Home Care Providers Ok’d to Unionize
Eliot Spitzer is a hero; of course you knew that, right? Well, via Tula
Connell we get more evidence of the fact:
The public-sector union AFSCME and AFT, which represents teachers across
the nation, won a big victory late last week when New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer
signed an executive law that gives bargaining rights to the city’s 28,000
home child care providers and the more than 20,000 home care workers outside
of New York City. Lots of people think workers don’t join unions because
they don’t want to. The nation’s flawed federal labor laws are
a big reason standing in workers’ way. But this example illustrates
yet another reason why U.S. workers are hampered from easily forming unions.
New York’s day care workers, like home care workers in California and
Illinois, and others across the nation, can’t just automatically form
unions.
However, he does not stand alone.
Tula Connell is hosting UFT/AFT Vice President Michelle Bodden, who worked
to get the victory. It’s a great event to celebrate.
On May 11, Gov. Spitzer came to New York City for a press conference on Labor
History Month. He talked about the state’s grand past in the union movement,
and at the end of his remarks, almost as an afterthought, he told the assembled
group that he had signed an executive order giving home child care providers
the right to unionize. The room erupted with cheering and clapping—we
were witnessing a moment in the history of the labor movement in New York.(snip)
What does this mean for the UFT? Our union undertook the drive to unionize
home child care providers for two main reasons—educationally, this is
an extraordinary opportunity to work with children’s first teachers.
Providers see children before they come into the public school system, and
many of them want to prepare those children for success. Early grade teachers
have a good sense of the skills and background experiences that make the most
difference with young children. It is a natural mesh to combine the providers
with the public school teachers and create a seamless transition for youngsters
with the best preparation possible.
Comments are closed.