Examples of AFSCME Working for Change in Local Communities
Several AFSCME affiliates have initiated exciting new work/family programs that can serve as models for other communities. These innovative programs focus on working with other unions, community organizations and child care providers to increase the supply of quality, affordable care, while improving the training and compensation for child care providers.
The New York City Labor Coalition for Child Care
AFSCME District Council 37 and District Council 1707, have joined forces with a coalition of New York City unions, under the auspices of the New York State AFL-CIO and the New York City Central Labor Council, in lobbying the state legislature to increase child care funding by $200 million. The coalition is also encouraging unions to seek, through collective bargaining, employer contributions to a multi-union child care fund, which would be the first of its kind in the nation, if implemented. The coalition’s goals are for the state to subsidize 50,000 more child care slots for working families, build more child care centers and provide better child care training for workers. New York City currently provides subsidies for good quality center-based care to only 74,000 children, or one out of seven eligible children in need.
The coalition also is pushing for the passage of legislation which will make New York the first state to mandate paid maternity leave. In addition, the coalition is seeking money from the state to help train welfare recipients to become child care providers, thereby increasing the number of quality child care slots in the state.
AFSCME Council 1707 Satellite Child Care Program and Accreditation Project
Satellite day care
The Satellite Day Care Program (SDC) is an innovative program which addresses two major problems—the lack of employment opportunities for people coming off welfare and the lack of affordable, quality child care. Recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) who are interested in careers as SDC providers are eligible for this program. SDC is one of the many projects sponsored by the Consortium for Worker Education, a nonprofit education and training organization made up of local unions in New York.
AFSCME District Council 1707 is a major partner in the project, along with Childcare Inc., which actually provides the training.
SDC trainees go through a rigorous assessment process, including a background check and a two-week job-readiness course. They are then placed in a 12-week-long internship, of which 60 percent (240 hours) is spent in supervised, hands-on work activity at a day care agency and 40 percent (150 hours) in classroom-based instruction.
Upon successful completion of the program, the participants set up family child care programs in their homes and become employees of the day care agency and members of AFSCME District Council 1707. Under the current contract, the SDC provider receives a starting salary of $18,200, cost-of-living increases, full health insurance, pension, vacation, sick leave and educational benefits. This is in stark contrast to independent family day care providers who average about $9,000 a year with no benefits.
Each home, which serves four children, one of whom must be a child with “special needs,” is screened, inspected and certified. The SDC site is linked with a day care center and receives resources and support, including an hour’s respite each day for the provider.
The Accreditation Project
The AFSCME District Council 1707 Accreditation Project represents a highly innovative approach to improve the quality of child care. It encourages and supports accreditation of child care and Head Start programs that employ District Council 1707 members, but also helps parents recognize quality programs and emphasizes the link between quality care and well-trained staff.
Accreditation is a certificate given to child care programs that meet standards of quality set by the National Academy of Early Child Programs of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Early childhood programs desiring accreditation must pay a fee and complete three phases: 1) self-study; 2) validation; and 3) accreditation decision. Because the accreditation fees can be costly for most early childhood programs, AFSCME District Council 1707 provides funding to a certain number of programs. In addition, the council provides ongoing technical assistance and other resources throughout the accreditation process.
AFSCME National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees/1199(NUHHCE), Philadelphia
In a bold, innovative move to improve the pay and benefits of the Philadelphia area’s 24,000 child care workers, AFSCME/NUHHCE chartered two new unions in affiliation with NUHHCE—the United Child Care Professionals Association, which represents workers in child care centers, and the United Child Care Providers Association, which represents in-home family providers and group child care home owners/operators.
The Philadelphia model is unique in that it organizes owners into a group to leverage resources. Their goal is to improve wages and working conditions for employees, while improving quality and keeping care affordable for parents. The unions also plan to lobby state officials for increased subsidies and higher reimbursement rates which will translate into higher quality care and better compensated employees.
