South St. Paul (December 5, 2011) — Today a Ramsey County court will hear testimony regarding a lawsuit filed to stop Minnesota family child care providers from having a choice in whether or not to form a union. Republicans in the Minnesota Senate joined the lawsuit last week, further indicating the partisan nature of this maneuver.
SEIU Local 284 released the following statement from Executive Director Carol Nieters:
“In just two days, the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services will comply with an executive order signed by Governor Mark Dayton on November 15, 2011. There is no doubt — the Governor’s order and the coming election are well within his authority and are in the best interest of Minnesota’s family child care providers who have been asking for a voice in St. Paul since 2005.
“The lawsuit filed and later joined by the Republican-controlled Senate committee are attempts to prevent Minnesotans from having a voice in their industry and their government. Those who have signed on as plaintiffs are pawns in a partisan game designed to remove the rights of Minnesota’s workers to bargain collectively, a right won over and over again throughout this state. The leaders of this game are not family child care providers themselves, but political operatives who have time and again failed to convince Minnesotans of their radical rhetoric.
“In this partisan grandstanding and courtroom theatrics, it is Minnesota’s children who are hurt. Today, family child care providers throughout our state will open their doors and their hearts — working hard from the moment the first child walks into their home until the last one goes home. Those children deserve the very best. They deserve a voice in St. Paul working for a child care industry of highest quality.”
For an entire report on the child care crisis in Minnesota, click here.
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