Child Care Budget and Bargaining Update

Childcare Budget & Bargaining Update

The Governor’s proposed budget for the 2009-2011 biennium recommended the following cuts to the childcare program:

• Cutting over 3,500 Oregon families off of childcare assistance, resulting in
   the loss of 1,800 jobs for child care providers  
• Increasing parent co-pays by an average of 6 percent
• Reducing childcare providers’ rates by 10-14%
• Providing no plan for health insurance coverage for childcare workers

Childcare providers from across the state joined together through our union to speak out against these proposed cuts.  We held a United for Oregon March through the streets of Portland, attended lobby days in Salem and made phone calls to our Legislators to demand better!  

All of this hard work from child care providers translated into some huge legislative victories! Lawmakers responded to this pressure by restoring the funding for providers’ rates and parent co-pays for the entire biennium and restoring the cuts to parent eligibility for one year.

We now need to make sure we translate these legislative victories into a fair contract.  These wins in the legislature are a huge step forward, but our work is not done yet.

Our top priorities for the 2009-2011 contract include:

• Maintaining the rates providers receive from DHS
• Continuing the training fund
• Providing affordable health insurance for child care providers

Stay tuned for continued updates on bargaining for our next childcare contract!