Union members gather to lobby for Dayton's bonding bills

About 300 union members gathered at the Minnesota Capitol today to lobby for Gov. Dayton's budget and bonding bills.

The event, sponsored by the AFL-CIO, focused on getting union members back to work. They said Dayton's proposed $1 billion bonding bill that borrows for public works projects will create up to 28,000 jobs.

Russ Jones of Anoka said he's been out of a job for two years. The floor layer said he thinks Dayton's budget plan will protect lower and middle income taxpayers.

"Hopefully, we can get this thing fixed with Mark Dayton and hopefully the rich can get a grip on that the little bit that he's asking will go in a monster, long way in fixing our economy that they messed up," Jones said.

Republican legislators have criticized both Dayton's budget plan and his bonding proposal. They say the state needs to stop spending and make cuts to government programs. They have not released a full budget plan yet.