Written by: Samantha Daleiden Marshall, M.A., English
9/21/2011 1:05 PM 

Unions and Child Care

In the past few weeks there has been a lot of media coverage on unionizing family child care homes.  The nature of this topic is quite contentious and I wanted to open up the room to different ideas.  Please be respectful of each other’s views and opinions and recognize we are all humans with feelings.

Let’s do a quick breakdown of what has been going on to spur this media coverage.

• California lawmakers passed a bill to allow child care providers to unionize.  Democrats approve the bill and republicans don’t.  The state is still waiting for the Governor’s signature. 
• Minnesota child care providers are protesting the unionizing of child care in Minnesota.  The governor is considering signing the bill that will enable unionization.  There have been concerns raised about
• Connecticut Governor signed a bill today, September 21, which allows union participation for child care providers.  There will be a work force appointed to see how they can “best establish collective bargaining rights”.  

Some of the common negative themes throughout these stories are:

• a fear that unionizing will force child care costs to rise for parents that are already having a difficult time paying for child care;
• a disbelief from the child care providers perspective that unions could do any better advocating for them than the associations and supporting organizations that already exist; and
• nervous about the unions threatening their small independent businesses.

Some of the common positive themes of unions are:

• a seat at the table with the state lawmakers;
• collective bargaining powers;
• access to insurance or pension options; and
• an additional representative voice for the collective.

Comment!  Share your thoughts?  What do you think about unionizing child care?

Here are some additional resources and items to read about child care and unions.

• My Open Letter on Union Organizing, Tom Copeland
• Getting Organized: Unionizing Home-Based Child Care Providers 2010 Update, National Women’s Law Center
• How Can a Union Help? http://bit.ly/qz3JtD

Resources:

Bill to Let Child Care Workers Unionize Approved, September 9, 2011, Shane Goldmache, Los Angeles Times Blog
Controversial Daycare Union Drive Reaches Governors Office, September 14, 2011, Watchdog.com
Daycare Providers Rally at the Capitol, September 20, 2011, David Springer, kaaltv.com
Malloy Orders Limited Negotiating Rights Home Care Aides Child Care Workers, September 21, 2011, Arielle Levin Becker, the CT Mirror

Copyright ©2011 Minute Menu Systems, LLC

Trackback Print

Tags:

Categories:

Location: Blogs Child Care Blog

Your name:
Your email:
	(Optional) Email used only to show Gravatar.
Your website:
Title:
Comment:
Security Code Enter the code shown above in the box below
Add Comment   Cancel