Activity/Organization updates

The LPCR held its first meeting of the legislative session on March 11th.  It called itself to order and the State’s pension managers made reports. The State Board of Investment had a return of 12.3% through the end of the last fiscal year ending in June.  This brings value of the assets of the general employee fund to slightly over $18 billion which, balanced against future liabilities, means that the MSRS fund is 99.8% funded.  In the last legislative session, the future assumed rate of return was reduced to 7% to account for potential future volatility in the market and to err on to a ... Read More >>

Senior leadership at the State of Minnesota, from Minnesota Management and Budget down through the agencies that MGEC members work for, are all reacting and planning for changes that may occur at the federal level.  While there haven’t been any significant actions that have a direct effect on the MGEC as of the time of this writing similar to what federal employees have experienced, State agencies have been directed by MMB to begin conversations with State Unions about potential ramifications through the “meet and confer” model.  This is similar to what happened when COVID disrupted state ... Read More >>

I'm honored to welcome you to 2025 and thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve as your President.  I'm continuing what's become a recent tradition for MGEC of serving my 2nd term as MGEC President.  Our most recent Past Presidents (Dan Sullivan in 2023 and Fernando Nacionales in 2024) also recently served their second terms as President.  Thank you to both of them for their leadership and dedication to serving the MGEC membership! 2025 will definitely be a busy year for MGEC.  We hope to begin negotiating an updated contract with MMB later this year.  We will provide updates as ... Read More >>

We’ve discussed the importance of maintaining a complete and accurate position description (PD), particularly for those employees who are approaching a reallocation as they transition up the job ladder.  But PDs do a lot more than lay a groundwork for reallocations; they provide important information to the employer as they organize and prepare emergency planning. The Department of Health, as an example, is developing its “Plans for Emergency Response and Recovery”, a function of its Incident Command System.  While generally used in emergencies, developing these frameworks prior to the time ... Read More >>

Workplace safety doesn’t encompass only severe or acute hazards such as one might find in an active construction site, for example.  Your employer is required to ensure that your workspace is free from hazards, including hazards arising from ergonomic issues that can lead to long-term issues.  You have rights under the MGEC contract to ensure that ergonomic issues are resolved. From time to time, someone will raise a concern to their immediate supervisor but the concern is not resolved.  This can be extremely frustrating, particularly when it feels like it’s a one-way, dead-end conversation ... Read More >>

The MGEC Board Election Results are in.  Even though we didn’t have any contested races in this cycle, we wanted to maintain the rhythm of the election cycle for several reasons: we want to make sure people know that they can select MGEC leadership every year; and we want the names and bios of MGEC leadership to be visible via the election process itself. Pursuant to MGEC’s Constitution, nominations for Board seats were open in September.  The ballots were electronically distributed only to full MGEC members in October, and the voting window closed the same day as the Federal and State ... Read More >>