Child care workers to vote

Providers could win bargaining rights in election next month

The issue is opposed by some advocacy organizations such as the Maryland State Family Child Care Association, which says it has represented child care providers since 1983.

The service employees union wants to represent the workers because their union dues could be paid directly by the state, the child care association said in a statement.

‘‘While SEIU has been working to get legislation to be able to collect dues from providers, the rest of the child care advocacy community has been working to get providers the rate increase that will be effective October 1, 2007,” the statement says. ‘‘We need higher rates in Maryland, but we can get them without SEIU, and when we do get the increases, providers will get to keep 100 percent of them.”

The union can work more effectively to increase pay and improve benefits for child care workers, who are ‘‘extremely dedicated people,” Cuttitta said. ‘‘This is about elevating their position,” she said.

The pay for child care employees ‘‘generally is very low,” and benefits ‘‘are minimal for most child care workers,” according to a U.S. Department of Labor report. The median hourly pay of child care workers in Maryland was $9.74 in 2006, more than the national average of $8.48, according to federal figures.

The wage for Maryland child care workers was about 58 percent of the median hourly wage of all occupations in the state, which was $16.74. Child care employees in elementary and secondary schools averaged more at $10.07, compared with $8.23 for those employed at private day care centers. Those in Montgomery and Frederick counties also make more than Baltimore workers.

Thousands of workersare eligible to vote

The union is not sure how many child care workers will be eligible to vote in next month’s election, but it provided about 2,300 child care providers’ authorization cards to the state in applying for certification of its election petition, Cuttitta said. The state Department of Education has an eligibility list of 5,866 names, while a report by the Maryland Committee for Children said there were 7,345 providers who care for children whose care is state subsidized.

There are 10,560 registered child care providers in Maryland, according to a state report in March.

Employees with Maryland’s Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation and the American Arbitration Association, a District organization, verified that all but 19 of the people on the cards were on the state list, for a total of 39 percent of the names on the state list.

That was more than the 30 percent needed, as stated in an executive order signed earlier this month by Gov. Martin O’Malley that paved the way for the election.

In the order, O’Malley (D) said ‘‘there is a need to stabilize the family child care workforce.” But he said the order was not meant to grant workers the right to strike.

O’Malley also signed an executive order earlier this month that could unionize home health care providers. The average median hourly wage of home health care workers in Maryland last year was similar to that of child care employees at $9.79, according to federal figures.

Bills on the issues did not get out of legislative committees this year. A report by the state Department of Legislative Services called the effect on child care providers who accept state subsidies ‘‘meaningful” because they ‘‘may see an increase in rates paid or other benefits as a result of representation by a provider organization.”

Other states, including Illinois, Oregon and Washington, have agreements similar to Maryland’s related to child care employees joining a union, according to the report.

Child care costs highest in Howard, Montgomery

Howard and Montgomery counties have the highest annual child care costs in Maryland for a family with two children under age 5 at $17,937 and $17,700, respectively, according to a report by the Maryland Committee for Children.

Garrett and Somerset counties have the lowest child care costs in the state at $8,417 and $8,683, respectively.