New union formed for child-care workers

Press, 1 April 1982, Page 7

New union formed for child-care workers

A trade union has been formed for workers in registered child-care centres, family day-care co-ordina-tors, and child-care advisers. It has been registered as the Early Childhood Workers' Union, but does not have coverage of kindergarten teachers, who are members of the Kindergarten Teachers’ Association. The move for such a union began about three years'ago when child-care workers sought help from a member of the executive of the Federation of Labour, Mrs Sonja Davies. The group formed an industrial society of workers and applied for registration as a national union last year, but was refused registration because it had not shown that the required minimum number of workers had joined the Waikato branch. The union’s formation has been opposed by some childcare centres because the owners have been concerned that the union will push for higher wages, which will force the centres to increase fees.

In a statement, the newly elected president of the union, Ms Helen Cook, said from Wellington that most of the 3000 child-care workers throughout New Zealand were women. “These workers have for many years formed a dedicated group, often working for extremely low pay and long hours under difficult conditions,” she said. “The lack of standardised conditions of work and pay has caused confusion, hardship, and difficulty for both workers and employers.” The union intends to build up its membership, which is i voluntary, until such a time as a national award is negotiated with an unqualified preference clause. Ms Cook said that the union would also start negotiating voluntary agreements with employers. Later, the union would negotiate for a national award. The national vice-president is Ms Gaye Davidson, who works at the Dr Barnardo's home in Christchurch. She

said that there were about 48 child-care centres in Christchurch whose staff could join the union. She said that play centre supervisors had rejected the idea of joining the union.