A few weeks ago I had the chance to listen to a woman talk about her work. She is one of 28,000 people in New York City who take care of more than 100,000 children as part of the state’s home childcare program. Her pay is low. Her benefits are few. Her employer has given her few opportunities to improve her skills and knowledge. She was a bit self-conscious in her public speaking -- because she was determined to get her message across. She had a passion for the children she worked for, a belief that her voice was not being heard and a hope for a better day. And she had a dignity that comes from standing up for yourself and the people around you. She was shining with it.  Her name is Nila Edwards.  Today she has a union.  I’m especially proud that the union I belonged to as a NYC teacher, the UFT, is her union.

I've written about this campaign before, when the UFT filed 17,000 cards signed by these workers in order to request a union election. And now 8,500 ballots have been cast and counted, with almost 99 percent (98.87!) selecting the UFT.  The people who do this work want what is best for the children they serve. This victory creates an opportunity for them to speak out on how to improve the quality of the care they give. It creates the opportunity for UFT to advocate for better training and support from the state and to provide some professional services directly as  well. Today is a good day.

It is also a historic one in the annals of the AFT. This is the largest single unit ever to come into our union, and it is a sign of our continued commitment to organizing.  The campaign also underlines the importance of building partnerships, in this case working with ACORN to build support within communities and working with elected officials, especially Governor Eliot Spitzer, who signed the executive order giving these workers the right to bargain collectively. Steven Greenhouse has more, writing in the Times that this is "the largest successful organizing drive in New York City in half a century." And Edwize has lots, lots more.

(In the photo above, Nila Edwards is on the right, working with Patricia Gbayor on phone bank technique).