The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, or MnSCU system will send layoff notices to 6,000 employees Friday if it can’t work out a deal to get access to its money in a state government shutdown. 

St. Cloud State University’s assistant director of Human Resources Mary Bongers says that notice, if necessary, will be sent to approximately 500 members of several unions at SCSU including: 360 members of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME union, and 100 members of the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees, or MAPE union. The remaining 40 notifications will be sent to members of the Middle Management Association, Commissioners Plan and Nurses Association. The St. Cloud Technical College is also part of the MnSCU system and has employees in many state unions.

The MnSCU Board of Trustees held an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss the implications of a shutdown. Chief Financial Officer Laura King says the system has enough money in state accounts to keep operating but might not be able to access it in a shutdown. She says she’s confident the system will reach a deal with the state budget department to keep processing MnSCU’s money during a shutdown.

But if the deal isn’t reached by Friday, the layoff notices will go out. If there’s no deal at all, she says, the system could shut down July 1.