Workers won the battle in the House of Representatives 241 to 185, but the war for Employee Free Choice rages on in the Senate and at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Anti-worker senators are threatening to filibuster and President Bush has promised to veto the bill. The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), H.R. 800 would permit employees to freely choose for themselves whether to join a union when a majority of workers sign cards authorizing union recognition.

Without EFCA, workers’ rights to join a union will remain a paper right that is not recognized in the workplace. Everyday across America, employers routinely deny workers their legal right to freely choose to join a union and get a first contract. Every 23 minutes, a worker in America is illegally fired or discriminated against because they want to join a union.

Employers use combination of legal and illegal means to prevent workers from exercising their legal rights. These union busting tactics include firing pro-union workers; threatening to close a worksite when workers try to form a union; coercing workers into opposing unions with bribery or favoritism; hiring high-priced union busting consultants to fight union organizing drives; and forcing workers to attend one-on-one anti-union meetings with their supervisors. The bipartisan Employee Free Choice act would level the playing field for workers and employers and restore workers’ freedom to form unions and bargain. It would:

• Enable workers to form unions when a majority signs union authorization cards

• Strengthen penalties for companies that coerce or intimidate workers

• Establish mediation and binding arbitration when the employer and workers cannot agree on a first contract.

While this legislation only applies to workers in the private sector, this legislation is very important to all workers whether they work in the private or public sectors. Increasing union membership in the United States would mean that all workers have increased power in the workplace and great economic security.

Powerful corporations have joined together to defeat H.R. 800. But with all union members joining together we can win!

Detroit—Forty thousand Michigan home-based child care providers have formed a union with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and the United  Auto Workers (UAW) in an historic public service organizing drive.

Members of the new union, Child Care Providers Together Michigan (CCPTM), met yesterday in Detroit to prepare for their first-ever bargaining session with the state to strengthen quality care and service delivery to children and families.

“It’s all about the children,” said Pam Stewart, a child care provider from Benton Harbor, MI. The best way to give children in Michigan the best possible care is to make sure providers have a voice, because we work our hearts out for these children every day.”

In November, the Michigan Employment Relations Commission certified that a majority of home-based child care providers chose union representation. Members of CCPTM come from urban, suburban and rural areas and include both English and Spanish-speaking providers.

Stewart is one of 16 members on the CCPTM bargaining committee, whose  members were elected by their co-workers in regional meetings around the state. Top priorities for their first contract include enhancing professional development opportunities and stabilizing the provision of child care through better pay and benefits for  providers.

“I’m excited that we’re going to have a chance to improve our jobs, for may sake and for the sake of the children who are in my care,” said Arleen Hunter, a child care provider from Detroit. “If we can get better training and raise the pay a little, we can cut down on turnover and take better care of these kids.”

“We believe that improving the situation for providers will improve the quality of care,” said Mark Sullivan, executive director of the Michigan Community Coordinated Child Care Association (4Cs), and advocacy, referral and training organization. “As a child care advocate for more than 30 years, I have seen far too many qualified child care providers leave the field because of low pay.”

Michigan’s home-based child care providers make as little as $9,000 per year; reimbursement rates have not been raised in 10 years.

The providers, who are not state employees, are paid through state and federal funds including the Child Care and Development Fund, a national block grant program that provides child care assistance to help low-income parents enter and remain in the workforce. A newly formed public partnership, the Michigan Home- Based Child Care Council (MHBCCC), will set policy and develop programs for publicly funded child care providers.

“When I drop my children off in the morning on my way to work, I need to know they’re with someone who is well qualified, dependable and can provide a caring environment,” said Jomita Reeves, a mother of two from Detroit. “If a union can improve training and reduce turnover, I’m all for it.”

The MHBCCC was created in September through an inter-local agreement between the Michigan Department of Human Services, which administers the state child care program, and Mott Community College, which has a long track record in training and developing child care providers. Inter-local agreements between different public entities are frequently used in Michigan to improve the delivery and efficiency of public services.

The successful campaign in Michigan is  part of a national movement among  child care providers, who have recently won representation rights in a number of states, including Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin. In Oregon, providers recently negotiated a groundbreaking contract with the state that includes a “Provider Bill of Rights.”

AFSCME represents more than 220,000 family child care providers, day care center workers, Head Start teachers and early childhood employees. The UAW represents more than 10,000,000 workers in government, higher education, automobile design and engineering, health care, child care, early childhood education and other sectors in its Technical, Office and Professional (TOP) Department.