Family day care providers rally before governor's office
May 24, 2006 9:01 PM
Call on governor to sign bill allowing them to unionize with UFT, ACORN
Rally participants had one message for the governor: “Sign the bill!”
More than 1,000 family day care providers - who
rank among the lowest-paid workers in the nation - rallied in front of
Governor Pataki's Midtown Manhattan office on May 24, calling on him to sign into
law a bill that would allow them to join a union. In the UFT's largest
organizing effort in New York since unionizing
paraprofessionals in 1967, the UFT and ACORN have been trying to win collective
bargaining rights for family day care providers, many of whom make just a few
dollars an hour while providing a crucial service to low-income families. The State Assembly and the State Senate have overwhelmingly
approved legislation that would make New York
the 5th state in the nation to give family day care workers the right to
unionize. The Senate passed the bill 61-0 in March; the Assembly passed it
108-34 in April. The bill is expected to reach Pataki's desk shortly. "These providers, mostly low-income women of
color, need a union. They need to make a living wage
while giving pre-school children a good head start on learning and socializing.
The last step to achieve that is for the governor to sign this bill," UFT
President Randi Weingarten
told the chanting, placard-waving crowd. "They are among the lowest-paid workers in our region and they have no health benefits,
pension plan or paid vacation." "These women have one of the most important jobs you
can have," said Bertha Lewis, ACORN's executive director. "They are raising the next generation and it is an outrage that
society doesn't value their work. We will do everything we can to fight
for their rights and we urge George Pataki to do the right thing and sign this
bill into law." One of the speakers
at the rally, day care provider Bridget Carruth,
said: "Home day care providers take care of the children from our
city's poorest families while their parents
work, sometimes for 10 or 12 hours a day. We prepare these youngsters for school by helping them learn their ABC's. .Yet thousands of providers are earning less than $15,000 per
year. We are dipping into our own pockets for supplies, food and learning materials for the children we care for. We earn so little that
we have trouble providing for our own families. We
need the power of a union to improve our pay rates. We need the power of a
union to win better benefits. We need the power of a union to receive the
respect and support we deserve for the important work we do."
The crowd gathered on 3rd Avenue across the street from the Governor’s midtown office.
Other speakers at the rally included: Assembly Member Adriano Espaillat, sponsor of the Assembly bill; Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum; City Council Member Bill de Blasio; Dick lannuzzi, president of New York State United Teachers and other providers, labor leaders and clergy.
New York State's day care providers - about 40 percent of whom are in New York City - receive government subsidies to watch, care for and educate children from low-income families in pre-school and after-school settings.
They provide meals and snacks, help children with reading, learning colors and numbers, help with homework, direct safe play, and change diapers. Yet, they collect the same pay rate whether they work 30 hours a week or 60, have no health benefits or pension plan and often must pay for such things as diapers, toys and books themselves. For a provider who cares for a child for 60 hours a week instead of 30, the hourly rate comes to little more than $2 an hour per child.
A recent ACORN study showed that the average annual wage for family and group family providers in New York City is $19,933. The federal poverty line for a family of four is about $19,000.
