April 3, 2009

OLYMPIA… Today the Senate Ways and Means Committee held a public hearing on Substitute House Bill 1329, which would provide collective bargaining for child care center directors and workers, during which it was announced that several child care workers filed a class action lawsuit against the state.  

In the lawsuit filed in Thurston County Superior Court, the child care center owners claim that the state violated their right to privacy when the Department of Early Learning  and the Washington Association for the Education of Young Children (which operated under a contract with DEL) illegally released the names and personal information of 19,226 private child care workers to the Service Employees International Union, Local 925. 

The lawsuit alleges that the disclosure of personal information by the state agency violated fundamental constitutional rights to privacy and equal protection; violated the Public Records Act, which incorporates the Federal Family Rights and Privacy Act; and represents a breach of contract between the state and child care workers and employers.  

Sen. Jim Honeyford, R-Sunnyside and a member of the Ways and Means Committee, described the allegations, if proven, as “outrageous,” and called on the Attorney General’s Office to launch a full investigation. 

“There are already active lawsuits around union attempts to force child care centers to unionize,” said Honeyford. “For the legislature to move forward with a bill that would put the state at an even greater risk of being sued is financially irresponsible, especially given our current economic situation.” 

Sen. Janéa Holmquist, R-Moses Lake and the lead Republican on the Senate Labor, Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee, agreed. She condemned the release of private information by state agencies, and warned that SHB 1329 would have a similar effect on worker privacy. 

“Employees can already unionize at individual child care centers, but this legislation gives the names and addresses of every child care center worker, manager or owner to any interested union,” said Holmquist. “If members of a state agency took it upon themselves to release this information unlawfully, they should be held accountable, but this bill would only make the problem worse.  

“Child care center owners have promised that the state will be in court on day one defending this bill for violating the Constitutional and statutory rights of workers should it pass.”

The bill would affect owners and employees of licensed child care centers that have at least four slots filled by children covered by a state child care subsidy. It would consider them to be public employees and the governor as the public employer. The bill exempts large child care center chains and the YMCA. 

According to Holmquist and many of the child care workers that testified in committee, the bill will not only violate the rights of workers, it will also end up hurting some of the state’s lower-income families.  

“There is a high likelihood that a number of low-income families will not have service as a result of this bill,” said Holmquist. “As they testified to today, many child care center directors will be forced to drop subsidized children just to avoid unionization. 

“Ultimately, this bill is all about expanding union membership,” said Holmquist. “And that should never come at the expense of workers’ rights or the needs of low-income children.”

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For more information contact Booker Stallworth
at (360) 786-7536 or stallworth.booker@leg.wa.gov.
Please visit our Senate Republican Caucus Web site at www.src.wa.gov.