Issued August 09, 2016
The following is a statement from Tonia McMillan, a child care provider and member of SEIU Local 99 in California:
“The child care proposal Donald Trump outlined yesterday shows that he has no understanding of my life, or the lives of the families I work for.
“Every day I care for the kids of underpaid working moms and dads so that they can go to work and afford high-quality child care and still pay the rent, put food on the table and keep the lights on. Donald Trump’s ‘plan’ would not do any good for these parents, or tens of millions of other middle class and low-income families. Hillary Clinton’s plan will actually help these families by capping child care costs at 10% of their household income.
“After 22 years in the business, I still miss paying bills and often have to charge my credit card to pay for supplies. Trump’s plan doesn’t address the need to bring our pay in line with the care we provide, our experience or our qualifications. Secretary Clinton’s child care proposal shows she is committed to ensuring that child care teachers have living wages, and her RAISE (Respect and Increased Salaries for Early Childhood Educators) initiative will help ensure that child care and early education teachers can work and thrive in a professional atmosphere.
"As a child care provider and member of SEIU Local 99 I know that we need a leader like Hillary Clinton who will do more to ease the burden on working parents and support teachers like me who care for children at the most critical stage of their lives. That's why child care workers will do everything we can to elect Hillary Clinton in November."