Bill to let in-home day care workers unionize falls short in committee

Author:: BMTN Staff
Publish date:: May 6, 2013

A bill that would let in-home day care workers and personal care attendants join unions failed to pass a Minnesota Senate committee Monday.

The Star Tribune reports two DFLers joined Republican opponents of the measure, resulting in a tie vote. The bill's Senate sponsor, St. Paul DFLer Sandy Pappas, hopes to revive the measure later this week and perhaps send it to the Senate floor with no recommendation.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk says passing the bill is a challenge that he will leave up to proponents of the bill, telling the Star Trib "I’m not going to twist people’s arms to vote for it.”

The bill would allow day care providers with state-subsidized clients to join a union. As MPR reported last week, advocates say union membership would allow the workers to network and lobby the Legislature. Detractors, including some day care operators, worry union dues would drive up costs for parents and families.

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Union members by the hundreds filed into the state Capitol on Monday morning as a group of Senate lawmakers discussed a proposed constitutional amendment that would make it harder for unions to organize. Critics of the bill say it would lower wages and cut benefits for middle-class families. Supporters say it would help businesses create new jobs.

One child care provider who has joined a lawsuit to block a vote to unionize tells Forum Communications' reporter Don Davis that she worries a union would take over all negotiations with state officials, leaving her with no voice of her own. But union supporters say the move to stop the vote is just a ploy by "cheap-labor conservatives" and that unionization would provide better pay and benefits for workers in the industry.