New York state has given the go-ahead for New York City?s 28,000 home-based child care providers to hold an election on whether to unionize. Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said yesterday that the state?s employment relations board had approved plans for the child care workers to vote on joining the teachers? union. The effort would be one of the largest organizing drives in New York since 45,000 teachers joined the city?s teachers? union in 1960. Ms. Weingarten said the approval came after her union, working with the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, known as Acorn, collected 12,000 signatures from child care providers saying they supported unionization.
See "Providers of Child Care May Now Vote on Unionizing", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, August 1, 2007