MGEC History

Celebrating 50 Years (PPT),   MGEC Presidents (PDF)

The Minnesota Government Engineers Council (MGEC) was formed in 1968 in order to provide advocacy and profession-enhancement services for Professional Engineers in government. The Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers (MSPE) was instrumental in the formation of MGEC, but there is no formal connection with that group at the present time. In 2011, the name was changed to Minnesota Government Engineering Council, to reflect that MGEC includes not only engineers, but also engineering specialists and land surveyors. Initially, MGEC was a voluntary professional association of Professional Engineers who worked for the Highway and Aeronautics Departments of the State of Minnesota and the Hennepin County Highway Department. Both groups of employees were on a meet and confer basis with their respective employers and MGEC provided the informal representation for them. Professional Engineers in other departments of State government also voluntarily associated with MGEC.

In 1979 several significant changes took place. The Professional Engineers who worked for the State Department of Transportation (formerly the Highway and Aeronautics Departments) combined with the Principal Highway Technician Society and together they changed from an informal meet and confer status with the Department of Transportation to a meet and negotiate status. Their first contract was negotiated in the spring of 1979 and became effective as of July 1, 1979, for a two-year period. During the 1980 Legislative Session, the Legislative Commission on Employee Relations (LCER) reorganized all Executive-branch State employees into sixteen separate bargaining units. Through the dedicated efforts of MGEC volunteers, one of these units (Unit #12) was made up exclusively of Professional Engineers and related technical professionals in all applicable State departments. On June 30, 1980, the Bureau of Mediation Services certified MGEC as the exclusive bargaining representative for all State employees assigned to Bargaining Unit #12, the “Professional Engineering” unit.

This Unit was determined to be a “supervisory” unit. Supervisory employees are treated as essential employees who cannot strike but have compulsory binding arbitration rights should the parties be unable to agree on a new labor contract. There are Unit #12 employees in up to fifteen different departments of State government: Administration, Board of Water & Soil Resources, Commerce, Environmental Assistance, Health, Economic Security, Labor and Industry, Military Affairs, Natural Resources, Pollution Control Agency, Public Safety, Public Utilities, Revenue, State Colleges and Universities, and Transportation. Since becoming a state bargaining unit in 1980, MGEC has negotiated labor contracts with the State of Minnesota covering all the employees in Bargaining Unit #12. In 2011 MGEC was renamed the Minnesota Government Engineering Council.