Unions look ahead - and inward, too

From today's Christian Science Monitor:

By Amanda Paulson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

CHICAGO – In the world of unions, Angenita Tanner is something of a rare breed: a new member.
She and her fellow home-based child-care workers in Illinois recently won the right to collective bargaining, and she's hopeful that upcoming negotiations with the state will improve wages that can be as low as $9.48 per child per day.

"Everyone's excited about this movement, and they're not feeling alone anymore," says Ms. Tanner, as the children nap in the next room on a sweltering Chicago day. She's fought for union recognition for nearly a decade.

The addition of 50,000 child-care workers to the roster of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) was a welcome boost in a movement that lately seems to be fighting for its survival. Just 12 percent of US workers hold a union card these days; among private-sector workers, the number is closer to 8 percent - little more than a third of what it was 25 years ago.

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