Dayton criticizes GOP legislators over opposition to child care worker unionization

Gov. Mark Dayton continued his criticism of Republican legislators, who have a hearing Thursday evening to discuss the possibility of in-home child care workers joining a labor union.

House and Senate committees plan to hear testimony from both sides of an effort to unionize Minnesota's in-home daycare providers.

Dayton is looking into the issue and whether to authorize a vote among providers. Dayton told reporters that he still thinks the hearing is a waste of time and money.

"For something that hasn't even happened yet, where I haven't made any decision yet, where I haven't taken any action yet," Dayton said.

"I think some of them are just frankly whipping this up into a political frenzy to serve their own political purposes. I think that's unfortunate and unfair, and I'm not going to support that activity."

Republicans say they're holding a hearing because lawmakers and their constituents have questions about the legality of such a union.

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