Home Day-Care Staff To Get $1,200 Raise Retro to Oct. 2007

TAMMIE MILLER: 'Relieved they're resolving it.'

Home day-care providers will be paid the state-set market rate, going back 19 months, in a deal reached between the Administration for Children's Services and the state that will raise their wages by about $1,200 a year.

"The agreement calls for the city to pay the increased rate retroactively to October 2007 and prospectively to qualified providers," said ACS spokeswoman Sharman Stein in a statement. "The cost of the annual increase is $45 million and the cost of the retroactive payments is estimated at $80 million. Funding will also come from Federal stimulus, state and city funds."

Poverty-Line Wages

The city pays more than 29,000 home child-care providers to care for the children of low-income working families, with wages until now usually falling below the Federal poverty line at around $19,000 per year. The providers are part of the United Federation of Teachers.

"This is a hard-fought victory for the city's providers," UFT President Randi Weingarten said in a statement. "Like everyone else hurt by America's biggest recession since the Great Depression, our providers… have been struggling. The higher rate and retroactive payments will go a long way to help them continue providing care for more than 85,000 children from low-income families, and that will allow their parents to continue to be part of the city workforce."

In October 2007, state legislators and the Office of Children and Family Services approved a market-rate increase in pay for home day-care providers that would guarantee an extra $100 a month. Although all other municipalities in the state provided the raises, the city could not, with ACS arguing that its budget woes were too large to cover the increases.

OCFS then threatened to cut off all state funding for ACS unless the raises were paid. Although the threat was issued in December, talks continued until after the State Legislature settled the budget and Federal stimulus money was processed.

"A key goal of Children's Services throughout this process has been to preserve contracted, center-based child-care slots for hard-working, lowincome families," said Ms. Stein. "As part of the agreement, the city has been able to save approximately 2,000 slots in 93 classrooms to serve threeand four-year-olds."

Will Accept Fewer Kids

But Ms. Stein also said that because of the raises, "Children's Services unfortunately will have to shrink the system for some categories of least-needy families. The children will have the option to fill a vacant seat in contracted ACS child care and Head Start centers or DYCD's Out of School Time program."

"We're breathing a sigh of relief that they've come to some agreement, that they're moving towards resolving it," said Tammie Miller, chair of the UFT Providers chapter, in a phone interview. "It's been a tremendous hardship. It's very difficult for people to make ends meet. It's welcome news for many providers."

Ms. Miller said that the details of the agreement were still "vague," but that meetings with ACS were scheduled and details of how providers could get their raises would soon be hammered out. "We have to make sure that the process is very easy and not cumbersome," she said.

Next on the horizon for the providers is a contract, one which the union hopes will include health benefits for workers. "This was one step, something that's long overdue, but we're looking hopefully to wrap up a contract with the state," Ms. Miller said. "It's all long overdue. These are the steps for improving quality care."