Advocates for working families say the child-care crisis is undermining the stability of many households in Ohio.

At this week's meeting of the Ohio Children's Legislative Caucus this week, Chelsea Kiene, director of communications and stakeholder engagement for the group Groundwork Ohio, shared polling that confirmed that child-care challenges have disrupted the jobs of one in three working parents, affecting their workplace attendance and performance. Among those with kids age 5 and younger, Kiene said one in four parents had to cut back on work hours to care for them.

"If the pandemic of the last two years has been a tipping point, then the omicron variant of the past month has really been a breaking point," she said, "especially for parents of children under the age of 5 who aren't in school and aren't able to get vaccinated."

In the poll, 80% of Ohio voters said child care is expensive in their community. Currently, center-based infant care is roughly $10,000 a year, 43% of a single parent's income.

Availability is another challenge. Last year, one in eight child-care jobs was lost in the pandemic.

Lois Rosenberry, president of Children's Discovery Center, with six locations in northwest Ohio, said they've had to turn families away because of severe staffing shortages. Rosenberry said some end up not returning to work, while others juggle telecommuting and caregiving.

"When parents can't find child care and work from home," she said, "many times these young children are losing years by not being stimulated with age-appropriate activities that provide the foundation for learning and later success in life."

Ohio lawmakers appropriated more than $700 million from the American Rescue Plan, specifically to stabilize the child-care system, which Kiene contended is just a start. Beyond today's workforce, she said, longer-term investments are needed in the future.

"Children, when they are in quality early-learning settings, they are more prepared for kindergarten, which is the biggest predictors in how they perform," she said, "not just throughout their academic careers and their post-secondary attainment, but also how they do in their careers and in life."

It's estimated that child-care challenges cost Ohio's economy $1.7 billion a year.

Minnesota is two years away from enacting its new paid leave law and while the debate over costs has resurfaced, some in the small business community are not worried.

The law was adopted in the most recent legislative session with plenty of fanfare, following debate over the potential effects on businesses. It allows up to 12 weeks of paid family leave or 12 weeks of medical leave. It's capped at 20 weeks for those needing both, and will be funded through payroll premiums split between employers and employees.

A new state-commissioned analysis suggested the expected rates should be slightly higher to cover costs.

Dan Swenson-Klatt, owner of the Butter Bakery Café in Minneapolis and member of Main Street Alliance, still backs the law.

"It's still about 10 times less than I pay when I'm paying out of pocket to be able to pay that kind of premium level," Swenson-Klatt explained.

Organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, as well as Republican lawmakers, said the new findings underscore their concerns about the law being a costly endeavor. But Democratic sponsors welcomed the new analysis, saying the new projections are still in line with what they had envisioned when pushing through the plan.

In trying to compete with larger chains and other big businesses, Swenson-Klatt argued the new law gives smaller operations a recruiting resource they lack.

"I'll be able to have money that I'm not spending out of my pocket to do other things for my business and have a benefit that's valuable to my staff," Swenson-Klatt pointed out.

He also disagreed with fears workers will take advantage of the law by consistently maxing out the benefit. While some smaller businesses are unfazed by the latest projections, the National Federation of Independent Business called on Minnesota lawmakers to revisit the issue next year and implement caps and reductions to reduce costs.

The analysis showed overall program cost increases could exceed $600 million.


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A lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's collective near-total bargaining ban for most public workers is by some seen as a way to bolster the state's beleaguered educator workforce.

A coalition of unions filed a lawsuit last week seeking to overturn Act 10, which places heavy limitations on negotiating rights for public-sector unions. The law has been in place a dozen years and was a major priority for conservative lawmakers.

The latest lawsuit comes as Wisconsin, like other states, grapples with teacher shortages.

Madeline Topf, co-president of the Teaching Assistants Association, which represents graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a plaintiff in the case, said restoring rights could make the state an attractive place for future educators and researchers.

"Having really strong education through academia, as well as in public schools, is really important for training the next generation but also recruiting people," Topf explained.

The controversial law has been able to stay in place despite past efforts to have it thrown out. A recent report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum noted the state's teacher turnover rate has climbed from 8% in 2010 to more than 15% in the last school year.

Topf noted at the graduate student level, she and her peers are very passionate about what they are studying. She feels not having the right to bargain for extra support erodes at their enthusiasm to carry out a public mission.

"We have people who have to live with many roommates, or don't have enough money to get groceries," Topf observed.

She pointed out at the university, her union is in the midst of a major campaign citing the need for paid leave benefits.

The lawsuit was filed after the Wisconsin Supreme Court flipped to a liberal majority. Legal analysts said it could take time for it to reach the high court, and there is the possibility the newest liberal justice would recuse herself from the case. Meanwhile, Republican leaders say overturning the law would result in budget harm for schools.


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Workers at the Tacoma Art Museum are celebrating a unique union victory that could be a model for other museums.

The 26 members of Tacoma Art Museum Workers United voted unanimously in favor of the union in November.

It's Washington state's first cross-department union in an art museum, although they're still seeking to include two security workers.

Museum Institutional Giving Manager Eden Redmond said they fought for an inclusive union because workers were experiencing similar issues museum-wide.

"The issues that workers were facing permeated across departments," said Redmond, "and they permeated across experience levels and tenure, and they permeated across different generations of leadership - and so we began looking to each other and saying, hey, we've got a systemic problem and we need a systemic solution."

The union is joining the Washington Federation of State Employees. Redmond said they'll start working on a contract in 2024.

Museum leadership said they will work with the union going forward in this process.

Steve Rue is a preparator at the museum. He said he sees their unionization drive as part of a larger movement.

"The problems that are happening in other museums are the exact same problems that we have here," said Rue, "which goes to show that it's more than just a few bad apples in a few places. The museum industry as a whole is outdated and broken."

Redmond said Tacoma Art Museum workers have been connecting with staff at other museums around the country who are facing the same issues, and sees energy behind unionization elsewhere too.

"If you're going to be protecting and preserving culture through arts objects or historical objects," said Redmond, "you can also be creating positive culture by protecting your workers."