California child care providers say raises aren't enough to keep the system afloat. Here's why

Dec. 28—Fresh off of winning a 15% minimum pay raise, more than 40,000 California child care providers are aiming to secure more benefits from paid sick days to affordable health care.

California will spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next several years to boost the number of child care slots by 200,000. Yet, the existing providers say they need more help too to keep their own businesses open.

Thousands of providers have closed since the pandemic, cutting the number of child care slots available for California families by tens of thousands, according to an estimate from the union Child Care Providers United.

The union is demanding dedicated paid sick days as well as retirement benefits with a contribution from the state, for its members. It has focused on increasing access to affordable health care for providers, with dozens attending a recent vigil at the Capitol to commemorate those who have recently died without health insurance.

Those who spoke frequently referred to California's estimated $31 billion budget surplus for the upcoming fiscal year.

Child Care Providers United and the state have created several joint labor management committees to discuss issues such as health care, retirement and paid time off, as established by the union's new contract ratified in July.

"Today, we know California is sitting on a $31 billion surplus,... yet continues to tell providers it cannot afford to take action on healthcare," said Patricia Moran, a child care provider in San Jose. "This is cruel, and it is unacceptable. It is costing California lives."

Deborah Corley, a provider from Bakersfield, came to the vigil, at the expense of going to her friend's funeral in Inglewood.

"I struggled. Do I go to her funeral or be her voice?" Corley said. "I can't change what happened, so I wanted to come here to be her voice."

Corley's friend, Tonya, was a child care provider who died Nov. 4 after suffering a heart attack while she was working, Corley said. Tonya's dream, Corley said, was to be a provider and eventually buy a home.

"To have a dream and to have it be in reach, and now she's gone," Corley said. "If she had health care, it could have been different."

Corley and others who spoke at the vigil detailed their own struggles with paying for health care. A recent survey from the Child Care Providers Union found that 20% of its members reported they are not insured and unable to afford the most basic plan through Covered California.

Moran said if it wasn't for her husband's health insurance, she doesn't think she would be able to pay $5,000 a month for the medical treatments she needs.

Justine Flores, a provider in Los Angeles, said she travels to Mexico twice a month to get the medication she can afford to treat a life-threatening condition that left her in a wheelchair for months.

"I am not the only one. There are hundreds of providers like me," she said.

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