Dear neighbor,
Today we received some great news from the U.S. Supreme Court in a case based out of Illinois called Harris v. Quinn. The high court ruled that homecare workers in Illinois are not public employees and therefore cannot be forced to join a public employee union and pay union dues.
As you may recall, last fall a federal appeals court had put Minnesota's childcare unionization law passed in 2013 on hold until this case was settled. With it now decided, it is very likely the federal courts in Minnesota will rule the law is unconstitutional for childcare providers.
Currently, a lawsuit called Parrish v. Dayton filed by a childcare provider is before a Minnesota federal appellate court. With the ruling in Harris v. Quinn now the law of the land, we anticipate we’ll have a ruling soon that will overturn the childcare unionization law.
In response to the ruling, I released the following statement:
“The ruling from the Supreme Court today sends a clear signal to Governor Dayton and Democrats in the legislature that they must cease their reckless attempts to force independent childcare providers into a government union. Our children deserve better than to be pawns in a scheme to get more union dues out of hardworking parents,” said Franson, a former childcare provider. “Minnesota parents and childcare providers can now breathe a sigh of relief knowing it's likely that their childcare will not be imperiled by the higher costs and reduced choices of forced unionization.”
You can also watch my floor speech from May of 2013 opposing the childcare unionization law.
If you have any questions about this ruling and what it means for Minnesota, please feel free to contact me.You can send me an e-mail at Rep.Mary.Franson@House.MN or call my office at 651-296-3201. You can also send mail to my office address: 211 State Office Building, 100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul, MN 55155.
Sincerely,
Mary