Page 8 - Work Force March 2022

Ed Gresco, director of CSEA Child Care Programs, retires
ALBANY — Ed Gresco retired
as CSEA’s Director of Child Care Programs at the end of February after 20 years working in various child care program-related positions with our union.
Gresco began with CSEA as an organizing committee activist, working as one of the first child care providers from the small,
now celebrated founding group of Schenectady providers, whose hard work helped lead to 17,000 strong child care providers represented by CSEA.
“We organized for power that we did not have,” Gresco said. “Our position of power took member commitment, hard work and persistence, coupled with the ongoing support of CSEA.”
As the need for persistence grew, so did the commitment on Gresco’s part. He first worked as a volunteer, then as part-time union staff. In 2005, Gresco joined the union staff full time as an organizer, subsequently transitioning to an Early Learning and Care Representative. In 2020,
Gresco became the director of CSEA Child Care Programs.
While organizing, Gresco traveled the entire state, identifying leaders and signing authorization cards asking for recognition by New York State.
Authorization cards turned
into membership cards as Gresco continued his work in helping the union grow, as the department eventually grew and added staff. Due to to the hard work and commitment of CSEA/VOICE members and the support of CSEA, Family and Group Family Child Care providers have had three great union contracts, with a fourth on the way.
“These agreements are the envy
of providers in other states across the country,” Gresco said. “With
our fourth contract on the horizon,
I am so proud of what we all have accomplished. I have had the time of my life, with 40 years of involvement and advocacy in child care, and
20 years of it with the privilege of working with CSEA/VOICE members.”
Although Gresco is moving on,
In this file photo from 2017, Alma Cartegena, a CSEA/VOICE Local 100A Monroe Chapter member signs a pledge to “Grow Family Power,” as Ed Gresco looks on.
Fighting for child care improvements
CSEA is strongly advocating for a robust package of specific budget actions that will stabilize the current
child care provider workforce that will allow more providers to open and to thrive in the future.
CSEA/VOICE recently submitted testimony to the Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Human Services. To begin rebuilding and expanding the child care industry, CSEA is urging the legislature to make the following changes:
Convert to a system of pay
for enrollment. CSEA supports converting the current child care subsidy reimbursement system from the current ‘attendance model’ to a ‘pay for enrollment’ plan, the same system used for private pay families. This would allow providers to budget annually or semi-annually. The new
system would allow them to expand capacity, hire more workers and pay existing workers more without fear of losing money if a child is out sick on an extended absence.
This is especially important to child care small businesses during COVID.
Raise payments to the 90th percentile. Our union is also advocating for a significant pay increase for providers by raising subsidy reimbursement payments to the 90th percentile, from the current 69th percentile of the market rate. This will increase wages immediately for child care providers, allowing them to reinvest it in their facilities, hire more staff, or expand their programs. It would also encourage more providers to offer care to subsidized children.
Allow child care providers
to participate in universal pre-kindergarten programs. CSEA supports the expansion of universal pre-kindergarten (UPK) but with
the caveat that quality child care programs be included in this conversation. CSEA/VOICE providers are early childhood educators who can and should play a role in this expansion.
Many CSEA/VOICE child care providers currently offer a quality, structured curriculum to 3 and 4 year-old children in their care. With the expansion of UPK, which is
free for families, more parents may choose to send their children to a UPK program rather than a child care program for which they may have to make a co‐payment. Allowing child care providers to be part of the UPK
8 The Work Force
March 2022
the work of CSEA/VOICE members goes on.
“CSEA/VOICE members have made and will continue to make a big difference,” Gresco said. “Child care is now recognized as an essential component of the workforce infrastructure by the highest levels of New York State and our federal government. Our efforts have without a doubt added value to the lives of providers and the children
served.”
“Ed Gresco has been a leading
advocate for child care providers working to make positive changes that improved conditions for
CSEA’s VOICE members,” CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan said. “I thank him for his years of service and dedication to growing our union stronger than ever.”
— Jill Asencio
network will serve all children by giving parents available options that meet their needs.
If the plan passes, this will give New York the tools needed to implement Universal Child Care
and change the broken market rate system that currently determines the income for thousands of CSEA/VOICE members.
It would allow for assessment based on a true cost estimation model instead of a market rate and streamline the entire system. It is vital for our state’s recovery. While CSEA’s proposal will not solve the crisis in full, it will further stabilize it, encourage new providers to enter this field, and will show that our state values providers and the work that they do.
— Jill Asencio