Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) members, Patrick Hogan has the floor, as Kim Brown looks on during a session on union organizing during the 2006 CSEA Annual Delegates Meeting in Manhattan, New York. The two are child care providers from Westchester County and leaders in the VOICE campaign. VOICE, Voice of independent Childcare Educators, is a professional association of more than 700 family child care providers working with CSEA to improve their profession and the quality of care for the children they serve. CSEA's 96th Annual Delegates Meeting in Manhattan drew more than 1,000 delegates to conduct the union's annual business. This year's theme, "Meeting the Challenge," focused on the challenges unions face with a business-friendly National Labor Relations Board and federal efforts to dismantle worker protections and strip union workers of their collective bargaining power.
Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) VOICE Local leaders and negotiating team members Beth White, a child care provider from Ulster County (foreground left) and Patrick Hogan, a child care provider from Westchester County (foreground right) meeting with United States Senator Hillary Clinton and other AFSCME child care providers to discuss home-based childcare industry issues. Clinton announced that day the Quality Childcare for America Act. The act would increase funding for worker development programs and block grant funding by $200 million. CSEA is New York State's largest union.