 the duties of the Board were transferred to the Department of Administration"; re-established by 2014 Minn. Laws ch. 211; membership of five in 1971 and three from 2015. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/agencies/agencies_detail.aspx?AgencyID=1324 [^73]: Laws of Minnesota 2014, ch. 211 (H.F. No. 3014), title and sec. 5 [179A.041] — "An act relating to labor; creating the Public Employment Relations Board; authorizing rulemaking; appropriating money"; three members, two appointed by the governor and one by the other two; presented May 6, signed May 9, 2014. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2014/0/211/ [^74]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.041, subds. 1–2 (2026), membership; alternates — one officer or employee of an exclusive representative and one representative of public employers, appointed by the governor; one public member appointed by the other two; alternates for conflicts; chair chosen each July 1. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.041 [^75]: Office of the Revisor of Statutes, bill status, H.F. 3014 (88th Legislature, 2014) — two House authors and one Senate author listed; House passage 74–59 on Apr. 7, 2014; Senate passage 35–26 on Apr. 28; House repassage 74–59 on May 5; governor approval May 9, 2014; chapter 211. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/88/2014/0/HF/3014 [^76]: Laws of Minnesota 2014, ch. 211, enactment lines — "Presented to the governor May 6, 2014"; "Signed by the governor May 9, 2014, 10:03 a.m." https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2014/0/211/ [^77]: Mark Shepard, House Research Department, Act Summary, Chapter 211 (May 12, 2014) — PERB created to hear unfair labor practice charges; charges moved from district court; investigators and hearing officers; back pay and other make-whole remedies; concerted-activity right added; appeals to the Court of Appeals. https://www.house.mn.gov/hrd/as/88/as211.pdf [^78]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.13, subd. 1 (2026), unfair labor practices; actions — charges filed with the board; investigation and complaint within six months of the practice; "Hearing officers must have a juris doctor"; cease-and-desist orders, reinstatement, back pay with interest at seven percent; enforcement in district court. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.13 [^79]: House Research Department, Act Summary, Chapter 211 (May 12, 2014), secs. 12–13 — appropriation of $125,000 in fiscal year 2015 to the Bureau of Mediation Services for the board, added to the base; the bureau to call the first meeting; effective dates. https://www.house.mn.gov/hrd/as/88/as211.pdf [^80]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.041, subds. 5–10 (2026) — powers under § 179A.13; appeals from recommended decisions and from the commissioner's determinations under § 179A.12, subd. 11; rulemaking; staff and contracts; conflicts of interest; subd. 10, added 2023 c 53 art 8 s 3, exempting deliberations on charges from chapter 13D. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.041 [^81]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.03, subds. 2a, 3, 5 and 8 (2026), definitions — "Board" means the Public Employment Relations Board under § 179A.041; "Bureau" means the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services; "Commissioner" means the commissioner of the bureau; "Exclusive representative" means an organization certified by the commissioner under § 179A.12. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.03 [^82]: Laws of Minnesota 1980, ch. 617, sec. 40, § 179.741, subd. 1, cl. (1) — the law enforcement unit "shall consist of" all State Patrol personnel, uniformed conservation officers and criminal apprehension agents; cls. (2)–(16) the craft, service, health care, clerical, technical, correctional, instructional, administrative, engineering, health treatment, general professional, residential instructional and supervisory units. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1980/0/617 [^83]: House Research Department, *Public Employment Labor Relations Act* (Jan. 1996), p. 2, state and university units — 17 state and 13 university units set by the Legislature in 1980 on occupational lines; "Before 1980, there were well over 100" state units, with nurses in human services and corrections in different units. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/pre2003/other/960066.pdf [^84]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.10, subd. 2 (2026), state employees — nineteen units listed, (1) through (19), including (17) public safety radio communications operator, (18) licensed peace officer special and (19) licensed peace officer leader; subd. 2 amended by 2001 c 133 s 2, 2022 c 80 s 1, 2023 c 53 art 1 s 11, 2024 c 127 art 8 s 11. