Over the past year, child care and home care providers have been leading historic fights at both the county and state levels to push forward the thriving futures that we and our families deserve.
Last year, home care providers secured funding that established a pathway to statewide bargaining through a work group that will create a plan by 2025, and we also secured a 10% ongoing penalty for counties who refuse to bargain with us in good faith while we wait for the next step in the process.
In counties like Kern, where our work has been historically undervalued, we have taken our bargaining efforts to a whole new level! We’ve increased our power exponentially by uniting across counties with fellow UDW members and by partnering with passionate and justice-driven organizations and unions in our counties. Our numbers continue to grow at each meeting, and we have even had the great honor of garnering support from leaders like Dolores Huerta and organizations like Caring Across Generations, Center on Race, Poverty, & the Environment, and the Pilipino Workers Center. Our unity has elevated our voices and demands, giving us the opportunity to highlight our stories through local press and to raise awareness and support in our communities as we continue to fight for the fair contract we deserve.
Child care providers have also been hard at work to hold the state true to their promise of a rate reform that covers our true cost-of-care. After decades, our unpaid hours and preparation work are finally gaining recognition, and we now have a path to earn fair compensation for the work we do before and after children arrive in our care.
Last June, thousands of us rallied at the Capitol to secure this win. The process of its implementation is still ongoing, and therefore so are our actions! We have continued to attend rallies, send emails, make phone calls, and attend forums to ensure there is movement. Because of our actions, we now have an agreement with the state on what we can bargain for in our contract later this year, including funding for unpaid tasks and a fair salary to ensure we can meet our basic needs.
Although these fights have been uphill battles, there is still a lot of work to be done before we can call them victories. Yet we know we will cross the finish, together. Solidarity is our superpower, and we need your help to create the thriving futures we all deserve.
