BP MARKOWITZ ENDORSES HOME CHILD CARE WORKER'S EFFORT TO UNIONIZE

"I urge the State Legislature to show New York’s 52,000 home child care providers the respect that every resident deserves by granting them the right to form a union. No worker should be put in the deplorable position of being forced to make the painful choice between caring for the welfare of our children and sustaining their own livelihood, but that is the reality tens of thousands of Brooklyn and New York daycare workers face.

Brooklyn is proud home to 40% of New York City’s daycare workers and daycare centers, by far the highest percentage of any borough. However, we are not proud of the lack of respect shown to those workers in the form of inadequate pay and nonexistent paid vacation and sick days. In a nation so focused on the well-being of its children, how can we not support those who we entrust with their care on a daily basis?

In 2004, I joined parents, educators, and legislators on the steps of City Hall to voice my support for New York City’s 7,000 daycare workers in the fight for their first raise in four years. I join again with these hard-working men and women who are responsible for our most precious resource - our young people- and offer my support to their effort to form a union."