Eagan Layoffs Take Personal Toll

Brenda Byrne and Gary Lundquist both fix traffic signals for the Transportation Department. Byrne was layed off, while Lundquist was one of the three traffic signal maintenance workers retained by MnDot out of a department of 50.

"It's going to inconvenience a lot of people," Byrne said. "If you've ever been at a flashing light in a lot of traffic, you're going to be swearing."

Eagan has 72 state government workers like Byrne and Lundquist, according to 2010 data from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Layoffs can take a personal toll.

"It screws up my summer," Lundquist said. "I can't take any vacation. I can't even take a day off."

But Byrne said, "I just get to stay home and don't spend money, don't go anywhere, don't do..."

Eagan resident Duane Butorac was on the Capitol steps Thursday evening to protest the impending government shutdown. He works for the Minnesota Department of Transportation as a transportation generalist—plowing roads, painting the roads and everything in between—and is being laid off during the shutdown.

He said he showed up at the Capitol to make a statement.

“You’ve got to put ideologies aside and do what’s good for the state,” he said.

IF YOU'VE BEEN LAID OFF

For the nearly 190,000 Minnesotans who are unemployed, here are some important notes:

People who are unemployed will still receive benefits. But for those who lose their jobs and want to apply for benefits, they can still do so but will have to apply online. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development put together a guide -- for state workers who will lose their jobs, as well as anyone else who becomes unemployed during the shutdown -- for how to apply online. According to the site, it’s possible to apply by phone, but wait times could be long. The number is 651-296-3644 for the Twin Cities area, and 1-866-814-1252 for the hearing impaired. More details on applying by phone can be found here.

To avoid overloading the site, they also created a schedule for people who are laid off and need to apply for benefits. It shows who should call and when, determined by your social security number.

Of the 49 WorkForce Centers in the state that help people who are unemployed find jobs, 12 will remain open with scaled-back services, said Monte Hanson, spokesman for DEED.  He said the following centers that remain open are in Anoka County, Cloquet, Duluth, Grand Rapids, Hibbing, International Falls, New Ulm, Ramsey County-North St. Paul, Virginia, Cottage Grove, Forest Lake and Woodbury. These centers are exceptions because they share offices with local government such as cities or counties, Hanson said.

Unemployed workers may have a harder time searching for jobs. Hanson said MnWorks.net, which lets people search for jobs online, will not be usable during the shutdown. The data tool on DEED’s website will also be down, as the site’s tech workers are employed by the state.

According to data not seasonally adjusted, Minnesota had an unemployment rate of 6.4 percent in May, the most recent data available. The data show 189,042 people in Minnesota were unemployed in May, with the state’s total labor force at close to three million.