Mass. Ballot item eyes unions for day-care workers

The Boston Globe reports:

A little-noticed but well-funded initiative buried near the bottom of the ballot on Election Day would allow unions to organize workers in some 9,000 mom-and-pop day-care centers run out of homes across the state.

The initiative, which has the backing of prominent Democrats including Senator John F. Kerry, is part of a labor campaign to organize hundreds of thousands of day-care workers across the country.

Supporters say the initiative , Question 3 on the ballot, will improve care by stabilizing the day-care labor force and giving the underpaid workers a collective voice to bargain for benefits, training, and higher state subsidies.

Critics fear that union pressure could drive up prices and put health, safety, and education standards on the bargaining table.

A political committee funded by the 1.8-million-member Service Employees International Union plans to run two 30-second television ads in Massachusetts through Election Day and has called a million households with a recorded phone pitch from Kerry. So far, the SEIU has given $1.1 million to the committee, called the Campaign for Our Children's Future, though there is little opposition.

They sure like artificially higher costs in Massachusetts.No wonder the state isn't growing relative to the rest of the country.