Day-care bill passes House

OLYMPIA — A bill that would allow day-care-center workers and directors to bargain with the governor for higher reimbursement rates and benefits has passed the House and is scheduled for a key vote in a Senate committee today.

Service Employees International Union, the state's fastest-growing union, seeks to organize 12,000 child-care providers at 1,200 licensed for-profit and nonprofit child-care centers that offer state-subsidized care to the children of low-income families. Any center that cares for at least one subsidized child would be covered by the bill.

The campaign expands on the union's successful 2006 effort to organize 10,000 providers who care for children in their homes.

House Bill 2449 would create unique bargaining units made up of child-care workers and directors. They would work together to negotiate higher state reimbursement rates for day-care centers and professional training and health-care benefits for workers. Individual wages and retirement benefits would not be subject to negotiation.

The arrangement would be the first of its kind in the nation.

The average early-childhood teacher in Washington earns less than $20,000, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, and many day-care instructors lack health insurance.

"This is something directors struggle with everywhere," said SEIU Local 925 spokeswoman Gretchen Donart. "They would like their staff to come to work healthy and take good care of kids."

The bill, which has strong support from Democratic House Speaker Frank Chopp, passed the House 70-24, but opposition is mobilizing to derail it in the Senate.

The Washington Policy Center, a conservative think tank, issued a position paper earlier this month saying unionization is unnecessary because day-care programs already get ample federal and state subsidies.

The center also warns: "Extending collective bargaining to day-care centers would strengthen the power of union leaders and weaken the authority of state lawmakers."

It objects to having the state make direct payments into a fund controlled by a powerful labor union that contributes heavily to many legislators' political campaigns.

Although the bill has been amended to exclude national day-care chains and large nonprofits such as the YMCA, those providers continue to oppose the measure as an unnecessary intrusion that could affect their own operations. The YMCA and the multinational companies that operate La Petite Academy and KinderCare centers have organized as Washington Child Care United and are lobbying hard to defeat the bill.

Under the measure, day-care centers would vote by region on whether to join the union.

No individual workers would be required to join, but every worker in a region that votes to organize would pay a "participation fee."

Child-care workers would not have the right to strike.

Gregoire's mission

Gov. Christine Gregoire has made improving early childhood education a priority of her administration. In 2006, she created the Department of Early Learning to focus the state's efforts, improve the professionalism of day-care workers, and give families the information they need to find high-quality care.

But Gregoire has not yet endorsed the legislation.

"In general, she is very supportive of paying people a living wage," said Aaron Toso, a spokesman for the governor. "There are still some issues being worked out in the legislation."

"We very much want to work with the Department of Early Learning, but we think a strong voice that unites child-care workers and directors will really make a difference for children," Donart said.

Critics say higher reimbursement rates will cost the state millions at a time when revenue growth is slowing. Under the collective-bargaining agreement home day-care workers negotiated with the state last year, costs swelled from $138 million in the 2005-07 budget to $214 million in the current biennium, according to DSHS figures.

Kim Gilligan, of Washougal, says increased state funding is a necessity.

She operates three community day-care centers in Washougal that serve 45 children, including infants and toddlers, preschoolers, and school-age kids who come for a few hours before and after school.

She and husband Brian Gilligan have made several trips to Olympia to lobby on behalf of House Bill 2449. She says the resources it would bring would let her provide her workers with health care, training and a living wage.

"Passion for life, for teaching"

Gilligan's seven employees make slightly more than the state minimum wage of $8.07 per hour.

"We have a young lady who has been here 12 years, and she makes $9 an hour," Gilligan said. "People don't stay in child care to make money; they do it because there's a passion for life and for teaching. These people deserve to make a living."

Under current reimbursement rates, the state pays Gilligan $12 a day for each child she cares for before and after school and $27 a day for each preschooler. She'd like to see rates increase by $3 to $5 a day per child.

A higher state reimbursement rate would provide training dollars for her employees so they could give children the kinds of stimulating experiences that will help them reach their potential, she said.

"In Washougal, you are dealing with a lot of people who are just getting on their feet," she said. "We have foster kids, we have grandkids, we have single-parent kids. These people are going to be the future."

The House bill has 39 sponsors.

It is scheduled for action today by the Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Development and must pass the full Senate by March 7.