Washington State

Here's another Union article. It's the wave of the future. More than fifty percent of children who attend childcare outside the home attend a family day care. It's big industry, and now it may get a voice.

At-home Child Care Operators to Join UnionWith Vote Providers Make Move Toward First ContractBy PAUL NYHAN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Washington state at-home child care operators overwhelmingly voted to join the Service Employees International Union this weekend, taking a step toward their first union contract.
The vote does not mean people who run child care out of their homes will immediately open contract talks with the state. Instead, union membership gives these 10,000 operators leverage to push for a new state law that would allow them to start bargaining.

Providers said they needed leverage because the number of home-based child care centers is falling, partly, they say, because the state's rate of reimbursement is so low that many make less than the state's minimum wage of $7.35 an hour. The state pays providers for part of the cost of caring for low-income and disabled children.

"I think the most important (issue) is that the subsidy rate has to increase because all children deserve quality child care," said Kathy Yasi, who runs Adventure Day Care out of her home in the Central District.

Providers voted 3,363 to 258 to join SEIU Local 925, according to a union tally released yesterday. The union now covers 10,000 home-based child care operators around Washington state.

Traditionally, people who run child care out of their homes are not members of organized labor -- the union says this is only the second such vote in the nation. But, unions are increasingly targeting new industries as the nature of U.S. work shifts from manufacturing to services such as child care.

Like nearly every other U.S. union, the SEIU's newest bargaining unit also must grapple with the rising cost of health care. Providers must now buy insurance on the open market, and that expense leads many to forgo insurance.

The campaign was about more than money and access to health care. Providers hope to push the Department of Social and Health Services for better training and scholarships for workers.

"We feel if we have a stronger voice, then we can improve the quality of child care for all the kids in the state," said Donna Horne, president of the Washington State Family Child Care Association, who operates Kids of Heart in Everett.

P-I reporter Paul Nyhan can be reached at 206-448-8145 or paulnyhan@seattlepi.com.