MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As the battle over Minnesota’s projected $5.2 billion budget deficit intensifies, Teamsters Local 320 – representing some 11,500 public employees throughout Minnesota’s 87 counties – has begun an advertising campaign asking lawmakers to halt plans to balance the budget by firing public employees, neglecting street maintenance and cutting education, rather than require the richest Minnesotans to pay their fair share of taxes.
“The war on working families and the middle class must stop,” stated Local 320 Principal Officer Sue Mauren. “As Governor Dayton has said again and again, it’s time for the rich in Minnesota to pay their fair share of the bills. And it’s time for some legislators to stop blaming public employees – the teachers, trash collectors, police and firefighters, public defenders, university workers and airport workers – for America’s recession when they should be blaming the real culprits on Wall Street and K Street.”
The ad campaign, which runs into the 3rd week of May when legislators are scheduled to end their regular session, includes three elements.
The first print ad, which appears in bus shelters and Twin Cities area newspapers, features a University of Minnesota student weighed down with bundles of cash, with the caption “College Shouldn’t Be This Expensive.”
The second print ad, which also appears in bus shelters and Twin Cities area newspapers, features two pictures – one of wealthy people moving from their private jet to a limousine – and one of a group of school children gathered around a single computer. The caption reads: “Hey Minnesota Legislators… They pay their fair share of taxes… or we pay with our futures.”
The third ad, which appears on billboards throughout the Twin Cities, features a picture of a large pothole with the caption: “Defeat The Pothole Protection Act”
“The bottom line is that the proposed state budget cuts amount to real cuts and real pain for real people,” said Reynoso. “That’s our message to legislators.”