Lisa Thompson, president of Child Care Providers Together, an AFSCME Council 5 local, fires up the crowd in the Capitol rotunda during Council 5’s annual lobbying day Feb. 26.
Surrounded by more than a dozen family child-care providers clad in pro-union T-shirts, two state lawmakers unveiled legislation Feb. 25 that would grant collective-bargaining rights to providers who receive subsidies from the State of Minnesota.
The Child Care Collective Bargaining Act, introduced by Sen. Sandy Pappas (DFL-St. Paul) and Rep. Mike Nelson (DFL-Brooklyn Park), could enable about 9,000 home-based providers statewide to join a union – and gain a more powerful voice in decisions that affect their work.
“Family child care providers are much more than babysitters,” Pappas said. “These women deserve respect for doing one of the toughest jobs imaginable – helping raise our children.
“They are professionals who are experienced, smart, dedicated and loving.”
Faced with budget cuts to the state subsidy for child-care services, home-based providers have been working for more than six years to increase their clout at the Capitol by organizing a union.
“We know that parents can’t pay more and providers can’t work for less,” said Lisa Thompson, president of Child Care Providers Together, a local union affiliated with AFSCME Council 5. “The state can help fix that problem by helping home-based providers stay in business. That will give working parents more choices for lower-cost, quality child care.”
Although family child-care providers in 16 states already have a legal right to bargain collectively, providers in Minnesota have faced several roadblocks in the organizing process.
After providers seeking to join Child Care Providers Together presented the state with signed cards seeking union representation, Gov. Mark Dayton directed the Bureau of Mediation Services in November 2011 to conduct a union election among child-care providers.
A court ruling blocked that vote, however, as a judge found it was unclear whether state law granted home-based child-care providers collective bargaining rights. The bill introduced by Pappas and Nelson seeks to move child care out of that legal gray area.
“Collective bargaining will help the State of Minnesota maximize its investment in helping working parents to access quality child care,” Nelson said.
The legislation affects all licensed and unlicensed providers who receive state subsidies from the Child Care Assistance Program. There are currently about 9,000 such providers in Minnesota.
The bill says providers would win collective bargaining rights if a majority sign union authorization cards, or if 30 percent sign cards triggering a union election.
Union Advocate 