8,000 Ohio Child Care Providers Get Chance to Join Unions

by James Parks, Feb 8, 2008

These child care providers now have the right to join a union, organize, thanks to an executive order signed by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (center).

Following an executive order signed by Gov. Ted Strickland (D), some 8,000 in-home day care providers in Ohio have the opportunity to gain a voice on the job.

The order allows the providers to organize a union and negotiate a contract with the state. Child Care Providers Together (CCPT), an affiliate of AFSCME Ohio Council 8, is actively gathering union cards and has called for an election. In the Buckeye State, each of the 88 counties runs its own home-based child care provider program.

Columbus day care provider Brenda Gentry says:

We need a strong voice to speak out about the great work we do and the challenges we face. With our union, we will have a real voice on the job. That will be good for us, and good for the families who depend on safe and reliable child care.

Child care workers around the country have been fighting for a voice at work. In May last year, 60,000 New York home-based child care providers won bargaining rights, as did 40,000 Michigan workers in December 2006. Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) signed a similar executive order in August 2007, giving some 10,000 child care and health care workers in that state the right to join a union.

Last July, more than 10,000 home child care workers in Pennsylvania and Kansas won bargaining rights when governors in those states signed executive orders and the workers joined Child Care Providers Together/AFSCME in Kansas and United Child Care Union—a joint effort by AFSCME and SEIU—in Pennsylvania.

Other recent wins came in Oregon, New Jersey, Iowa, California, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Click here for more information about AFSCME and child care.

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