MOM – Mothers Owed Money

For all the mothers out there, consider one word today: union.

Think about it - you could take the world of fathers by storm if you banded together to fight for adequate wages.

For almost every task a mother does in a given day there is a business charging money to perform the same service.

Several Rio Grande Valley mothers said that before they decided to leave their jobs and become stay-at-home moms, they thought they would get a little R & R from time to time.

Wrong.

"It's constant," said 34-year-old Angelina Zapata. "It's a lot of work. I don't really get a break. It seems like there is always something to do. Compared to being able to work outside of your home - you have a lunch break without your kids, you can go to the bathroom without your kids - as a stay-at-home mom you get no break."

Zapata left teaching when her oldest son, Carlo, was born in 2003. The Mission mother now has two other children, Andres, 3, and Diego, 18 months.

Zapata is not alone when she takes a deep breath, chuckles and runs through everything that needs to be done in one day - usually starting about 6:30 a.m. and going pretty much nonstop until 8 p.m.

Jolynn Balli, 34, thought life was going to be a little less stressful when she decided to stay at home in Donna to raise her 5-year-old son, Aron Cancino.

Keeping him occupied and coming up with creative things to do isn't exactly easy, though.

"You start to run out of ideas," Balli said. "The challenges are a little bit different than when you are working."

Mothers have found they have clocked into a job that they can't clock out of.

So, moms, as a Mother's Day present to you, here are some tips on how to start a local union started and get the money you deserve:

First you need a name - Rio Grande Valley Chapter of MOM (Mothers Owed Money).

Now you need to know how to organize. Ed Sills, spokesman for the Texas chapter of the nation's largest federation of unions, the AFL-CIO, offered his insights.

"It's a whimsical notion," he said, noting moms might have a hard time organizing since they don't all work for the same person. Legally, he said, each household would have to be viewed as its own company to allow for negotiations

"If somehow you could get over that hurdle and unions could represent stay-at-home moms, there is no question in my mind that we would be seeking a strong living wage for anyone that takes on all the tasks that a mom has to do," he said.

"The level of quality and variety of labor that any mom does, if you translate that into the formal workplace, there is no question in my mind that that would have to command a decent salary."

Now, moms, you need a starting price for negotiations.

The Monitor contacted businesses that provide similar services to some of the biggest tasks mothers perform to determine the dollar value of each one.

Moms, you're worth $182,135 a year.

Dads, get your checkbooks out.
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Jackie Leatherman covers Hidalgo County government and general assignments at The Monitor. She can be reached at (956) 683-4424.