Oregonians should pay attention to a hopeful development on the other side of the Columbia River. While the creation of a new millionaire’s tax in Washington has received a lot of media attention, there is another great victory for working people worth noting: the creation of the first-ever childcare workforce standards board. This achievement will help strengthen a vital service for working families while improving pay and working conditions for all workers across the entire industry. 

For years, the Washington child-care industry has been under duress, a situation made worse by the pandemic. A majority of childcare providers earn less than a living wage, with only about a third of workers reporting they have employer-provided health insurance. This chronic underinvestment in childcare workers has led to high turnover and recruitment challenges in the industry. Meanwhile, parents who can’t find childcare have reported quitting or getting fired since their child was born. And many who can’t find childcare may not be able to get a job.  

With the creation of a child care workforce standards board, Washington State is now on a path to address crucial challenges for the child care industry. To make the industry and workforce more sustainable, the board will bring together stakeholders involved in the child care industry, including workers, employers, and parents. The board will study and make recommendations for improving the working conditions of childcare workers. This means the board will look into wages, recruitment and retention, training, safety, and staffing ratios. 

A great aspect of the Washington legislation is that it’s explicit about ensuring that workers have an actual say in the decisions that affect their jobs. First, childcare workers will have dedicated seats on the board. Additionally, the board is charged with examining “the adequacy of the role of child care employees in making decisions affecting their wages and working conditions.” 

The creation of the Washington child care workforce standards board is part of a larger movement to implement standards boards to raise industry standards. In the past few years, states like New York, California, Colorado, and Minnesota have established workforce standards boards in industries as diverse as agriculture, fast food, and care work. 

Oregon too, would benefit from this approach, not only for child care, as Washington has done, but for industries like agriculture and home care as well. Farmworkers in Oregon contribute billions to our economy – yet farmworkers are some of the lowest-paid workers. And at the same time, they face challenging working conditions and have fewer rights to improve workplace conditions. Home care providers provide vital care to both older adults and people with disabilities, yet low wages and lack of benefits have led to a crisis in recruitment and retention. 

The Oregon legislature has considered bills to establish boards for home care providers and farmworkers, but so far those efforts have fallen short. It’s time for Oregon to follow suit. Oregon needs a fair economy where workers performing difficult and vital work – such as child care – can also take care of their own families, and where workers have a say in the workplace. Workers, employers,  and our community all need workforce standards boards.