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In this 2012 file photo, Patricia Singler, a unionized child-care provider, works out of Jersey City. She has 4 children age 1-3 and two older after school children that she cares for with and assistant. She's a member of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union. The home-based child care workers unionized in 2009, and just negotiated a new contract raising their pay.

(Jennifer Brown/The Star-Ledger)

The union representing child care workers who work from their home announced they will get a 2.25 percent raise over the next 18 months based on a contract reached with the state Department of Human Services and ratified this week.

The Child Care Workers Union, a partnership between the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees and Communications Workers of America Local 1037, represents about 2,000 employees from nonprofit agencies that provide in-home day care to children 19 and younger, including some with special needs, said CWA Local President Ken McNamara.

In addition to the raise, the workers also will be more likely to get paid at a higher rate because the contract for the first time broadly defines a "special needs" child as someone who may come from an impoverished or homeless family, born to a teenage mother, be diagnosed with a disability, or otherwise requires more skilled care, McNamara said. The worker may use the contract to negotiate for a higher rate of pay based on the needs of the child.

The new contract also incorporates a child care provider "bill of rights" that compensates workers for mandatory training, defines an eight-hour day as "a legal day’s work," and requires information be available in the primary language the employee speaks, according to a statement by the unions, which were assisted by NJ Communities United, a labor-backed group that advocates for low-income families..

Negotiations lasted a year -- "a long time but we are really happy with the improvements in this contract ," McNamara said.

A spokeswoman for Human Services Commissioner Jennifer Velez declined to comment.

The home-based child care workers unionized in 2009.

“We worked incredibly hard to make this new contract a reality,” said Shanita Hargrove a child care provider in Newark. “We knocked on doors in counties across the state. We engaged the working parents we provide services for. We circulated a petition of support that generated more than 500 signatures. We packed buses filled with supporters to attend rallies in Trenton. We built a real movement. But this is just the beginning of what we can accomplish together moving forward.”

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