Building a Union Just for Child Care
By Jon Melegrito
In the last few months, volunteer member organizers (VMOs) from various councils and affiliates have been home-visiting thousands of child care providers to talk with them about building a union. Last December in California, where providers have a strong union, they traveled to Oregon, where they signed up hundreds of providers to join AFSCME Council 75/Child Care Providers Together.
In Pennsylvania, AFSCME's United Child Care Union (UCCU) — an affiliate of the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (NUHHCE) — is organizing family child care providers who are concentrated mainly in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (see Public Employee, March/April 2005, Page 14). Dozens of VMOs from California participated in several successful house-call campaigns there in January.
Similar efforts were mounted recently in Ohio, with activists knocking on doors in Toledo, Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland.
Says Faye Zepeda of Salem, Ore., a provider for 15 years: "This is the beginning of a national movement, and I'm excited to be involved."
