St. Michael Day Care Provider, Others Pushing Back on Unionization

For more than six years, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) have been exploring offering the option of a union to more than 4,400 child care providers in Minnesota.

According to Gov. Mark Dayton’s executive order, now is the time to take the vote on whether to move ahead with that idea or not.

AFCSME and the SEIU are to poll 4,400 providers who are using or are eligible to use state money to augment their child care programming, or CCAP.

Only three states have been able to do what Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is asking the state to explore: unionization of thousands of child care providers, many of whom work independently from their homes.

The problem? There are more than 11,300 child care providers in the state. Some run independent day care facilities from their own home. Others have opened locally based businesses, such as Especially for Children in Albertville, or New Horizons locations across the Twin Cities metro.

Because the vote will be limited to just over one-third of all those who offer the service of child care, the issues isn’t being decided by the people, said Hollee Seville, who operates from her home in St. Michael, near Gutzwiller Park.

“Union membership, as outlined by the governor, might be voluntary, but union representation will not. It will be limited to those providers who accept CCAP. This is an attack on our rights as self-employed business owners,” Seville said.

Seville, who also serves as President and Training Coordinator of the Wright County Family Child Care Association (WCFCCA), joined 10 other providers and attorney Tom Nevnew at the Minnesota State Capitol on Monday, as they announced an injunction to stop the election, which is set to happen in early December.

Becky Swanson, a Lakeville-based provider, said at that press conference she feels she would lose her voice when negotiating with the state, and that all power would go to the union. If the majority of those who aren’t eligible to join the union aren’t heard, a minority is making a decision for all providers in the state.

Dan McGrath of the Minnesota Majority, a conservative group that is providing financial backing for the lawsuit, called Dayton’s order an “overreach.”

Sen. Amy Koch, R-Buffalo, agreed. The majority leader in the Senate backed her party’s request for hearings in the state Legislature.

Locally, owners are siding with the Republicans on this one, regardless of political affiliation.

“When they [union reps] came to my door, they did not clearly state who they were until I specifically asked if they were from the union. They wanted me to sign a card stating only that I wanted more information. Anyone who signed that card, I think, was probably counted as a vote for the union. I just don’t see they can do anything for me. Even if they can lower my insurance premiums, I’d probably be paying the difference in dues,” said Carol Wolff, who owns a day care business in St. Michael near Highwoods Park.

St. Michael-Albertville graduate Rita Vetsch said she’s like a lot of mothers who run in-home day cares, and is able to get insurance benefits via family plan. With so many running day cares under that same model, many simply don’t need benefits arranged by a union.

“Usually you just hear a lot of promises that go unfulfilled, and everything is done for political gain,” Vetsch said. “Parents are the ones who will likely be left paying for it.”

For his part, Dayton has disagreed, and openly argued for the election to majority leaders such as Rep. Kurt Zellers of Maple Grove.

In that later, Dayton said union membership for those outside of the 4,400 who take CCAP–those like Seville, Vetsch and Wolff–would not be forced to join a union, if the vote were to be successful.

He said a lawsuit to stop the election is a waste of time on an issue that has been kicked around for several years.

"It appears that you and other opponents of unions are trying to scare small family providers that a big, bad union and the big, bad government will join forces to ruin child care in Minnesota," Dayton said in a letter to the leaders. "It isn't true.

Still, it’s the idea that a small group will bargain on a statewide basis for a group that has been able to work with local government agencies, particularly the counties, that irks Seville the most.

“Look how much providers have accomplished to date without unionization,” she said. “Contact Gov. Dayton, or your media outlet. Express your opinion. This isn’t something we need.”