Seeking Greener Pastures, SEIU Swarms Minnesota

Run out of Indiana and Michigan with their newly-passed Right to Work Laws, the SEIU is preying upon Minnesotans for workers to pay unwanted dues.  Jim Ragsdale has the story in the Star Tribune: 

DFL Gov. Mark Dayton and incoming DFL House Speaker Paul Thissen say they are open to the idea of allowing an estimated 15,000-20,000 people the chance to join the Service Employees International Union.

“We know the governor and legislators support workers forming unions,” said Jamie Gulley, president of SEIU Healthcare Minnesota. “We expect a good outcome.”

Sen. Dave Thompson, R-Lakeville, said he sees the DFL wanting to create “a whole bunch more people that we know will vote Democrat.”

“Elections have consequences,” Thompson said, referring to the recent election that swept his party from power inMinnesotaand installed DFL majorities in the House and Senate. The unions “got their guys in office.”

If the law passes and is signed byDayton, it would provide for an election among those eligible, Gulley said. If a union is formed, it would be covered under the public-employee bargaining law, but there would be no right to strike, he said.

The home care unionization effort follows an earlier, failed attempt by SEIU and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees to unionize certain child care workers. That ran afoul of the GOP-controlled Legislature and the courts, which shot downDayton’s executive order that would have allowed workers to vote on unionization. SEIU officials say they have no plan to renew that fight.

But the 2012 election changed the climate for labor legislation inSt. Paul.

The SEIU’s state political fund contributed more than $900,000 in the 2012 election cycle, almost all of it to the DFL Party, affiliated groups and DFL candidates.