We’re building a bigger, stronger voice for our children—from cradle to college!
On Saturday, January 21, our Executive Board voted to create a new Child Care Division within SEIU Local 99. This means that Local 99 formally recognizes as members all family child care providers in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties who join us. Welcome, family child care providers!
California’s family child care providers have worked for years to build a union. And they’ve got a diaper-pail-full of reasons for wanting one:
- A broken child care system that has led to providers going months without pay to the point of having to close their doors,
- A lack of quality training,
- A need for higher standards so that all children being cared for in home settings are prepared for kindergarten, and
- Thousands of families on waiting lists for their services.
We can now support one another in our mission to preserve quality jobs and a quality education for our children—from cradle to college! Child care providers will continue to need our support. Their fight for their union is not over. While they are now full members of SEIU Local 99, they are still fighting to be granted collective bargaining rights by the State. Until then, they are without a contract and without a seat at the table to fix the broken system.
Are you a family child care provider?
If you are already an SEIU member, you signed a card from our International Union saying you wanted to join the union. Because of the vote taken by SEIU Local 99’s board to welcome you into a Local Union, we now need you to sign an SEIU Local 99 specific card. This will bring you into our union with all the rights and privileges of Local 99 membership, including opportunities for involvement and union discounts (see http://seiu99.org/member-resources/recreation-benefits/ )
If you are not yet a member and would like to become a member, please call (213) 387-8393, ext. 725.
