Quebec daycare workers hoping to avoid unlimited general strike
Posted September 20, 2020 3:12 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
MONTREAL (CITYNEWS) – At-home daycare workers are looking to avoid an unlimited general strike, which is set to begin Monday.
The union representing 10,000 Quebec at-home daycare workers is extending an olive branch to the Quebec government. It is proposing to bring in an arbitrator to help finalize a deal over wages.
The union says it will sign a deal overnight, if needed, to help avoid leaving 60,000 families without childcare.
The Federation des intervenantes en petite enfance (FIPEQ) began rotating strikes on Sept. 1. About 40 meetings have been held between the union and Quebec’s department of families, led by Minister Mathieu Lacombe, since March 2019.
Rather than being paid by the hour, daycare educators receive a subsidy from the government to provide the service at home.
Members say they are being paid the equivalent of $12.42 per hour as they care for six children – for about 50 to 60 hours a week. Minimum wage in Quebec is $12.50 per hour.
The government’s last offer was $12.83 per hour, which the union called unacceptable. The union is asking for $16.75 per hour.
On Friday, the daycare workers concluded just over two weeks of rotating strike days that were held across Quebec.
Striking workers are expected to demonstrate in front of the Montreal office of the provincial families’ minister on Monday at 9:30 a.m.
The union says it will suspend its pressure tactics if the government agrees to its request for the arbitrator.
There are 2,500 daycare positions vacant across the province as members leave the profession in droves.
–with files from The Canadian Press
