Poligraph: No certainty on daycare union dues
This week, the Minnesota Senate spent 17 hours debating a bill that would allow some of Minnesota's in-home daycare providers and personal care providers to vote on unionization.
The lengthy debate underscores just how controversial the issue has become. Republicans say Democrats are using the legislation to do favors for the state's two largest unions, AFSCME and SEIU.
Rochester Republican Sen. Carla Nelson opposes the measure, particularly provisions concerning in-home childcare providers.
"This is going to result in higher costs for parents, lower pay for childcare providers, and $8 million in union dues," Nelson said in a press conference this week.
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Details of how the union would work won't be sorted out until the union is formed, so it's hard to say with certainty whether Nelson is right.
The Evidence
Both the House and the Senate have introduced versions of the unionization bill, but only the Senate has voted on it. AFSCME is organizing daycare providers, and says the union would likely negotiate higher childcare subsidies and new regulations with the state.
The legislation would allow licensed and unlicensed in-home daycare providers who take childcare subsidies from the state to vote on whether to unionize. Licensed providers follow state rules and regulations, while unlicensed providers tend to be friends and family members who take care of children informally.
Both groups are eligible to get assistance from the state, and there are about 12,700 such providers registered with the Department of Human Services. If a union forms, providers could opt to be full dues paying participants or decide not to be in the union but pay their fair share of dues. Alternatively, providers could stop taking children who qualify for the state subsidy.
Nelson did not respond to MPR's inquiry, but she's making a case other opponents of unionization have made in the past: it will cost parents and providers. The reasoning goes like this: providers will pass the cost of union dues to the families they take care of. Or, providers will have to eat the cost and make less money as a result. Some providers may stop accepting children eligible for state subsidies to avoid being a member of the union, meaning they will no longer get government dollars for their services.
As for her estimate of how much the union stands to collect in dues, it appears Nelson is multiplying the number of eligible participants - about 12,700 people - by dues paid by providers in other states where unions exist.
Back in December 2011, when the state was last mired in a debate over daycare unionization, MPR News found that daycare union dues in other states ranged from $25 to $50. Nelson appears to be assuming that all 12,700 of the eligible providers are full union members and contribute $50 monthly.
But that ignores the fact that some providers may pay fair-share dues instead, which can't be more than 85 percent of the union's monthly dues. But the fair-share amount wouldn't be sorted out until the union is formed.
It's also possible that monthly dues would be far less than $50 monthly. Donald McFarland, an AFSCME spokesman, says 100 daycare providers in the state have already formed a union (they aren't recognized by the state) and pay $25 a month.
A more conservative estimate by the Minnesota Action Network, a local offshoot of former Sen. Norm Coleman's American Action Network, used the same numbers reported by MPR and found that AFSCME may receive $5 million or more in additional dues.
The Verdict
Nelson's estimate is based on reasonable numbers but is on the high end.
Still, the Legislature is only voting to allow daycare providers to unionize, so it remains to be seen whether those workers would increase their rates to cover union costs, how high dues would be and how many of those providers would opt to pay their fair share.
SOURCES
Minnesota Senate, press conference, May 14, 2013
Minnesota Senate, bill summary SF 778, May 1, 2013
Office of the Legislative Auditor, State Employee Union "Fair Share" Calculations, April 2013
Laura Brod, Minnesota Action Network
Donald McFarland, AFSCME Council 5