Dayton: Bills to override local wage, sick rules aim to tamp salaries

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is not a fan of the Republican Legislature’s move to override cities’ wage and sick rules.

“This is about the business community trying to keep wages down in Minneapolis and St. Paul,” the Democratic-Farmer-Labor governor said Wednesday. (Duluth may soon consider a paid leave ordinance as well.)

House and Senate panels have approved bills to negate labor law mandates already approved in both cities. A House version has made it through two committees, while the Senate version has passed one committee. Both still have to pass one or more additional committees before reaching the floor. Republicans have beat back attempts by Democrats to defeat or water down the bills.

Backers of the legislative measures say that allowing each Minnesota city to set its own regulations on minimum wage, mandatory paid leave, scheduling, benefits and working conditions would result in a patchwork of rules across the state. That, supporters say, would make compliance burdensome or impossible.

Read more: http://www.twincities.com/2017/02/08/mark-dayton-minnesota-legislature-bills-wage-sick-rules-effort-to-keep-salaries-down/