Child Care Workers Moving Forward in Michigan

by Karen Schulman, Senior Policy Analyst
National Women’s Law Center

Child care providers in Michigan just took a major step forward with a new contract agreement between the state and Child Care Providers Together Michigan, a union formed by AFSCME and the UAW that represents about 45,000 home-based child care providers who are licensed, registered, or serving children receiving child care subsidies. These are low-income women caring for Michigan’s poorest children for minimal pay. The contract agreement aims to address providers’ low wages by raising reimbursement rates for subsidized providers. It would also expand training opportunities, improve quality, and strengthen child care providers’ rights.

Provider reimbursement rates, which have not been increased since 1997, would be raised by 13 percent to 35 percent (depending on the provider’s location and type) over the three-year period of the contract. Providers would receive additional incentive payments if they complete training or provide care for infants and toddlers. In addition, under the agreement, the union will work with the Michigan Home-Based Child Care Council toward addressing health care insurance for providers.

Yet these promised benefits will only be realized if the state follows though with the funding needed to implement the rate increases and other provisions of the contract. The Michigan legislature should say yes to these improvements. In addition, given that center-based providers have been similarly underpaid for their hard work, it should also extend increases in payments to child care centers, as has been the case in other states where child care unions have negotiated agreements, such as Illinois, Oregon, and Washington (see NWLC’s report on states that allow child care providers to unionize). So while this chapter has been completed, the story is just beginning.