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.10 [^85]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.10, subd. 3 (2026), state employee severance — attorneys, physicians and Office of Higher Education professionals may petition during a 60-day period beginning 270 days before a contract ends; on a 30 percent showing an election is held; a severed group retains only the right to meet and confer. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.10 [^86]: Minnesota House Research Department, "Collective Bargaining/PELRA" (July 2016), union representation — AFSCME represents 7 of the 17 bargaining units covering "approximately 17,000 employees"; "The next largest union, the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, represents" over 13,500 employees, some part-time. https://www.house.mn.gov/hrd/issinfo/gvst_colbg.aspx?src=10 [^87]: MPR News, Tom Scheck, "State reaches contract deals with two largest unions" (June 26, 2015) — "MAPE has 13,000 members that work for the state." and "AFSCME Council 5 has roughly 17,000 members."; 2.5 percent raises in each of two years; higher health costs; ratification by members and the Legislature required. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2015/06/26/state-reaches-contract-deals-with-two-largest-unions [^88]: Education Minnesota, "Who we are," history — "Education Minnesota was formed in 1998 when the Minnesota Education Association and the Minnesota Federation of Teachers merged."; MEA "originally called the Minnesota State Teachers Association, started in 1861"; MFT began as the Grade Teachers Organization in 1898. https://educationminnesota.org/about-us/who-we-are/ [^89]: Education Minnesota, "Who we are" — "Education Minnesota is made up of 477 local unions."; members in pre-K-12 schools and higher education, including education support professionals and faculty; affiliation with the AFT, NEA and AFL-CIO; the Representative Convention of more than 500 delegates; the governing board sets dues and adopts a budget. https://educationminnesota.org/about-us/who-we-are/ [^90]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.03, subd. 2 (2026), appropriate unit — a unit determined under §§ 179A.09 to 179A.11; "For school districts, unit means all the teachers in the district." https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.03 [^91]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.03, subd. 18 (2026), teacher — licensed positions, physical, occupational, art and music therapists and audiologists, and positions "creating and delivering instruction to children in a preschool, school readiness, school readiness plus, or prekindergarten program", with units certified before January 1, 2023 allowed to remain; amended 2023 c 53 art 11 s 11. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.03 [^92]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.20, subd. 3 (2026), duration — contracts may not exceed three years; a teachers' contract "shall be for a term of two years, beginning on July 1 of each odd-numbered year", containing compensation for the whole term and no reopener. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.20 [^93]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.03, subd. 19 (2026), terms and conditions of employment — hours, compensation including fringe benefits with retirement exceptions, "staffing ratios", and personnel policies; for school employees "adult-to-student ratios in classrooms, student testing, and student-to-personnel ratios"; amended 2023 c 53 art 11 s 12. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.03 [^94]: Cristina Parra, House Research Department, *School District Collective Bargaining* (Oct. 2024), pp. 2–3 — once the bureau certifies an exclusive representative the board must negotiate; an employee "is not required to join the union and cannot be required to pay union fees"; the agreement governs all unit members; teachers' two-year contracts; strike rules. https://www.house.mn.gov/hrd/pubs/ss/sscollbarg.pdf [^95]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.04, subd. 3(b) (2026) — a list of arbitrators for teacher discharge hearings under §§ 122A.40 and 122A.41; "Each year, Education Minnesota shall provide a list of up to 14 names" and the Minnesota School Boards Association a list of up to 14. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.04 [^96]: Workday Magazine, "Seide to direct new AFSCME Council 5" (Oct. 4, 2004) — "three AFSCME councils have merged to form a new organization: AFSCME Council 5."; Councils 6, 14 and 96 and the employees each represented; "The new union will represent more than 40,000 workers"; founding convention that week. https://workdaymagazine.org/seide-to-direct-new-afscme-council-5/ [^97]: Minnesota record, No Kings research files, *T9-T10 Amendment — Named Architect Integration* (April 2026) — AFSCME Council 5 described as formed by a 2007 merger of AFSCME Councils 6 and 14; Education Minnesota described as flagship public-sector labor sponsor of the March 28, 2026 mobilization; named-official framing this portal does not