Gov. Dannel Malloy took steps today toward forcibly unionizing daycare providers and home health care workers in Connecticut.

Malloy used two executive orders, his ninth and tenth, to make the first steps toward forcing these workers to pay union dues like most state employees – a boon to the very unions Malloy frustrated with the concessions he negotiated and the layoffs he threatened.

At the AFSCME Council 4 rate of $21.80 a month, the state’s 4,000 day care providers would add just over $1 million to the union coffers. Council 4 Executive Director Salvatore Luciano earns more than Malloy, taking home $151,003 according to federal disclosures.

In addition to providing for normal union elections, the executive orders also take away the right to a secret ballot election for workers in these fields by providing for a card check process.

Unions support card check because it makes organizing easier, while opponents say the process allows unions to intimidate workers because their votes are no longer secret.

Last week, at the state AFL-CIO convention at Foxwoods Casino, Malloy said “please don’t question my commitment to labor,” according to CT News Junkie.

“You never heard me attack labor and I won’t,” he said.

With these executive orders, Malloy came through where the General Assembly failed the unions. Senate Bill 1106 never made it to a vote. It would have converted “family child care providers” into state employees for the purpose of collective bargaining.

“I have said repeatedly that I believe in the rights of workers to organize and collectively bargain, and personal care attendants and family child care providers are often-times the hardest-working, and lowest-paid workers in our job force,” Malloy said.  “These executive orders will enable them to begin informal conversations with DSS and the Workforce Council immediately on quality-of-life issues, with an eye toward establishing formal collective bargaining rights in the future.  It is important that those who care for both our youngest and oldest citizens receive equitable pay and workforce security.”