Unions praise governor’s bonding proposal during Working Families Day on the Hill

“Governor Dayton recognizes that despite strong job growth over the last year, we cannot simply rest on our laurels and hope that growth continues,” said Shar Knutson, president of the Minnesota AFL-CIO.

Dayton is requesting $750 million to build roads, bridges and convention centers, repair the crumbling State Capitol and fund other state-backed construction projects across Minnesota.

“Governor Dayton’s jobs and infrastructure bill is a proactive plan that will create 21,000 new private sector jobs," Knutson said. "This is especially good news for workers in the building and construction trades, a sector that has not experienced the same post-recession rebound that other industries have.

“Minnesota will only maintain our economic leadership if we make investments in our future. Governor Dayton recognizes that improving our aging infrastructure is part of that future. We are confident that legislators also recognize the need to create jobs and improve our infrastructure and will send a bill to the Governor’s desk this session.”

The Minnesota AFL-CIO is a labor federation made up of more than 1,000 affiliate unions, representing more than 300,000 working people throughout the state.

Monday’s Day on the Hill has several goals including “to make sure lawmakers follow through on middle class priorities like fairly raising revenue, creating family-supporting jobs, raising the minimum wage, protecting locked-out workers, and supporting organizing,” the federation said.

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