Children, parents and childcare workers in New York City kept up the heat on Mayor Michael Bloomberg last week with two rallies against his six-year assault on child care and Head Start services. Bloomberg’s latest volley is his ‘Early Learn’ program that would increasingly allow for-profit companies to take over city-subsidized child care and Head Start centers.

AFSCME District Council 1707 represents many of the child care and Head Start workers whose services could be eliminated if Bloomberg’s plan comes to fruition. ‘Early Learn’ would close up to one-third of the centers represented by DC 1707 and eliminate the jobs of 2,000 workers who provide daycare to at least 9,000 children.

Last Wednesday, demonstrators met on the stairs of City Hall to deliver more than 5,500 letters and petitions asking the mayor to stop ‘Early Learn’ before it starts. Bloomberg ignored the rally outside his office and even declined to send out an aide to pick up his constituents’ correspondence. Again on Friday, nearly 100 people—including City Council Member Charles Barron, Assembly Member Inez Barron and affected workers and schoolchildren from three AFSCME-represented daycare centers—rallied against ‘Early Learn’ in East New York.

AFSCME members will continue to fight against Mayor Bloomberg’s assaults on child care on behalf of those who provide and those who consume these vital public services.

Article republished from UDWA website