FOR MORE THAN a year, the state’s 1300 home day-care providers have been the center of one of the state’s fiercest political storms as they’ve sought union representation (see "Union campaign poses a collision course," News, February 13, 2004). Their initial push was to be recognized as state employees, and then to have a government-monitored election to vote on whether to designate District 1199 as their collective bargaining agent. This drew a furious a response from Governor Carcieri, who is now in his third year of a struggle to rein in a state budget that always seems to start with a multi-million-dollar deficit. Carcieri was dumbfounded in April 2004, when the State Labor Relations Board ruled, four-to-three, that home-based day-care providers could be considered state employees, rather than independent businesses or contractors. The governor won an important round in blocking the union drive when Superior Court Judge Daniel A. Procaccini stopped the unionization election. The judge said he doubted the providers would prevail when the matter came to a full court hearing. On their part, the providers — many of whom are paid by the state, which closely regulates their home centers — were incensed when Carcieri proposed cuts of nearly $7 million in the day-care program, including the elimination of state subsidies for nearly 800 working parents. The day-care forces were the most vocal part of a larger coalition that helped reverse most of the cuts. The unionization drive has been controversial even among groups naturally allied with the day-care providers. One reason is that adding 1300 people to the state payroll would require of millions of dollars at a time when most social programs are threatened with the loss of funds. Over the summer, the union and day-care providers retooled their campaign, and one of their fresh tactics was becoming active in the political process. The providers already were a resourceful group. Many had overcome the hurdles of coming to a new country, to say nothing of the rigors of operating their home day-care centers. McIntosh, who is 55 and emigrated from Liberia in 1974, is licensed to care for eight children at a time. She runs two shifts at her Fisk Street home, starting at 7 a.m. and finishing at 9:30 p.m., helped by several family members, including her husband. And many of the providers had previous experience in lobbying state government, turning out in large numbers on several occasions to lobby against program cuts and for improvements in their pay and other working conditions. Jerzyk says the providers willingly took to the idea of grassroots politics, which started with briefings about how the political system works — the House and the Senate structure, and the process of how a bill becomes law. When Diaz signaled she wanted to run for the House in the 11th District, the union and its day-care division focused on her campaign. She faced a primary campaign against two-term Representative Leon F. Tejada, and Latino political observers, Jerzyk says, doubted she could make inroads. "We put forth an unprecedented effort," Jerzyk says. "We got out members to do door-knocking every single day, and on any given night in South Providence, you could see teams of child-care providers." They worked off lists of day-care network members and union members who live in the area. District 1199 has 3500 union members, many of them health-care workers who depend on child-care providers. Jerzyk says potential voters were visited several times, as campaign workers discussed the issues, and if necessary, they offered to help them register to vote. Contact with one person might lead to other potential voters — mothers, fathers, neighbors, cousins. On days when day-care providers did their normal work, McIntosh says, they would also put in four our five hours campaigning, which on weekends stretched to nine or 10 hours. During the primary last September 14, Diaz won about 790 votes, compared to nearly 500 for Tejada, with a third candidate finishing with about 225. The union and day-care workers were busy in a total of 10 primary races, Jerzyk says, including one for veteran Representative Thomas C. Slater, whose District 10 primary opponent, Wilbur W. Jennings Jr., had come within 40 votes of beating him two years earlier. This time, Slater won by more than 300 votes. The day-care forces pushed another incumbent, Joseph S. Almeida, who defeated Leo Medina by about 100 votes in District 12. Jerzyk says that since the House races were decided mainly by the primaries, the campaigners turned their attention for the November general election to Senate races. Again, using union contacts and the energy of the day-care workers, they focused on races in Cranston, Providence, Central Falls, Pawtucket, Cumberland, Smithfield, North Providence, and South Kingstown. They scoured voter lists, looking for Latino last names. Spanish-speaking day-care providers called each one, making 5000 calls in all. Jerzyk says the day-care providers made a difference in several ways. In some cases, he says, they helped Democrats turn back Carcieri’s bid to add Republican members to the General Assembly. Republicans gained three seats in the House, but that left the GOP with only 15 of 75 seats. And Republicans lost a seat in the Senate. At the same time, the providers may have been a factor in the big power struggle in the House, where Providence Representative John J. DeSimone was trying to replace Murphy as speaker. By helping Diaz, Slater, and Almeida to win their primaries, for example, the providers defeated candidates who might have voted for DeSimone, Jerzyk says. Medina, for example, worked as a legal assistant in DeSimone’s law firm. As it turned out, when the House reorganized on January 4, Murphy retained the speaker’s job with a 45-to-30 vote in which 15 Republicans joined dissident Democrats in supporting DeSimone. Jerzyk says the grassroots effort produced lessons for those interested in progressive politics, as well for as the providers. "People on the left need to do more electoral politics, on the city council and state level," he says. "Organized groups [should] realize that people coming together can make a huge impact on races." The union organizer thinks this kind of involvement improves the odds that when interest groups, such as day-care providers, head to the State House for a rally or legislative hearing. "When we go up there and talk," Jerzyk says, "we are not just talking as advocates, but as real political players in the state of Rhode Island."
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