Full day of strikes at 16 public daycares in Quebec

Workers at 16 public daycares (CPEs) in Quebec walked off the job Wednesday for the full day, joining the strike movement in daycare services, which until now has been limited to strikes lasting a few hours.

There are 500 workers who are members of the Syndicat québécois des employées de service (SQEES), affiliated with the FTQ, who will hold their first strike day.

They say they plan full days of strikes Wednesday, then Dec. 11 and 18 – and their mandate allows for an unlimited strike if necessary.

“It just feels very good to see that we’re here backing up each other, not just this daycare but all the other daycares that are not even (unionized). We’re fighting for them too,” said Parmida Rezvani, an early childhood educator at CPE de la Dame in Montreal.

“I’m going to keep doing this until we get because even not for me, but for others, because it’s not fair to have to be the teachers of the people of tomorrow and then not getting paid enough.”

Previously, the union members of the Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance (FIPEQ), affiliated with the CSQ, held several walkouts lasting several hours in recent weeks, both in early childhood centres and in family daycare services. Their strike allowed them to open services later each week.

The dispute is centered around remuneration, since the salary for a qualified entry-level educator is $21.60 per hour.

“We know that in schools, that in the health care services, educators are much more paid than in daycares,” said Jennifer Genest, vice-president of the Syndicat québécois des employées et employés de services (SQEES-FTQ).

“What we hope is to be able to have the same thing that in school and health care services. We would like to have a parity in salary for that.”

Rezvani called the pay “awful.”

“I’m going to be very honest with you. When I was working in a restaurant before I actually graduated, I was getting paid more and I had an easier life,” she said.

“The rent that I used to be able to pay, I can’t pay anymore, I have to get a roommate to live with me and that’s the reality of my life. I’m living that right now.”

Negotiators for the unions also want more resources to accommodate children with special needs.

“As a teacher in the class with eight different children that are each unique, I don’t have the necessities and the resources to be able to provide for a child with special needs what they need,” Rezvani said.

The Quebec government says attracting new educators into daycares is a priority in contract negotiations.

The Quebec Treasury Board has already stated the pressure tactics are only coming from the unions.

“We’re at the negotiating table, as you know, so I don’t want to go into the details of what we’re talking about,” said Treasury Board President Sonia Lebel. “We’ve talked about this a lot in recent weeks; the question of retaining students and attracting new students to the network is an integral part of our discussions. It can be done in a number of ways, but we’ve increased the salary by 18 per cent in the last round of negotiations. We also need to focus on work organization.”

Genest says the union is not opposed to escalating pressure tactics.

“We don’t want to go on an unlimited strike in January, but if we need, we’ll do so,” she said.

–With files from La Presse Canadienne