WHEREAS:
Accessible, affordable, high-quality child care is a fundamental public service that improves child well-being, enables parents to go to school and work and economically bolsters the workforce and the nation as a whole; and
WHEREAS:
Even before the COVID pandemic, child care providers and staff and Head Start teachers and staff struggled to make a living providing this vital service, with persistently low wages, insufficient reimbursement rates that fail to compensate providers for the true cost of providing quality care, and inadequate benefits contributing to high turnover, recruitment and retention challenges, and the loss of experienced educators and providers from the field; and
WHEREAS:
The American Rescue Plan Act demonstrated that substantial federal investment in child care and other supports for working families could make child care a more sustainable career while increasing availability and affordability for families; and
WHEREAS:
With the expiration of funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, long-term federal funding cuts from H.R. 1, and the Trump administration’s subsequent direct attacks on subsidized child care programs and immigrant child care providers in particular, many AFSCME members increasingly struggle to find affordable, accessible child care that meets their needs, whether they need care on nights and weekends, have an infant or toddler or a child with a disability; and
WHEREAS:
States have begun taking action to address the child care affordability crisis by expanding universal pre-K programs; however, many approaches to making child care “universal” may be rigid, such as being open only limited hours or not serving younger children, and often exclude the wider community of both licensed and license-exempt providers across the country who already offer flexible, culturally responsive, high-quality care in their homes for children; and
WHEREAS:
Families across the country continue to struggle to access affordable, accessible and high-quality child care that meets their diverse needs, limiting workforce participation, educational opportunities and economic security; and
WHEREAS:
With H.R. 1 cutting into state budgets and with the economic outlook uncertain, some states, including those with universal pre-K ambitions, have also restricted other subsidized child care services including by limiting new applicants, expanding waitlists and limiting available services.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
AFSCME and its affiliates will oppose efforts to undermine public confidence in child care and early learning programs through unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud and will educate the public and elected officials about the reality of child care as a public service and the dedication of child care workers, including the many immigrant women and women of color who are the backbone of this field; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
AFSCME and its affiliates will lobby for increased federal funding and support for programs that subsidize child care services including the Child Care and Development Block Grant, the Child Care Entitlement to the States, Head Start and the Child and Adult Care Food Program; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED:
AFSCME and its affiliates will fight for state legislation and executive action to equitably build the supply of affordable child care that can meet families’ diverse needs, including actions to:
- Create guaranteed funding streams, including supporting ballot measures, for child care programs that grow with need;
- Limit or reverse service rationing in state child care programs and expand child care subsidies as well as other benefits and supports for the child care workforce; and
- Establish innovative new state and local universal pre-K and child care programs, and reform existing programs, to ensure they are accessible to home-based child care providers and meet the diverse needs of families
- Support the startup and expansion of child care providers in underserved, rural and remote communities; and
- Encourage employers, including public employers, to develop family-friendly workplace policies and innovative child care partnerships; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED:
AFSCME and its affiliates will, in collaboration with state and local labor bodies, community organizations and policymakers, continue to identify and address barriers to child care access, organize child care providers and bargain strong contracts that protect and expand pay and benefits for child care workers — ensuring that they are paid based on the true cost of care, including the full cost of providing high-quality child care, fair wages and sustainable benefits for the workforce — as well as those that expand access to child care, particularly union child care, for AFSCME members in other occupations.
SUBMITTED BY:
Astrid Zuniga, President and Delegate
William Reed, Secretary-Treasurer and Delegate
United Domestic Workers (UDW)/AFSCME Local 3930
California
Charles Stewart, President and Delegate
Lawrence Camp, Secretary
Alaska State Employees Association (ASEA)/AFSCME Local 52
Alaska