‘Largest Union Organizing Campaign in the Country’ Underway as 40,000 California Child Care Workers Win Freedom to Collectively Bargain

WASHINGTON — AFSCME President Lee Saunders issued the following statement after California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Building a Better Early Care and Education System Act (AB 378). Child care providers have been uniting their co-workers across the state since 2003. They organize under the banner: Child Care Providers United (CCPU) — a coalition of family child care providers across the state who are members of UDW/AFSCME Local 3930, SEIU Local 99 and SEIU Local 521:

“Forty thousand dedicated child care providers now have the freedom to form a union and negotiate together for improvements on the job that will benefit both their own families and the families they serve. With their collective voice, providers will be able to win better wages, training, resources and increase access to quality child care for all so that every child has a better chance at success, no matter where they come from. This historic win represents the largest organizing campaign in the country, which is experiencing a dynamic surge of union activism and mobilization, with growing numbers of people demanding that we unrig an economy that favors the wealthy and well-connected. Americans want unions, and we will keep fighting until everyone has the freedom to join one.”