An agreement in principle has been reached between Quebec and CPE workers

An agreement in principle has been reached with Quebec for the renewal of collective agreements for workers in early childhood centres (CPEs), after several days of strikes in recent weeks.

The five-year agreement should promote better access to services for parents and their children, while valuing their staff, the Legault government announced in a press release published Sunday.

CPE workers have been without a collective agreement since March 2023.

Although the agreement “is not perfect,” it should provide solutions to the staff shortage problems in the province’s CPEs, explained Anne-Marie Bellerose, president of the Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance (FIPEQ) affiliated with the CSQ.

“These are still first steps and certain advances that will allow us to attract and retain our stakeholders in our educational services,” she emphasized in an interview.

The agreement in principle will be presented to local unions as soon as the holidays are over before being submitted to a vote by the approximately 3,000 members concerned. No details will be provided until then on the terms of the agreement.

Pending the verdict, the union has decided to suspend the six-day strike mandate it had at its disposal.

CPE workers had walked out on several Fridays in recent weeks to try to speed up negotiations.

“We are certain that the mobilization of our members, the fact that we went looking for six additional strike days that we did not want to use, of course, indicated to the government that we wanted real solutions, more than what was on the table,” said Bellerose, thanking the parents for their support at the same time.

Another agreement was reached last week with nearly 9,000 people responsible for family educational services.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews