Last week, 5,000 Kids First Maryland/SEIU Local 500 child care providers voted by a margin of more than 30-to-1 to ratify their first contract. After 14 months of negotiations, providers won an increase in subsidy rates without an increase in parent co-pays; accountability for late payments from the state; and access to important decision-making bodies in the child care system.

"It's a historic moment. Providers who help raise and educate Maryland's most vulnerable children now have a seat at the table," explains Merle Cuttitta, President of SEIU Local 500, of the new contract that will cover providers who participate in the state subsidy program. Local 500 child care providers first voted to form a union with SEIU in September 2007 after they gained collective bargaining rights through an executive order signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley.

« Read a letter from the bargaining team & contract highlights.
« Learn more about SEIU Kids First

Workers join together and unionize to improve their wages, benefits, and working conditions. Yet a full year after voting to form a union, 52 percent of new unions still haven't been able to secure any improvements because their employers have used delay tactics to avoid signing a first contract.

It stands to reason that if a majority of workers vote to form a union in their workplace, then a union they shall have! Yet the sad reality is that all too often, employers do not respect the outcomes of union elections. The current labor law is grossly slanted in favor of employers and anti-union corporations who engage in unproductive "bad faith bargaining" or delay tactics to keep workers from getting a fair deal. The resistance to collective bargaining has only gotten worse in recent years. Even in cases when workers do successfully win their union election, over half of of new unions still have no contract one full year later after they are certified because companies refuse to negotiate in good faith. And two years later, 37 percent of workers still have no contract.

Congress needs to stand up for the workers who deserve the chance to gain fair first contracts. As a new ad by American Rights at Work points out, any legislation to reform our current labor system must include an arbitration option to push management to complete negotiations in a fair, timely manner---and stop anti-union corporations from gaming the system.

This is the third ad in the series by ARAW making the case for arbitration as a critical part of the Employee Free Choice Act. The ad will run in Roll Call, The Hill, Politico and CQ. Read more about ARAW's ad campaign and view their first two ads here.