CPE daycares affected by FIPEQ strike Friday morning
Posted November 22, 2024 12:09 pm.
Last Updated November 22, 2024 12:50 pm.
Some 3,000 workers in the Centres de la petite enfance (CPE), members of the FIPEQ, went on strike Friday morning.
The CPEs opened at 8:30 a.m., marking the second Friday of walkouts by members of the CSQ-affiliated Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance (FIPEQ).
During the first week, opening hours were 7:30 a.m. on Fridays.
On the third Friday, it will open at 10 a.m., and on the fourth, at noon.
FIPEQ-CSQ says it’s “trying to wake up the government. It is absurd for the government to come to the bargaining table without realistic offers while the network is collapsing.” They add that working conditions and salaries are pushing the next generation of childcare workers away from the network and undermining staff retention.
In addition to negotiating the renewal of the CPE collective agreement, FIPEQ is also negotiating the renewal of the collective agreement for the 9,000 educational service providers it represents in home childcare.
“Early childhood is the cradle of our education system, where it all begins with early childhood educators. They’re not asking for the moon, just recognition and decent working conditions. They richly deserve it, and it’s high time the government finally put its words into action by giving the tables mandates to do so. We don’t have time to wait! The interveners are currently holding the network at arm’s length,” says Luc Beauregard, Secretary-Treasurer of the CSQ.
On Thursday, the FTQ-affiliated Syndicat québécois des employés de service (SQEES) announced that its members will walk off the job for three full days, on Dec. 4, 11 and 18, in the CPEs where it has members. The SQEES also has a mandate for an unlimited general strike.
“It’s incomprehensible to us that everyone, except the government, recognizes the state of the network, and that everyone recognizes that the income of early childhood educators – an income that can hardly be described as a survival income – is insufficient. We may be a women’s environment, but it’s time to show respect for the network’s female workers and offer them decent living and working conditions,” says Anne-Marie Bellerose, President of FIPEQ-CSQ.
From Nov. 23 to Dec. 5, 2024, CPE members will vote for new strike mandates.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
