On Tuesday, February 10, 2026, Donna Blackwell and Tony Kelly visited MGEC members at DOLI in St Paul, bringing with some quite good pizza with. Even though DOLI is one of the state’s smaller agencies, every MGEC member matters, and we were very happy to take questions from our members there!
An issue of significance to MGECers at DOLI is developing a plan to get the agency to implement a student loan reimbursement program. Those at MnDOT are familiar with the problem of having a pilot program in the contract but an agency that refuses to implement it. It took years to get MnDOT to get it off the ground, and that’s the situation we’re now in at DOLI. Identifying forums, tactics, and potential coalitions that will convince agency leadership that implementing something like a student load reimbursement program are done best in person – we appreciate the conversation!
Conversation also included recaps of how healthcare spending affects our overall compensation and identifying a looming crisis of how the 2018 Omnibus Pension and Retirement Act failed to anticipate any level of above-normal inflation. That bill capped cost-of-living increases at 1.5%; as we’re all painfully aware, real inflation is far above that, and the value of our pensions has eroded significantly as a result – that matters whether you’re now retired or hope to be one day! Being aware of that is the first step towards the work required to fix it and discussing it over pizza can serve as that first step.
THANK YOU to new MGEC rep Austin Ziemer who helped to facilitate the event! If you’d like to arrange for an MGEC Pizza Lunch in your work area, contact your Representative or Donna.