The teachers' union and daycare providers rallied outside City Hall Wednesday, demanding the city step in to pay more than 40 day care providers who were stiffed out of weeks of pay by a child care network funded by the city.

“These people are owed over a half a million dollars. Pay them, just pay them. What is the problem?” Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers, said.

The city did pay Highbridge Advisory Council Family Services, the network these providers were associated with. But as NY1 reported in July, Highbridge stopped using that money to pay the in-home day care providers actually doing the work sometime in May.

And while Highbridge abruptly closed the day care centers it ran directly, the in-home providers it stopped paying kept their doors open, unwilling to turn away families who counted on them, whose child care is subsidized by the city.

“I do have a worker with me who, who I have to let go because of a lack of money. I have rent to pay, bills to pay. And all [of] this happened Highbridge let us hanging. We are more than 40 providers that we are struggling day by day,” Juana Reanos, a day care provider, said.

Providers have since been connected to new networks, or been set up to be paid directly with city vouchers. But they have not received the backpay, they are owed about $12,000 each, on average.

Mulgrew says the city failed to do its due diligence in ensuring Highbridge — which previously had struggled to pay providers on time — was fiscally sound.

“They did the work. They supplied the child care for so many families,” Mulgrew said of the providers. “The folks in here, in City Hall, the folks in the Department of [Education], the folks in Office Management and Business, didn't do their work. But I'm sure they get paid.”

Mulgrew said for weeks, the union was in discussions with the DOE about getting the workers paid directly for their labor. That changed last week, when the DOE said each provider should individually sue Highbridge, Mulgrew said.

“I was told, ‘The lawyers said.' And the minute I hear the lawyers said, I know the workers are going to get screwed,” Mulgrew said.

The education department didn’t answer a question about what kind of oversight it has in place to ensure networks actually pay the workers who provide the child care seats the department is funding.

The department previously filed a show cause order, and intends to move forward in the court process.

“New York City Public Schools expects every contracted Network to pay its affiliated providers, and it is wholly unacceptable that Highbridge Advisory Council Family Services did not disburse its payments from NYCPS as required. They did not respond to our show cause order, and we are moving forward in that process accordingly.  We anticipate having a final resolution shortly,” spokeswoman Chyann Tull said.