Angenita Tanner
Angenita Tanner was an in-home childcare provider in Chicago in 1996, frustrated with the state of Illinois’ slow payment process for the subsidized children under her care when she was approached by SEIU organizer Maggie Laslo. In this interview, she discusses how relieved and empowered she felt when she attended her first meeting to organize a childcare union. There were so many other women with stories similar to hers that she immediately joined the movement. She details the door knocking, meetings, and direct actions to the state capitol with specific stories of the many victories waged over nine years until the childcare providers won their collective bargaining agreement to become a union in 2005. She also details successive victories for rate increases for childcare subsidies, income eligibility levels for parents and healthcare for licensed provider that she was an active organizer and participant in until 2014 when she stopped providing childcare.