adopt. [^98]: Post Bulletin, Heather J. Carlson, "Child care providers vote against union" (Mar. 1, 2016) — the bureau's reported result of 1,014 to 392; AFSCME Council 5 as the proposed representative; "The union represents 43,000 public workers in the state."; the executive director's statement; 2,348 eligible of roughly 11,000 providers; the House speaker's statement. https://www.postbulletin.com/newsmd/child-care-providers-vote-against-union [^99]: Supreme Court docket No. 16-1466, caption and proceedings — "Mark Janus, Petitioner v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31, et al."; lower court Seventh Circuit No. 16-3638; petition filed June 6, 2017; granted Sept. 28, 2017. https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/16-1466.html [^100]: MAPE, "What is MAPE?" (stewards' manual chapter) — "an independent union representing approximately 18,000 primarily State of Minnesota professional employees."; the General Professional Unit; "In 1980, state professional employees elected to decertify their association with AFSCME"; the PAC "screens, endorses and supports candidates for state office". https://mape.org/book/export/html/1686 [^101]: Laws of Minnesota 1971, Extra Session, ch. 33, sec. 5, subd. 5 — public employees "shall have the right to request and be allowed dues check off for the employee organization of their selection", except an organization that has lost the right; no fair-share provision in the 1971 text. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1971/1/33 [^102]: Laws of Minnesota 1984, ch. 462, sec. 7 [179A.06], subd. 3, fair share fee — fee equal to regular dues less members-only benefits; "In no event shall the fair share fee exceed 85" percent of dues; written notice to the director, employer and employees; challenges within 30 days; burden on the representative; escrow. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1984/0/462/ [^103]: *Abood v. Detroit Board of Education*, 431 U.S. 209, argued Nov. 9, 1976, decided May 23, 1977, syllabus — agency-shop charges valid insofar as they finance collective bargaining, contract administration and grievance adjustment; public employment does not change the analysis; remedies for objectors. https://law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/431/209 [^104]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.06, subd. 2 (2026), right to organize — employees "have the right not to form and join such organizations."; secret-ballot designation of an exclusive representative; confidential employees of the state, courts and university excluded from bargaining; supervisory organizations' affiliation limits. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.06 [^105]: House Research Department, Bill Summary, S.F. 1384, first unofficial engrossment (May 2, 2023), "Liability" — a subdivision "establishing a defense to claims or actions based on agency or fair share fees against a public employer, union, or any of its employees or agents", including pending claims; also payroll deduction, access and majority verification sections. https://www.house.mn.gov/hrd/bs/93/SF1384.pdf [^106]: Laws of Minnesota 2023, ch. 53, art. 11, secs. 10–20, as read for this portal — amendments to § 179A.03, subds. 14, 18, 19; § 179A.06, subd. 6; § 179A.07, subds. 1, 6, 8, 9; § 179A.12, subds. 2a, 6, 11; no section adding a fair-share liability subdivision to § 179A.06 was found in the chapter text. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2023/0/53/ [^107]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.06, subd. 6 (2012), dues check off — "Public employees have the right to request and be allowed dues check off for the exclusive representative."; in the absence of one, for the organization of their choice; historical version. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/2012/cite/179A.06 [^108]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.06, subd. 6 (2026), payroll deduction, authorization, and remittance — deduction for the exclusive representative "and its associated political fund under section" 10A.12; employer reliance on the union's certification of a signed authorization; authorization effective until the union reports cancellation; deductions within 30 days; indemnification; disputes as unfair labor practices. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.06 [^109]: Laws of Minnesota 2023, ch. 53, art. 11, sec. 13, amending § 179A.06, subd. 6 — heading changed from "Dues checkoff" to "Payroll deduction, authorization, and remittance"; the certification, electronic-signature, cancellation, timing and indemnification provisions as enacted. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2023/0/53/ [^110]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.03, subd. 1 (2026), general — "For the purposes of sections 179A.01 to 179A.25, the terms defined in this section have the meanings given them"; the section contains definitions only, subds. 1 to 20. