Child care providers want all to vote on unionization

Gov. Mark Dayton should "retract and revise" his executive order calling for a limited election to determine if unions should represent in-home child care providers, a state child care advocate told legislators Monday.

Katy Chase, executive director of the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association, an advocacy group representing more than 11,000 in-home providers, said she is concerned that all providers will be affected if unions negotiate on behalf of a smaller group of providers. She told the House Commerce and Regulatory Reform Committee that Dayton should revise his order so that all can vote.

"All providers will be affected by unionization and should have a right to vote," Chase said.

In his executive order, issued last week, Dayton limited the election, and the possible union coverage, to those providers who care for children receiving state child care subsidies. State officials estimated that number at 4,287. Josh Tilsen, commissioner of the state's Bureau of Mediation Services, said he has tentatively scheduled a mail-in vote for December, with ballots to be mailed Dec. 7, returned by Dec. 21, and counted on Dec. 22.

Dayton's order states that it does not require "participation, or the involuntary payment of dues by any family child care provider."

The order states that if the unions win the election, state agencies would "meet and confer" with them on such issues as quality rating systems, training opportunities and funding, reimbursement rates, access to benefits, and the monitoring and evaluating of child care providers.

Tilson, under questioning by committee members, could not say whether any of these issues would affect those providers not voting on unionization.

Chase added that the organization has received "multiple testimonies of deceptive organizing practices" in the unionization effort. "This has made it clear that providers have not received the factual information that need to help them in their decision," she said.

Officials from AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, and SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, which are leading the organization effort, did not appear at the hearing, disappointing Rep. Joe Hoppe, R-Chaska, the chairman. He said he agreed with Chase that all providers should be allowed to vote but that, unlike his Senate counterparts, he had no plans to sue to block Dayton's order from going into effect.