Letters from legislators have become the latest point of contention in the continuing debate over whether in-home child care providers should be unionized.

"Republican legislators are spreading lies to scare and bully us not to vote for a union," said pro-union provider Clarissa Johnston of Mounds View, speaking at her home, where she cares for eight children. "These politicians, I think, deserve a timeout.'

She and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, one of the unions organizing providers, cited a letter from Rep. Torrey Westrom, R-Elbow Lake, to a child care provider in his district. He wrote that while only some providers would get to vote on whether to join a union, all would eventually be forced to pay dues and would be subject to "additional regulation."

Johnston and the union note that language in Gov. Mark Dayton's executive order specifically states that "nothing in this order shall be construed to require participation, or the involuntary payment of dues by any family child care provider."

Robert Ellis Sr., who cares for 13 children with his wife, Mary, in their home on St. Paul's East Side, linked the letters to the GOP's aversion to union organizing. "In the same way that Republicans are choosing to stand in the way of Americans' voting rights, they also want to stand in the way of the American people's rights to organize through unions," he said.

Westrom said he should have written in his letter that all providers "may be" required to pay dues, rather than "will be." But he said the issue is unclear, and he called on union officials to commit themselves on that point. "I welcome them to refute, that all of them [providers] will not be compelled to ever have to pay dues without joining," he said.

Dayton issued an executive order in November that set a union election for those providers who are registered to accept children receiving state subsidies -- about 4,300 of 11,000 total providers in the state. A Ramsey County district judge has temporarily blocked the election.

A second legislator, Rep. Tara Mack, R-Apple Valley, said in a letter to a provider that "the governor gave in to union demands and he signed an executive order to unionize day-care providers." Dayton has said that he merely called for an election in which providers could decide for themselves and that the Republicans' objection is blocking the democratic process.

Jim Ragsdale • 651-925-5042