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.03 [^111]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.07, subd. 4 (2026), other communication — where an exclusive representative is certified, "the employer shall not meet and negotiate or meet and confer with any employee or group of employees who are in that unit except through the exclusive representative", with exceptions for work-assignment advice and postsecondary policy communication. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.07 [^112]: *Abood v. Detroit Board of Education*, 431 U.S. 209 (1977), syllabus, second holding — "a union's expenditures for ideological causes not germane to its duties as a collective-bargaining representative" must be financed from charges paid by employees "who do not object to advancing such causes and who are not coerced into doing so." https://law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/431/209 [^113]: *Harris v. Quinn*, No. 11-681 (2014), opinion of the Court, Part IV and conclusion — *Abood* not extended to partial public employees; the First Amendment "prohibits the collection of an agency fee from personal assistants in the Rehabilitation Program who do not want to join or support the union."; reversed in part. https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/11-681 [^114]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.54, subd. 2 (2026), rights of individual providers and participants — providers "shall be considered, by virtue of this section," executive branch state employees for PELRA; not public employees for any other purpose; "are not state employees for purposes of section 3.736"; chapter 179A applies regardless of part-time status. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.54 [^115]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.54, subds. 4, 6, 7 and 8 (2026) — no agreement may interfere with participants' rights to select, hire, direct, supervise and terminate providers; "Strikes prohibited." under § 179A.18 as for essential employees; interest arbitration under § 179A.16; a single statewide unit. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.54 [^116]: Legislative Subcommittee on Employee Relations, memo, "Minnesota Management and Budget and SEIU Healthcare Minnesota contract summary" (Mar. 11, 2015) — "On August 26, 2014, the Bureau of Mediation Services certified union election results" and recognized SEIU Healthcare as exclusive representative; the contract effective July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2017. https://www.ser.mn.gov/Meetings/2015/SERmemo03112015.pdf [^117]: Legislative Subcommittee on Employee Relations memo (Mar. 11, 2015), economic terms — minimum hourly rate of $10.75 from July 1, 2015 and $11.00 from July 1, 2016; paid time off at one hour per 52 worked; $250,000 to the Training and Orientation Committee; "approximately 27,000 individual providers"; cost "estimated at $16.2 million"; a ratifying bill required. https://www.ser.mn.gov/Meetings/2015/SERmemo03112015.pdf [^118]: *Janus v. AFSCME Council 31*, No. 16-1466 (2018), opinion of the Court, Part VII — no agency fee or other payment may be deducted from a nonmember's wages "unless the employee affirmatively consents to pay"; waiver must be shown by clear and compelling evidence; *Abood* "was wrongly decided and is now overruled." https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/16-1466 [^119]: Supreme Court docket No. 16-1466, entry of Jan. 19, 2018 — "Brief amici curiae of States of New York, Alaska Connecticut Delaware Hawaii Iowa Kentucky Maine Maryland Massachusetts Minnesota New Mexico New Jersey North Carolina Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island Vermont Virginia and Washington and the District of Columbia filed." https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/16-1466.html [^120]: Supreme Court docket No. 16-1466, entry of Dec. 6, 2017 and party list — "Brief amici curiae of Employees of the State of Minnesota Court System filed."; counsel of record listed at an Arlington, Virginia address. https://www.supremecourt.gov/docket/docketfiles/html/public/16-1466.html [^122]: MPR News, Tom Scheck, "Right-to-Work on the ropes" (Mar. 20, 2012) — the Senate majority leader's statement that the votes were not there in either house; the author would not force a floor vote; the House version had not received a hearing; the bill's path through Jobs and Judiciary committees. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2012/03/20/right-to-work-on-the-ropes [^123]: Laws of Minnesota 2013, ch. 128 (S.F. No. 778), caption and structure — article 1, Family Child Care Providers Representation Act, §§ 179A.50–179A.53; article 2, individual providers of direct support services, § 179A.54 and § 256B.0711; article 3, appropriations. