Key wins for working people in the 2026 Legislative Session

Including historic Workers Compensation benefit increase

As the constitutional deadline to pass legislation passed, Minnesota’s Labor Movement celebrated key legislative victories for working people in the 2026 Legislative Session, including a Minnesota AFL-CIO-led Workers Compensation bill with a historic increase in benefits for disabled workers.

“From more than a billion dollars in job-creating infrastructure, to stabilizing Hennepin County Medical Center, and securing significant benefit increases for disabled workers, the 2026 session was a net positive for working Minnesotans,” said Minnesota AFL-CIO President Bernie Burnham. “While an evenly divided House chamber made passing legislation difficult, Governor Walz and our pro-labor lawmakers went the extra mile to deliver for working people.”

Key wins for Minnesota’s Labor Movement include:

• Minnesota AFL-CIO-led Workers Compensation legislation with a 20% increase in benefits to make life more affordable for workers with a permanent partial disability while expanding the pool of professionals who can diagnose work-related PTSD.

• A $1.2 billion infrastructure bonding bill for roads, bridges, and critical infrastructure that will create thousands of local union construction jobs in communities across Minnesota.

• Shoring up Hennepin County Medical Center’s budget and funding to preserve this vital community resource and jobs for the thousands of Minnesotans who work there.

As important as this year’s legislative accomplishments are for working Minnesotans, lawmakers also preserved 2023’s historic progress without watering down Paid Leave, earned sick and safe time, expanded union freedoms, and more.

“We know that corporate special interests put extreme pressure on lawmakers to turn back the clock on all the progress working people have made at the Capitol,” added Burnham. “We are proud of our labor champions who had workers’ back the entire biennium.”