Friday, September 22, 2006
There was an article on unionization of family child care providers in the Minneapolis, MN Star Tribune yesterday. An interesting read, but there are some thoughts and concerns that I have...
- The Minnesota Child Care Association is primarily an association for child care centers. The unions are not trying to organize center staff. If they were, there would probably be a lot of negative comments from Mr. Dunkley.
- It is likely that the only providers who will benefit from unionization are those the who care for subsidized families. Will everyone be forced to join a union? If not, how will union members benefit more than non-union providers. Will union providers get paid more by the state? If all providers are forced to join the union I can pretty much guarantee that rates for all families will increase, just as they did when counties started charging licensing fees.
- Nothing is being said about the amount of dues and exactly how much providers will have to pay for their promised benefits. Will the benefits actually outweigh the costs?
- There are many rumblings from state that have already been unionized and there are several movements afoot to remove unions in certain states. Not all providers are happy with the costs and benefits received from unionization.
- I hope that everyone remembers that unions are a business and as a business, have a goal to make a profit. That profit comes from your dues. A union is not a non-profit organization made up of volunteers like the MLFCCA that speaks for you. It is interesting that the huge upswing in efforts to unionize non-traditional groups like child care providers comes at a time when unions are continually losing footholds in the more traditional industries.
- Finally, as this article says, many providers were surprised by the legislative changes of 2003. But that is primarily the child care providers' fault. There was much discussion and lobbying about the proposed changes at that time. Information was provided by many child care advocate organizations like MLFCCA, Child Care Works, MnAEYC, and more. Providers, as small business owners, need to take some responsibility to keep informed. Join and pay membership dues to an organization like the MLFCCA and keep informed of what is happening or pay dues to a union to do the same thing...
Unions open arms to child-care providers
Donna Halvorsen, Star TribuneWhen union organizer Marybeth Juetten knocked on Julie Schendzielos's door in Clear Lake, Minn., on Tuesday, she found an easy convert.Schendzielos, who cares for 10 children in her Sherburne County home, said she's a professional caregiver, not a baby
sitter. "I'm teaching astronauts, teachers, doctors, nurses, construction workers, all the people it takes to make a community," she said. But, she added, "I don't think we're getting any respect, except from the parents. They know what we're doing on a daily basis."Schendzielos and other providers are flexing their muscles these days with the help of unusual allies: labor unions, whose organizers are knocking on doors all over Minnes! ota recruiting members. So far two unions -- the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 5 and Service Employees International Union (SEIU) -- say they've each signed up 2,000 or more of the state's 12,500 providers. But the unions haven't been greeted everywhere enthusiastically.
Our members are "not able to get good answers on what is this going to cost, what are the benefits, who would get the benefits," said Beth Mork, director of the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association. "They feel they're independent business people who want to organize professionally on their own.
"Some parents are also concerned. Katherine Koenen of Minneapolis, whose 7-month-old daughter is in day care, said she worries about rates going up and wants to make sure her provider will be able to maintain the friendly atmosphere and the curriculum she created to teach children in her home.
It's unclear what effect unionizing wi! ll have on parents and kids. AFSCME spokeswoman Jennifer Lovaa! sen said extra pay for providers will come not from parents but from negotiations with the state, which provides child care subsidies for low-income families.
"The hardest thing about child care is being able to provide it at a rate parents can afford," said Chad Dunkley, president of the Minnesota Child Care Association, which has not taken a position on the unionization efforts. "Most families can't afford to pay more than they're paying."
Withstanding budget cuts
People like Schendzielos may seem an unusual group to unionize, but unions are organizing child-care providers in Iowa, Washington, Oregon, California and Pennsylvania.
In Illinois, unionized child-care providers have a contract with the state that gave them a significant increase in subsidy rates.Some Minnesota providers say the move to unionize makes sense. They care for eight to 14 kids in their homes; their income comes from parents and from state subsidies for low-income kids. They're small-business owners, who say they're often barely making ends meet and haven't been at the table when rules affecting them were made."All of a sudden these issues are brought up at the Capitol, and providers don't even know they're coming up," said Judy Massey, who has cared for children in her home on St. Paul's East Side for 20 years. "With a union we're going to know that in advance, and we're going to have a voice in that. Someone will listen to us.
"By organizing in Minnesota, the unions hope to increase providers' political muscle to prevent what happened in 2003, when the state's child-care subsidies of $217 million were cut by $86 million.Subsidies to Minnesota child-care providers last year were $168 million.If there's a binding contract with the state, "no matter if there is a surplus or a deficit, if there's a Republican, independent or Democrat in the governor's office, the child-care community will withstand the budget cuts they have seen in the last three years," said Kristin Beckmann, SEIU's acting Minnesota director.
Although providers got a 6 percent increase from the Legislature during the last session, caregivers who take in low-income children are still operating on the edge, said Sen. John Hottinger, DFL-St. Peter.Hottinger said a union would bring "economic fairness" to providers and give them a stronger voice before the Legislature.
But Rep. Fran Bradley, R-Rochester, who has for years headed the House Health and Human Service Finance Committee, had a different view."The state rates essentially, aside from a little bit of control we [legislators] put in, they generally follow the market," said Bradley, a retiring legislator whose committee oversaw subsidies.
"What are you going to do, tell the public who's buying child care what the rates are going to be, as set by a union?"Bradley said he's been contacted by many child-care providers who don't want union representation. "Frankly, they're really upset. They can't understand what in the world is going on. These are independent business people, of course. They're not asking for someone to represent them."
Being careful
Minnesota is unique among states when it comes to unions organizing child-care providers. Instead of going head-to-head, as they have elsewhere in the country, the unions are dividing up the state county-by-county. Exactly which union gets which counties won't be clear until an arbitrator rules.
Margaret Boyer, director of the Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals in Minneapolis, said her organization supports the move to unionize, though she said "there are some things I think we need to be careful about."
She said an important goal is to avoid placing additional financial burdens on parents. "We told the unions we wouldn't support any demands where the workers got ahead on the backs of the children ... or parents," said Boyer, whose organization has about 450 members.
Tim Schwob, who takes his two children to an in-home provider in Minnetrista, where he lives, said he doesn't have any concerns about organizing. They pay their provider, who cares only for their children, by the hour. "It's a blessing, just an absolutely perfect deal
for us." But he said his opinion might change if the rates go up.Ann McCully, executive director of the Minnesota Child Care Resource and Referral Network, said her organization has not taken a position on the move to unionize. Said McCully: "We've encouraged individual family child-care providers to look at the information and weigh the options."
