Legislators hold hearing on unionizing child care

WAITE PARK, Minn. (AP) _ Legislators heard from both opponents and supporters of unionizing in-home child care during a House committee hearing in Waite Park Monday night.

Proponents say a union would enable the 11,000 in-home providers in Minnesota to negotiate with state officials on child care subsidies or regulation of providers. But, opponents told lawmakers a union could drive up the cost of child care and give providers less say on how they run their business.

The St. Cloud Times reports Heather Falk told legislators that initially she was curious about the unionization effort, researched the issue and found such unions in other states have done little to help providers there.

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