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Finding and Paying for Childcare

Governor Shumlin has made providing child care for low-income Vermonters a priority in his budget this year. That still leaves a lot of middle-income families who are struggling to find and afford someone to help look after their kids. We’ll explore the landscape of child care in Vermont.

Debate Over Child Care Union Grows Fierce

For the second day in a row, the Senate was embroiled in fierce debate over legislation that would allow child care workers to form a union and bargain with the state. The 2012 session is supposed to end this weekend, so the clock is running out for supporters of the union effort.

Child Care Providers Concerned About Union

We’ve been talking this week about a bill in the Vermont House that would allow Vermont child care workers to unionize. The union would represent all early education and home child-care workers. Yesterday, we spoke with Cyndi Miller, who’s advocating for the union. Today we get a different perspective from Mary Burns, the president and CEO of the Greater Burlington Y.
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Early Educators Push For Collective Bargaining Rights

Early educators hoping to win collective bargaining rights were out in force at the Vermont Statehouse on Tuesday, lobbying on behalf of a bill that would recognize child care providers as state employees and would allow them to negotiate with the state over subsidy rates, health care benefits and licensing issues.