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2013/0/128/ [^124]: Laws of Minnesota 2013, ch. 128, art. 1, sec. 3 [179A.52], subd. 1 — family child care providers "shall be considered, by virtue of this section, executive branch state employees" for PELRA only; not state employees for § 3.736; chapter 179A applies regardless of part-time status; "Family child care providers shall not have the right to strike." https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2013/0/128/ [^125]: Laws of Minnesota 2013, ch. 128, art. 1, sec. 3, subds. 2–5 — a single statewide unit of providers with an active registration under chapter 119B within 12 months; monthly lists compiled by the commissioner of human services from July 1, 2013; list access on a showing of 500 supporters; mail-ballot elections on a 30 percent showing. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2013/0/128/ [^126]: Laws of Minnesota 2013, ch. 128, art. 2, sec. 1 [179A.54] — individual providers of direct support services as PELRA state employees; the scope of bargaining tied to § 256B.0711; participants' rights preserved; strikes prohibited; interest arbitration as for essential employees; list access from September 1, 2013 and elections from October 1, 2013. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2013/0/128/ [^127]: Laws of Minnesota 2013, ch. 128, art. 1, sec. 6, and art. 2, sec. 4, expiration — sections 1 to 4 of article 1 expire June 30, 2017 if no exclusive representative has been certified by that date; article 2 likewise, provided the commissioner of human services compiled the lists by September 1, 2013. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2013/0/128/ [^128]: Laws of Minnesota 2013, ch. 128, art. 3, sec. 1, appropriations — "$1,010,000 in fiscal year 2014 and $890,000 in fiscal year 2015 are appropriated from the general fund to the commissioner of human services for the purposes of this act." https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2013/0/128/ [^129]: Office of the Revisor of Statutes, bill status, S.F. 778 (88th Legislature, 2013) — four Senate authors and twelve House authors listed; Senate passage 35–32 on May 15, 2013 after tabling votes; House votes to take from the table 71–59 and passage 68–66 on May 20, 2013; approval May 24; chapter 128. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/88/2013/0/SF/778 [^130]: Laws of Minnesota 2013, ch. 128, enactment lines — "Presented to the governor May 22, 2013"; "Signed by the governor May 24, 2013, 1:58 p.m." https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2013/0/128/ [^131]: Office of Governor Mark Dayton, news release, "Governor Dayton issues executive order calling for union election among child care providers" (Nov. 15, 2011), archived by the Legislative Reference Library — Executive Order 11-31; a mail-ballot election run by the Bureau of Mediation Services among licensed, registered, subsidized providers; a union to meet and confer with the commissioners; voluntary membership. https://www.leg.mn.gov/docs/2018/other/181224/governor/newsroom/index8b74.htm [^132]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.50 (2025) — Revisor's entry: "179A.50 MS 2016 [Expired, 2013 c 128 art 1 s 6]"; history 2013 c 128 art 1 s 1. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.50 [^133]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.52 (2025) — Revisor's entry: "179A.52 MS 2016 [Expired, 2013 c 128 art 1 s 6]"; history 2013 c 128 art 1 s 3. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.52 [^134]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.54, subds. 11–12 (2026) — the Home Care Orientation Trust, added 2023 c 61 art 1 s 1, and the Minnesota Caregiver Retirement Fund Trust, added 1Sp2025 c 9 art 2 s 1, each a joint labor-management trust funded by the State under a collective bargaining agreement; history 2013 c 128 art 2 s 1 onward. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.54 [^135]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.12, subd. 1 (2026), certification continued — organizations holding recognition "on the effective date of Extra Session Laws 1971, chapter 33" certified until decertified; teacher organizations with a majority on a teachers' council under Minnesota Statutes 1969, § 125.22, certified for all teachers of the district. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.12 [^136]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.12, subd. 1a (2026), obtaining elections — certification election on a petition that at least 30 percent of a proposed unit wish representation; representation election against an incumbent on the same showing; decertification election on a petition by employees that 30 percent wish to be unrepresented. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.12 [^137]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.12, subds. 