State reaches union agreement for shutdown

On the eve of a possible state government shutdown, state officials announced Thursday that they had reached agreement with all seven public employee unions outlining what benefits their members would get while state offices were closed.Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner Jim Schowalter made the announcement as Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders began their seventh day of day-long budget negotiations to try to avert a Friday state government shutdown.The agreement, which was outlined a week ago but needed to be approved by the unions, would not give laid-off workers payouts for their banked time off or severance packages. However, employee insurance benefits would continue during a shutdown and union workers would return to work after a shutdown with all their benefits intact.Schowalter said Thursday that non-union state employees would be "provided with similar protections under the existing terms of their compensation plans."The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 5, the state's largest public employee union, was among the unions included in the agreement.