Unionized Day-Care Raises Prices and Kills Quality
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Brian M Johnson
10 SEPTEMBER 2007
202-785-0266
Unionized Day-Care Raises Prices & Kills Quality
States that Unionize Child Care are Hurting the Consumer & Stifling the Market
Washington, DC- Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF) opposes the recent push for states to give child care providers the right to unionize. Since 2005, 10 states have allowed providers to unionize and three states, Washington, Illinois and Oregon, have approved union contracts. Currently, Maine is mailing ballots to providers in October and should have the results by early November.
“Many child-care providers work from their home and are independent contractors”, says Brian Johnson, Director of Policy for AWF, “by allowing and setting the precedent that independent contractors can be classified as government-state employees and afforded wage bargaining through a union is outrageous! Not only would this set dangerous precedent, but the market forces required to maintain a balance of access, affordability and quality will be thrown by the wayside.”
Several states’ child care unionization proposals have provisions that allow day-care providers to organize if a certain percentage (a popular number is 30 percent), of those who receive state subsidies authorize a union to be their representative. The union would then become the exclusive representative of all day-care providers in the state.
“In doing so, Big Labor is given the power to push state subsidy rates well-above what private parents currently pay. In short, union bosses can bargain on several issues on behalf of a private contractor. Unions are representatives, and in this case, they represent the child-care provider, NOT the child. Therefore, they will bargain on behalf of the business rather than what is the child’s best interest,” says Johnson.
