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CFT ECE member interviewed for Worthy Wage Day |
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 The Worthy Wage Campaign is a grassroots effort led by early care and education (ECE) teachers, family child care providers, school age teaching staff, Head Start teachers and others who work directly with children to mobilize to improve the compensation and work environments for the ECE workforce. Together, advocates have a stronger voice and are able to build alliances with parents and others in the community, foster respect, and promote accessible and affordable high-quality early care and education to meet the diverse needs of children and families.
The Worthy Wage Campaign began in 1991 and was coordinated by the Center fr the Child Care Workforce (CCW) until 1999. The national campaign was initiated to draw attention to the importance of child care work and the urgent need to improve child care jobs. The campaign was highly successful in creating a network of individuals, advocates, parents, and most importantly locally-based campaigns for whom CCW provided resources and technical support, offered leadership training opportunities, and organized an annual retreat.
Photo: Katrina de la Fuente, preschool teacher and Local 6361 Shop Steward.
Several communities continue to be a powerful voice for the ECE workforce by organizing activities on Worthy Wage Day, May 1.
This year, Katrina de la Fuente, a preschool teacher at South of Market Child Care, Inc. and a shop steward for Local 6361 was interviewed by NPR affiliate KTAR in Phoenix for a Worthy Wage Day story.
The reporter noted, “That while there is broad recognition of the importance of high quality early childhood education, teachers and staff are struggling to make ends meet. Katrina de la Fuente is a preschool teacher and a member of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). She says she has a degree, yet the janitors and gardeners make more than her.”
De la Fuente said in the interview, “We want lawmakers and politicians to be advocates for children, good quality education and for the teachers.”
According to the AFT, child care workers earned less than $20,000 a year in 2008. Members of the group are asking the President to continue his support of educators by reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
The reporter also stated, “If we want high quality early childhood education and to keep talented educators on staff these people must get paid “worthy wages.” That’s the message from Katrina de La Fuente with the AFT. “
De la Fuente responded by saying, “We feel like our job is not important. That says a lot about our country. It’s really sad that this is how we treat our educators – it means that education is at the bottom of the list.” |
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