Public Employee Press

Child-care workshops set for Kings County Hospital

DC 37 and Local 1199 members working at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn will soon be able to participate in a pilot project to improve communication between supervisors and parents on child-care issues.

Three sets of workshops will be designed for the project, which is funded through a grant from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. Moira Dolan, an assistant director of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept., said the FMCS funds projects that involve labor-management collaboration to achieve a goal. For the pilot project, the goal is to improve the communication skills of management and employees and reduce the friction that causes lost time or disciplinary actions.

"Through a survey conducted last year, we learned that members wanted to be able to talk to their supervisors and supervisors wanted to be more sensitive. The supervisors' workshops will develop creative ways to accommodate parents. Overwhelmingly, parents think this is a great idea," she said.

The Consortium for Worker Education submitted the proposal, which won a $77,000 grant. Kings Country Hospital was chosen for the pilot project since it has the largest number of working parents of Brooklyn's public facilities. "We also wanted to focus on improving our health-care system," Dolan said, "by finding ways to reduce overtime costs, improve attendance and help parents."

The first set of workshops for parents will discuss locating affordable, safe and quality child care and offer tips on how to talk to supervisors about child-care issues. The workshops for supervisors will develop creative solutions for accommodating parents, such as switching shifts with a co-worker. The third set of workshops will focus on sustaining the training and carrying it forward.

"We will continue to offer the program to new employees and new parents," Dolan said, "and we are hoping to be able to expand it to other facilities."