Unionized Childcare Centers Set Standard for Job, Care Quality

Childcare apprentice Shelia Martin takes a brief break from playing with children at the UAW-GM Child Development Center in Flint, Mich.

When the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) negotiated in 1991 for childcare centers close to UAWunionized plants, it made sure that autoworkers got what they bargained for—quality care for their children.

The childcare workers at UAW centers at UAW-GM, UAW-Daimler- Chrysler and UAW-Ford sites in Flint, Mich., and Huntsville, Ala., are represented by the UAW as well. Not surprisingly, the staff earns some of the best wages and benefits in the field. Non-union childcare workers earn an average of $7.11 an hour; workers at the Flint center earn from $10.50 to $20.20 an hour. The UAW knew that better pay alone would not guarantee quality care, so they developed the Child Development Specialist Apprenticeship (CDSA) Program, a model registered apprenticeship program.

UAW drew on its expertise in developing world-class skilled trades apprenticeship programs to develop the childcare apprenticeship model. The CDSA Program lets apprentices expand their educations while gaining a valuable and portable professional credential. By providing a financial incentive for childcare workers to advance professionally, the program ensures greater workforce stability, improved center performance and quality childcare for the children of working families.

“The CDSA Program is an aggressive step toward addressing what has become one of the most urgent needs of America’s working families: quality childcare and good wages for childcare workers,” says UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. “It demonstrates how creating quality training and skill development opportunities can have a direct and positive impact for parents, childcare workers and the nation’s children.”

Childcare apprentice Julia Orr visits with a child at the UAW-GM Center in Flint, Mich.

Nationally, the quality of childcare for working families and their children often cannot keep up with demand. Low wages fail to attract or retain trained teachers. High turnover rates compromise care. Highly skilled staff members are more likely to stay in their jobs if they earn higher than average wages and work with others who are also well trained, according to a joint report by the Center for the Child Care Workforce and the Institute for Industrial Relations. The report also found that a highly trained staff was also the strongest predictor of whether a center could maintain improvements in quality over time.

Apprentices must complete 3,700 hours of on-the-job training, which includes components such as child growth and development and building family involvement. They also complete 300 hours of classroom instruction, which can lead to a child development associate credential, associate, bachelor’s or master’s degree. In some cases, apprentices can earn credit for their work experience. And like all apprentices, CDPA participants have the opportunity to earn while they learn.

“The staff is constantly bringing the latest information on child development from the educational setting back to the center,” said Karen Eaton, Flint Center director. “The result is that the whole staff and all of the children benefit from the apprentices’ experience.”

Julia Orr of the Flint Center, who plans to complete the CDSA program in early 2004, says, “My real-world experience really contributes to my understanding of early childhood theory. I really feel like I have a leg up on classmates for whom this is still just hypothetical.”

The CDSA Program was developed under the Quality Child Care Initiative —a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship Training, Employer and Labor Services. QCCI funded partnerships in 31 states; this the only union-led program. The success of this project also owes much to the assistance of UAW’s corporate partners at Ford, General Motors and Daimler-Chrysler.

“These apprenticeships are an investment in quality childcare. They add value to jobs that until now have largely been undervalued,” says Martha Ginn, the Huntsville Center director. “If working parents are going to get the childcare benefit they deserve, the educators in the childcare centers have to be the best available. Ours are.”

Editor’s Note: As Connections went to press, the word came that the Huntsville Center was closing. As elsewhere in the manufacturing sector, the demand for childcare has diminished as the workforce population has aged.

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