Childcare unionization update: Governor Dayton believes that unionizing daycare workers will provide better care for our children Last week, Governor Dayton officially issued an executive order that will authorize a vote for approximately 4,000 childcare providers. The purpose of this election is to decide whether or not to join a union. Childcare providers who oppose unionization expressed concern over the fairness of the process and the potential for undue union influence in carrying out the election. While the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services (BMS) will oversee the election, Dayton’s executive order allows the state to in effect outsource the job to an outside group paid for by the unions. The Minneapolis regional office of a company that has conducted several childcare union elections in other states will administer the election. These concerns and several others were brought up in a hearing held Monday by the House of Representatives Commerce Committee that featured the BMS Commissioner, several childcare providers, and the director of the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association (MLFCCA). The Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association (MLFCCA) sent a letter to Governor Dayton on November 18, 2011, expressing their myriad of concerns about the union vote. While MLFCCA is neutral on the issue of union representation for licensed family childcare providers, the association called on Dayton to retract and revise his executive order to allow all 11,000 providers to vote on the unionization efforts, not just those home daycare providers who accept childcare subsidies from the state. Read the entire letter here, and review all of our coverage on the childcare unionization stories here.
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Give to the Max Day happy hour wrap up
A great crowd of Freedom Foundation of Minnesota supporters came together last Wednesday night for happy hour in celebration of our many freedoms. We sincerely thank all those that contributed to the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota on Give to the Max Day last week. Your donation will help us continue our mission of promoting freedom, transparency, and accountability in our state. If you didn’t get a chance to give on Nov. 16, you can still help us out by visiting the donation page on our website!
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Subsidies on Brainerd Airport Radar Screen as Delta Prepares Depature
Since Delta announced the end of flights to Brainerd, the future of this north central Minnesota airport has remained in a holding pattern. One thing, however, appears all but certain: taxpayers will begin subsidizing flights there, even as an air service waiting in the wings claims it could provide passenger service at no cost to taxpayers whatsoever. Learn more in our latest Accountability Alert.
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Candidate Dayton to AFSCME: “I will give you my support.”
For perspective on Governor Dayton’s relationship with AFSCME, one of the two unions driving childcare unionization, take a look at what candidate Dayton said in a February 2010 speech to AFSCME Council 5. The following quote is from the end of his remarks. “You’re the first union to endorse me, the most politically active in the state of Minnesota. And because I like you consider myself a public servant who serves the people of Minnesota and I promise you that with your help when I’m elected governor of this state and I will need your help and that of every other AFSCME Council 5 member and your family and your friends to win the primary and the general. You’ll have a friend in the governor’s office; you’ll have an ally in the governor’s office. You won’t need these days on the hill anymore because if you give me your support this year, then for the next 8 years I will give you my support. And then you can go back out throughout the state of Minnesota and do the jobs you all do, and we will all together make a better Minnesota.” Watch the entire speech here.
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Happy Thanksgiving!
While we pause with family and friends this Thursday to reflect on our many blessings, let us not forget to give thanks for the freedom and opportunity we have to live in this great nation. While much of the daily news focuses on green, corruption and the deep political divide, we are reminded of the exceptional nation we are blessed to call home. Let us also remember to pray for wisdom for all of our leaders. While we sometimes disagree, we remain devoted to this great land and the bountiful blessings it bestows upon us daily. Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota! |