Home Day-Care Workers Vote To Join UFT; Union Can Negotiate Pay, Benefits; No Pension Yet

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

Home day-care providers voted to join the United Federation of Teachers last week by an overwhelming 99-percent approval margin.

The Chief-Leader/Michel Friang VICTORY AT LAST: After a two-year campaign waged by the United Federation of Teachers and the community group ACORN, 28,000 home day-care workers have union representation. Providers like Joy Lacoa said they are looking forward to a boost in pay and health care coverage. 'From the first day we started,' said Ms. Lacoa, who has been a provider for 17 years, 'I had hope that we could win.'

About 30 percent of the eligible 28,000 workers returned their mail ballots and voted 8,382 to 96 to become UFT members, concluding the city's largest unionization drive in 40 years. The UFT, which launched the campaign two years ago in partnership with the community group ACORN, will conduct a bargaining survey before beginning negotiations with the state's Office of Children and Families.

Cause for Shouting

Providers celebrated last week at UFT headquarters, rocking the building's usually staid hallways with chants of "Who Are We? UFT!" and "Si Se Pudo - Yes We Did!"

"This is what happens when you put the community in the middle of the struggle," said ACORN's executive director, Bertha Lewis, to cheers so loud they drowned out her words. "For all of the nay-sayers out there, and all of the haters, how do ya like us now?" The room erupted as providers jumped to their feet and threw their arms around one another and the UFT officials standing nearby.

City Council Members, state legislators, national labor leaders, local clergy and child-care advocates lined the room and were thanked repeatedly for their help.

Governor Spitzer signed an executive order in May that gave the state's 60,000 providers, who take care of children whose low-income parents receive government-subsidized child care, the right to organize.

'Now We Have Hope'

Some providers said that once they got the commitment from the UFT and ACORN to assist them, they believed they could win. "It's about hope," said Tammie Miller, a provider based in Kensington in Brooklyn. "You don't know what to expect, but you have hope, because you know it's right."

Ms. Miller said that the work that she does is part of what inspired her to keep going, even after then-Governor Pataki vetoed a bill that would have allowed them the right to unionize. "It's because we deal with children every day and we represent the hope in their lives," she said, "so the union represents the hope in our lives."

She said that the children she cared for knew about the union drive and would ask about it from time to time. She recounted an experience two weeks ago when she had asked them what they wanted be when they grew up. One said a doctor, another a lawyer and another a teacher. "One of my special needs kids said, 'I want to be a union member,''' she recalled. "I couldn't believe it. That's when I said, that's it. That's the hope."

A study by ACORN last year showed that the average provider made less than $20,000 per year and lacked health coverage and received no sick days or paid vacation.

No Pension Rights

Mr. Spitzer's action does not designate the home providers as state workers, as had previous legislation backed by the UFT and vetoed by Mr. Pataki. Instead, they will bargain for market rates, regulations and working conditions, but will not be under the jurisdiction of the Taylor Law nor will they have access to the state pension system. The Civil Service Employees Association has begun to organize the providers upstate.

United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said that she expected the funding to improve the workers' benefits and salaries to come from several difference sources, including Federal, state and city revenue. The union will negotiate a deal with the state, and although the parties will consult with city officials, the pact will not require formal approval by the Mayor to be enacted.

The labor leaders assembled at the press conference announcing the victory characterized it as a major breakthrough. "Anybody that thinks that the labor movement has lost its vibrancy should look again," said Ms. Weingarten. "This also marks the evolution of the union movement with a historic, unprecedented commitment between community and labor working hand in hand."

Mayor Opposed

Mayor Bloomberg has opposed the effort, citing cost as a problem. But several legislators and labor leaders said that it was an investment in education for low-income communities, which would have big pay-offs down the line.

"I predict the launching of a new era as kids move through elementary and secondary school and are better prepared," said Nat LaCour, the secretary-treasurer of the UFT's parent union, the American Federation of Teachers. "And what I envision is crime in the community going down, the drop-out rate going down, because you are preparing the foundation that these children can depend on."

One of the providers' demands has been more professional development and funding for materials to improve the quality of education they are able to provide to the children they care for.

'You Sent a Message'

Council Speaker Christine Quinn thanked the providers for their work and their desire to improve their profession. "If you weren't out there, lots of people wouldn't be going to work every day," she told them. "Thank you for wanting to take your work to a higher level. It sends a message about how much you love those kids you take care of."

Hope to Inspire Others

Many providers, most of whom are women of color, said they were aware of the enormity of their accomplishment, having spent months in meetings, knocking on doors, making phone calls and going on lobbying trips. "When I first talked to other providers about it, some of them laughed. How could we do this?" said Joy Lacoa, who has been a provider for 17 years in East Flatbush. "We needed help, but women are strong. When we get together, we can knock down walls."

Ms. Lacoa, whose eldest daughter just returned from serving in Iraq, was involved from the beginning of the drive. She said she is most looking forward to having health benefits, since she has a son who is asthmatic and herself needs knee surgery that she has been unable to afford since she lacks insurance.

Many providers also said they hoped their actions would inspire others to stand up. "I hope we are opening the door around the country for other people to fight for their rights," said Jenni Rivera, a provider in Manhattan.

Ms. Weingarten said that the union would fight to make sure their new members received the professional and financial respect they deserved. "They need to be treated and seen as the first teachers that they are," she said. "You can be damn sure the UFT intends to make sure that happens."