OLYMPIA — Directors and employees at many of the state’s licensed child day-care centers won’t be gaining the power to organize into unions this year.
The legislation would have enabled workers and their bosses to vote on joining forces to collectively bargain with the governor on subsidies, training funds and benefits. It failed to clear the state Senate by a March 7 cutoff.
House Bill 2449 passed the House of Representatives on a 70-24 vote Feb. 15.
Service Employees International Union Local 925, one of the state’s most politically effective unions, pressed the case for day-care center workers.
The failed legislation targeted centers where at least one child received state subsidies. This would have affected up to 1,300 of the roughly 2,100 centers across Washington state.
Strongest opposition came from those exempt under the bill: the operators of 10 or more centers, such as the YMCA. Their strong dissent played a role in the legislation’s demise.
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