SHELBURNE, Vt. – Elsa Bosma wasn’t sure what to think when American Federation of Teachers representatives showed up at her home child care business espousing the benefits of unionization.

The teachers union encouraged her to sign a card, supposedly to get more information about health insurance and other benefits that would be available if child care workers became unionized.

She signed the card, like many other child care providers across the Green Mountain State. They didn’t realize it was a union scheme to gather signatures in support of the AFT as the sole bargaining agent for the state’s child care providers.

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The AFT has pursued similar unionization efforts with child care providers in Michigan, Minnesota, and other states as a way to boost its declining membership and dues revenue.

“We were told it was for more information, but we heard subsequently these cards were used to show support for unionization,” Bosma told EAGnews.org. “We asked to get our cards back … and the AFT said we would have to come and look though the hundreds or thousands of cards they collected and find them ourselves.”

Perhaps union officials should have given her a more satisfactory response. They had no way of knowing they were firing up a woman who would play a huge role in defeating their attempt to unionize child care providers in Vermont.

Woman on a mission

During Vermont’s 2010 legislative session, a bill to authorize a unionization vote for the state’s child care providers passed the House, but didn’t become law.

If a unionization vote succeed, every child care worker in the state would have been forced into the AFT, and forced into paying hundreds per year in dues.

For Bosma, that was a troubling proposition.

She researched the AFT’s proposal and soon realized the union had little to offer. There was no health insurance or other benefits to be gained. All the union seemed to provide were vague references to “a stronger voice” for child care workers in state politics. And that privilege likely would cost between $500 and $700 in dues per year.

Bosma said the union’s real motivation soon became obvious.

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“I think there is an ulterior motive. I think they are trying to increase their membership, and it’s a financial gain,” she said. “If they really are about us – and there are so many of us that don’t want this – they would make it voluntary.”

Bosma reached out to her colleagues across Vermont. She gathered email addresses from the state’s child care provider website and sent a message out to about 1,000 peers, expressing her concerns about the AFT.

With the AFT as the exclusive representative for child care providers, independent small business owners like Bosma would lose their individual voice on topics like professional development, grievances, and state subsidy negotiations, she explained.

Many child care providers would end up making less money if they joined the AFT because of the dues, she said.

“I just got an overwhelming response from people who said ‘I feel the same way, what can we do?’” Bosma said. “I saw the need for someone to speak up. I kind of became the spokesperson for our group.”

Last fall, Bosma formed “No Childcare Union in Vermont” and began to rally her supporters against the AFT, which she describes in a recent editorial as “a Goliath with unlimited money and an army of lobbyists.”

“So I went to work polling and forming an email list of those against the union, generated an online petition, started a Facebook page and created a website,” Bosma wrote. “I created and ordered buttons, manned a table at the Early Childhood Days at the Legislature, and co-organized multiple community forums with local senators.”

Defeating the AFT

During Vermont’s 2011 legislative session, the bill to authorize a union vote for child care providers “was one of the hottest debated bills,” Bosma said.

No Childcare Union in Vermont contacted senators and lobbied against the legislation. Bosma also encouraged individual child care providers and parents to speak out, and their voices were heard, she said.

The bill never became law.

“Last year it made it through the House, but that was before we knew about it,” Bosma said. “The AFT and a number of senators tried to attach it to multiple bills” this year in the state Senate, without success.

“They decided not to vote on it,” Bosma said.

Bosma is not taking her victory for granted. No Childcare Union in Vermont is gearing up for the next legislative session, when Bosma expects the AFT will continue to push its agenda.

“I anticipate they are going to be back with guns blazing, and so are we,” Bosma said.

The political success of No Childcare Union in Vermont attracted the attention of child care providers in other states under siege by the AFT, and a broader movement to halt unnecessary unionization may be blossoming, Bosma said.

“Through Facebook, they’ve reached out to me – providers in Michigan and Minnesota – and we’ve kind of joined forces behind the scenes,” she said.

Bosma said the experience has taught her some valuable lessons about the true priorities of teachers unions, and how motivated citizens can counter their massive lobbying budgets with their own voices in the political process.

“The AFT has a lot of money, and I funded this out of my own pocket,” Bosma said. “I can’t even begin to tell you what I’ve learned. I knew very little about politics when this started two years ago. I had never even been to the statehouse.

“I hope I empowered other providers to reach out and use their voice. I think a lot of people gained a lot of confidence by speaking out,” she said.