8,000 Ohio Child Care Providers Gain Representation Rights

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.afscme.org/publications/17559.cfm

February 1, 2008

Thousands of in-home day care providers throughout Ohio have been given a historic opportunity to gain respect as professionals and a voice on the job, thanks to an Executive Order signed Feb. 1 by Gov. Ted Strickland (D).

The providers will now be able to organize a union and negotiate a contract with the state. Child Care Providers Together (CCPT), which is affiliated with AFSCME Ohio Council 8, is actively gathering union cards and has called for an election.


STRONGER TOGETHER – These child care providers are among 8,000 providers who just gained the right to organize, thanks to an Executive Order signed by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland (center), who met with them at Ohio Council 8’s 17th Biennial Convention in Dayton last September.

Photo Credit: Joe Weidner


“We need a strong voice to speak out about the great work we do and the challenges we face - and that’s CCPT/AFSCME. With our union, we will have a real voice on the job. That will be good for us, and good for the families who depend on safe and reliable child care.”

– Columbus day care provider Brenda Gentry

CCPT/AFSCME Ohio Council 8 began signing up providers in 2005. In Ohio, each of the state’s 88 counties runs its own home-based child care provider program.

“Once our union is recognized as the bargaining representative for Ohio’s child care providers, we will be able to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement that will bring greater stability, improved pay and working conditions, and a measure of professional respect, to people who provide a vital public service.”

– AFSCME Ohio Council 8 Pres. John Lyall, who is also an International vice president

The success of Ohio’s providers is part of a national movement among child care providers to gain dignity and strength by joining with AFSCME, which represents – in addition to Ohio – about 150,000 family child care providers in California, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

To read why providers support Child Care Providers Together/AFSCME, visit the CCPT page. More information about AFSCME and child care is also available on AFSCME.org.