Jerry Brown vetoes bill to unionize child-care workers

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Gov. Jerry Brown rejected a bill Tuesday that would have unionized up to 100,000 child-care workers, dealing service employee unions a major defeat over one of their top legislative priorities.

Brown said he was sympathetic to the stated goals of the bill: to improve working conditions for those who take care of children. But he said broader fiscal concerns motivated his veto. “California, like the nation itself, is facing huge budget challenges,” Brown wrote in his veto message. “Given that reality, I am reluctant to embark on a program of this magnitude and potential cost.”

A spokesman for Sen. Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who co-authored the legislation along with Assembly Speaker John Perez (D-Los Angeles), said of the veto “we’re disappointed. We still feel there are a lot of valid issues that need to be addressed.”

-- Anthony York in Sacramento