Overreaching for Big Labor

The liberal Minnesota Star Tribune takes state Democrats to task for trying to reward union bosses with the forced unionization of Minnesota child care providers:

If a child care provider union comes to pass, some of the $207 million in taxpayer dollars spent annually to help Minnesota families pay for child care will instead be skimmed off as union dues, deposited into the coffers of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

About a third of providers’ inaugural monthly dues of $25 would go to AFSCME’s national organization. In a previous editorial, we asked how this money sent out of state would improve day care here. We’re still waiting for a good answer that doesn’t involve vague assurances about “advocacy” by well-paid national staff.

It’s fitting that much of the Senate’s debate took place in the dark of night. But DFL lawmakers are fooling themselves if they doubt that Minnesotans see this overreaching legislation for what it is: the collection of a campaign IOU by labor interests who worked on the party’s behalf in 2012.