Devore Hart of Homewood wants a say when the state decides how to regulate family child care centers like hers, and how much it reimburses them for educating preschool youngsters of low-income families.
Self-employed owners of state-certified family child care centers like Hart must meet health and safety regulations set by the Department of Public Welfare for the state's 3,700 registered child care centers.
The child care operators, typically women, say they work long hours, receive relatively low pay, no paid health insurance and no pension plan. The state does not set the rate they can charge parents, but limits them to caring for six children.
Hart, 53, who has operated a child care center in her home for nine years, and 769 others like her in the Pittsburgh region, have joined a union -- Child Care Providers United -- which will represent them in negotiations with the state.
They are part of a national trend. In seven states, including Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey and Wisconsin, self-employed providers can join a union, according to the National Women's Law Center in Washington.
Victoria Tyus, who has operated a child care center in her home in Pittsburgh's Perry Hilltop neighborhood for six years, hopes the union can help her get a little more in state subsidies.
During the state budget crisis this summer, Hart said, the state sent a letter to child care providers only promising a payment. Hart had to cover the cost of caring for the toddlers because most of her clients are paid for by the state.
Joyce Campbell of Uniontown, who has run a home-based child care center for 29 years, says the state needs to increase reimbursement rates that "were stuck in 1978." The daily rate for caring for an infant is $26, or less than $3 an hour for a nine-hour day.
Sheryl Eichenlaub of Bethel Park, who has operated her child care business for 22 years, wants a say in how regulations are determined in Harrisburg.
"The state set up regulations that were technically really bad for (home-based) family child care," she said. They were more appropriate for child care centers in offices. An example is a requirement for "panic bars" to quickly open doors in case of an emergency, Eichenlaub said.
Hart, Tyus, Eichenlaub and Campbell are among the 770 state-registered home-based child care operators in Western Pennsylvania, and about 1,100 statewide, who joined the new Child Care Providers United, the union said.
Leaders of the union, which was approved Monday by more than 95 percent of 1,200 family child care providers who voted statewide, want to meet within the next few months with state officials, said Maryann Parker, an attorney for the Service Employees International Union. The SEIU joined the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees to form the new union.
No talks have been scheduled.