7–10 (2026) — secret ballot election on site or by mail as the commissioner determines; a space for no representation; absentee ballots; runoff between the two highest; certification "upon receiving a majority of those votes cast". https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.12 [^138]: Laws of Minnesota 1973, ch. 635, sec. 1, amending § 179.63, subd. 6 — "Exclusive representative" redefined as an organization designated by "a majority of those" votes cast in the appropriate unit, replacing "more than 50 percent" of the unit. https://revisor.mn.gov/laws/1973/0/635 [^139]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.12, subd. 2a (2026), majority verification procedure — a petition "must include over 50 percent of the employees in the proposed appropriate unit"; on verification the commissioner "must certify the employee organization" as exclusive representative "without ordering an election under this section"; added 2023 c 53 art 11 s 18. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.12 [^140]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.12, subd. 6 (2026), authorization signatures — dated signatures required; privileged and available to the commissioner only; an electronic signature under § 325L.02 is valid; "An authorization signature is valid for one year following the signature date."; amended 2023 c 53 art 11 s 19. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.12 [^141]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.12, subd. 2 (2026) — "MS 2022 [Repealed, 2023 c 53 art 11 s 59]"; the former certification on joint request of employer and organization; replaced by subd. 2a. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.12 [^142]: Laws of Minnesota 2023, ch. 53, art. 11, sec. 14, amending § 179A.07, subd. 1 — inherent managerial policy includes selection and direction of personnel, with the words "and the number" of personnel struck. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2023/0/53/ [^143]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.07, subd. 8 (2026), bargaining unit information — within 20 calendar days of hire the employer must give the exclusive representative the employee's name, title, worksite, home address, phone numbers, personal cell, date of hire and personal e-mail; the whole unit's data every 120 days; separations reported within 20 days; added 2023 c 53 art 11 s 16. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.07 [^144]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.07, subd. 9 (2026), access — a 30-minute meeting with each new hire within 30 days on paid time; ten days' notice of orientations; e-mail to unit members on bargaining, grievances and union governance; meetings in employer facilities; "a meeting in a government building cannot be for supporting or opposing any candidate for partisan political office"; added 2023 c 53 art 11 s 17. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.07 [^145]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.03, subd. 14 (2026), public employee — exclusions (1)–(13), with paragraph (b) making public employees, regardless of the temporary and student exclusions, school and MnSCU replacement hires, instructors of record teaching "one class for more than three credits in a fiscal year, or (ii) two or more credit-bearing classes", and University of Minnesota student workers; amended 2023 c 53 art 11 s 10. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.03 [^146]: Office of the Revisor of Statutes, bill status, S.F. 3035 (93rd Legislature, 2023), "Omnibus Jobs, Economic Development, Labor, and Industry appropriations" — Senate passage 35–31 on Apr. 14, 2023; House passage 69–61 on Apr. 24; motions to reject the conference report failed 33–34 on May 15 and 16; Senate adoption and repassage 34–32 on May 16; House repassage 70–61; approval May 24, 2023; chapter 53. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bills/93/2023/0/SF/3035 [^147]: Laws of Minnesota 2023, ch. 53, caption and enactment lines — "An act relating to state government; establishing a biennial budget for jobs, labor, and economic development"; "Presented to the governor May 23, 2023"; "Signed by the governor May 24, 2023, 9:01 a.m." https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/2023/0/53/ [^148]: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, "Justice Department Sues Minneapolis Public Schools for Racial Discrimination Against Teachers" (Dec. 10, 2025) — suit "filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota"; an agreement that "classifies teachers for involuntary reassignment, layoff, and reinstatement" by underrepresented status and prioritizes Black Men Teach Fellows; Title VII. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-minneapolis-public-schools-racial-discrimination-against-teachers [^149]: Minnesota record, PELRA regime folder, *Converging Timelines 2013–2026* (Mar. 15, 2026), cast of characters and timeline entries — *US v. Minneapolis Public Schools* described as challenging "Article 15, Black Men Teach MOA, BIPOC salary enhancements (filed Dec. 9, 2025)"; the March 8–25, 2022 strike; named-official entries this portal does not adopt. [^150]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.07, subd. 2 (2026), meet and negotiate — the employer's obligation to meet and negotiate in good faith on grievance procedures and terms and conditions of employment, compelling no concession; the duty supersedes contrary charter, ordinance or resolution provisions. