around the uft
Time to 'raise all boats'
Feb 14, 2008 11:35 AM
Weingarten gets help hoisting the carton of rate forms providers have filled out to be eligible for the increased rate from (from left) Nila Edwards, Tammi Miller, Lourdes Lebron and Clemencia Aquino.
Market rate — the rate set by the state to pay the newly organized UFT home child care providers who care for subsidized children for 10 to 11 hours a day — has finally gone up. Unfortunately, providers haven’t received the raise because the city claims it has no money. At a Jan. 23 press conference at UFT headquarters, providers called on the state Legislature to pass the budget with the increased spending earmarked for child care. UFT Vice President Michelle Bodden said that when “you raise the rate without paying the rate, it’s a paper raise.” In preparation for negotiations, scheduled to start in February, for their first contract, UFT President Randi Weingarten noted that because the market rate increase would go only to some providers but not to others, providers should focus on issues “that will raise all boats.”
Brooklyn City Councilman Bill de Blasio compliments providers on their tenacity in their struggle to improve their lives. “You have created hope for everyone who does the work you do and for all labor,” he said.
