Hello dear friends,

Bargaining session three ends.  Here are a few observations:

• We have an incredibly hard working team who have worked many hours to fine tune these proposals to meet the needs of our members. Beyond the hours we have put in, the SEIU staff has put in countless more, especially Karen Hart.

• While presenting these important proposals on issues that affect us so much, the state sits silent. Only one state official speaks on their behalf and this person “appears” to know little to nothing about our business or the issues that affect us. Others in the state group, people who work the systems that affect us, (so must know and understand them) do not share their knowledge with the state official who speaks.  The state moves slow… slow… slow… sitting in silence.
  

• Painfully we listened to one state official who referred to school as the learning environment. We could not believe that family child care was not even recognized as a learning environment. We are the ones that help to set the stage for lifelong learning.
  

We are a strong unified team! We are determined to speak to the issues and continue to ask for what providers need to continue this important work. We continue to make our proposals, in spite of the state’s apparent indifference.

In response to the needs we have heard from our members we made the following proposals during this past session:

Saturday, March 29th was our our first day of Bargaining. I presented our goals based on what I thought Child Care is about:

Family Child Care is more than health and safety, more than learning or even fun, it is more than a business about commitment to children and families as we live our lives together.  The work we do can be difficult but it is so worthwhile, we care deeply and are committed to this work.

While we bargain our second contract, some of our goals are:

Family child care providers have been elected from across Washington to bargain with the state of Washington. Our team includes:

• Terry  Savadge, Bellingham
• Linda Ramuta, Edmonds
• LaVonne  Counley, Everett
• Barbara Frost, Everett
• SiSi Harry-McDade, Federal Way
• Alice Sanchez, Ferndale
• Antonia Alvarez, Mabton
• Cathy  McPeek, Puyallup
• Ikran Ali Bana, Seattle
• Fatumo Mohamoud Ali, Seattle
• Sherry Smiley Seattle
• Rita  Toa, Seattle
• Sandra Conrad, Selah
• Paula Hall, Spokane
• Sandra  VanDoren, Spokane
• Nancy  Gerber, Spokane Valley
• Deborah  Thurber, Spokane Valley
• Shawn  Harris, Tacoma
• Amelia Gil, Union Gap
• Kathy Miller, White Salmon