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.07 [^151]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.20, subds. 1–2 (2026), contracts — a written contract containing the negotiated terms or arbitration decision; "No provision of a contract shall be in conflict with" the laws of Minnesota or rules, charters, ordinances and resolutions consistent with the chapter. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.20 [^153]: Minn. Stat. § 10A.12, subd. 1 (2026), political funds — an association other than a political committee or party unit may not contribute more than $750 in a calendar year to candidates, local candidates, political committees or party units, or make approved expenditures over $750, except through a political fund. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/10A.12 [^154]: Minn. Stat. § 10A.12, subd. 2 (2026), commingling — "The contents of an association's political fund may not be commingled with other funds or with the personal funds of an officer or member of the association or the fund."; separate depository above $1,500 for candidate influence or $5,000 for ballot questions. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/10A.12 [^155]: Minn. Stat. § 10A.12, subd. 3 (2026), treasurer — "An association that has a political fund must elect or appoint a treasurer of the political fund." https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/10A.12 [^156]: Minn. Stat. § 10A.12, subd. 5 (2026) — an association may, if not prohibited by other law, deposit money derived from dues or membership fees into its political fund; history through 2021 c 31 art 4 s 19, 20. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/10A.12 [^157]: Education Minnesota, "Political Action Committee" (EdMNVotes) — the PAC as "a group of educators from across the state"; "not affiliated with any political party"; delegates "vote at Education Minneaota's annual business meeting to assess PAC dues."; regular dues do not fund it and members may opt out; endorsements for "84,000 educators"; a board appointed by the president and approved by the executive committee. https://educationminnesota.org/advocacy/EdMNVotes/Political-Action-Committee [^158]: Women's March Minnesota – Action Fund, "MEDIA ADVISORY: No Kings Twin Cities Announces Lineup for March 28" (Mar. 18, 2026) — rally at the State Capitol on Saturday, March 28 from 12:00 to 3:30 p.m.; organizations named including the AFL-CIO, SEIU and AFT; speakers including the presidents of those three, the Attorney General, the Lieutenant Governor and the mayor of St. Paul. https://www.womensmarchmn.com/blog/media-advisory-no-kings-twin-cities-announces-lineup-for-march-28/3/18/2026 [^159]: Minnesota Department of Employee Relations, *Commissioner's Task Force on PELRA* (Nov. 1981), purpose, process and Issue IA — eighteen members appointed by the commissioner, meetings of Sept. 28, Oct. 13 and Oct. 28, 1981; recommendation of a meet-and-confer rather than meet-and-negotiate relationship for supervisory and confidential employees and adoption of the NLRA definitions. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/docs/pre2003/other/820216.pdf [^160]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.03, subd. 8 (2026), exclusive representative — an employee organization certified by the commissioner under § 179A.12 "to meet and negotiate with the employer on behalf of all employees in the appropriate unit." https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.03 [^161]: Laws of Minnesota 1984, ch. 462, sec. 7 [179A.06], subd. 2 — "Confidential employees of the state and the University of Minnesota are excluded from bargaining."; other confidential and supervisory employees and principals may form their own organizations; affiliation limits for supervisory organizations. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1984/0/462/ [^162]: Minn. Stat. § 179A.12, subd. 8 (2026), ballot — as many representative candidates as have shown 30 percent support; "The ballots shall contain a space for employees to indicate that no representation is desired."; absentee ballots provided and counted. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/179A.12 [^163]: Laws of Minnesota 1976, ch. 102 (H.F. 2244), an act relating to public employment labor relations; providing for determination of the fair share fee — sec. 2, amending Minn. Stat. 1974, § 179.65, subd. 2: nonmembers may be required to pay a fee, but in no event shall the fee exceed 85 percent of the regular membership dues; approved March 31, 1976. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/laws/1976/0/Session+Law/Chapter/102