April 24, 2009

In a huge victory for nearly 3,000 home child care providers statewide, Gov. Bill Richardson (D) recently signed legislation permitting them to form a union, build power and improve the quality of family home child care programs in New Mexico.

Richardson signed the bill on April 7. It had passed the House and Senate on votes of 35-28 and 24-13, respectively. The legislation would affect both registered and licensed providers who take care of children through New Mexico’s child care assistance program.

AFSCME Council 18, the International Union and a large number of child care providers and other community organizations around the state, lobbied aggressively to win legislative support for the bill. The council is currently organizing providers through its affiliate, Child Care Providers Together (CCPT)/New Mexico.

“When we started this campaign about three years ago child care providers had dwindled from 4,000 to about 2,500. That means that 1,500 of them had stopped doing the job and when that happens there is nobody to care for these children of working class families,” says Council 18 Pres. Andrew Padilla. “This bill will help them gain more access to training and provide a better quality of child care.”

Many providers have already signed cards indicating their desire to form a union with AFSCME. Among them is Alicia Román of Doña Ana County, a former member of the governor’s Health Policy Commission. She says:

“I believe that we need to unionize in order to be stronger. I know the importance of being active and known by our legislators. I want to mentor and work with some of my sister providers so we can all act as one and improve family child care.”

Until now, New Mexico’s home-based child care providers could not meet collectively with state officials to negotiate improvements to their reimbursement rates or to the services that they provide. They could not form a union. Now, they have that right. The next step is the collection of sufficient signatures on membership cards to conduct a mail ballot election to certify the union. That is expected sometime this summer.

Gloria Romero, a provider from Questa, a village in Taos County, N.M., is excited about the prospects that lie ahead. She says:

“Child care providers need a voice so we can improve the child care system.”

Read more about the collective bargaining bill in the Las Cruces Sun-News. To read a legislative summary of the bill, visit the New Mexico Legislature website (PDF download). Learn more about AFSCME and child care providers here.