By Rep. Paul Anderson
Ballots for a child-care unionization vote were mailed out last week by the state. Providers who cared for children receiving state child care assistance within the past year were supposed to be allowed to vote. However, it now appears that only those providers who received state payments in December were on the list of eligible voters. Ballots are due back to the Bureau of Mediation Services by the end of the month.
According to the legislative intent, nearly 2,400 providers should have been eligible to vote in the election, which has been controversial ever since the bill passed in 2013. With this new twist that only those who received payments in December are eligible, I’m not sure how many actual ballots were sent out. Even if all the original 2,400 had voted, that still represents only about one-third of all licensed child-care providers in Minnesota. In other states where similar legislation has been passed, low voter turnout has been a factor.
I have visited with very few providers in our district who are in favor of this unionization vote. It will, in all likelihood, raise costs for child care and result in those joining the union having to pay dues, which could run between $300 and $900 per year. If approved, AFSCME would be the bargaining unit. It doesn’t appear as if these workers would be eligible for benefits such as state health insurance.
It took nearly three years to get the necessary number of signatures to require this vote. I don’t see any benefit to having private businesses become part of a public employee union. The cost for all child care will probably increase, and it may have the unintended consequence of lowering the number of providers who will accept children with the state subsidy. We are already facing severe shortages in child care, especially for infant children. And I fear this is just adding to the problem of too many regulations placed on our providers.
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Several legislators held a series of ag roundtables in Alexandria and Crookston last week. At the gathering in Alex, at the community and technical college, several instructors from the Adult Farm Business Management program gave updates. Additional funding provided by the Legislature last year has enabled more instructors to be hired, which should help to alleviate the expected increased work load caused by the declining farm economy. Bill Januszewski, who heads the program in Alex, told those in attendance, “The farm crisis is coming.” He went on to say that it’s difficult to come up with cash flows for the coming year that show any kind of profit. He mentioned that dairy, with milk prices in the $15 range, is showing especially tight margins and in many cases, projections of an actual loss in 2016.
We also received an update from the Minnesota Board of Animal Health on the Avian Flu that ravaged our turkey flocks last year. Over 100 farms were hit, resulting in the loss of over nine million birds. State officials feel they are better prepared if another outbreak should hit this spring. A major expansion of the poultry testing lab in Willmar is expected to be completed by August, which will allow testing for the disease to be done on site in Willmar, instead of samples having to be sent to St. Paul.
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