A new Rutgers University study of home child-care workers in New Jersey three years after unionization found the workers view their union as a positive force or change. But serious challenges remain for the workers who continue to struggle with low incomes and access to adequate health care. Linda Houser is Affiliate Fellow at The Center For Women and Work at Rutgers. She says the research in this report – “Giving Voice To New Jersey’s Caregivers: The Union Experiences of Home-Based Child Care Providers provides a portrait of a diverse and often isolate group of women doing valuable work while highlighting their economic vulnerability. The study shows these home-based child-care workers have a high opinion of their union.

[Linda Houser]: “Eighty-seven percent were either very favorable or favorable towards their union. Ninety-three percent were either favorable or very favorable towards unions in general. This is a workforce that’s doing very valuable work. It’s very diverse. Some providers are highly educated, have college and advanced degrees, and others less so. And I think the collective nature of what they’re doing has immense opportunities. But so much of it depends on expanded awareness and the collaborative relationship between the state and the union.”