City Hall – Today, Councilmember Bill de Blasio joined the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), child care providers, and other elected officials at a rally to call on the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) to pay home-based child care workers a legally mandated wage increase.  In October of 2007, the State released increased wage rates for home-based child care providers, but ACS has refused to pay the higher wages.   Following the rally, Councilmember de Blasio chaired a General Welfare Committee hearing, where he pressed ACS officials to explain why they have refused to pay the new wages, despite having received state funds to pay the increased rates.

“ACS’s financial challenges cannot be balanced on the back of our City’s hard working home-based child care providers.  These dedicated workers provide a vital service for tens of thousands of New York City children that we cannot afford to lose,” said Councilmember Bill de Blasio, Chair of the General Welfare Committee. “Given the rising costs this year of even the most basic necessities, the least New York City can do is confer this mandatory payment increase on those to whom it is legally owed.”

There are 28,000 workers who provide home-based child care in New York City.  These workers, who provide a vital service to thousands of parents and families, are among the lowest-paid workers in the region. ACS’s failure to pay the wage increase makes New York the only city in the state that has failed to comply with the legally-mandated increase.

(YWN Desk – NYC)