3 more strike days added for Quebec CPE daycare workers – if no agreement reached

More than 400 Quebec childcare center workers in CPEs will strike again next week.

Initially, a three-day strike that began on April 2nd was extended to five days — having to end Tuesday. Instead it was announced this morning that they added strike days from April 14 to 16.

“We’ve kept negotiating for the last few days intensively every day. And there are still issues with the government that we need to find a solution,” said Stéphanie Vachon, the CPE representative for the FSSS-CSN, at a press conference in front of the CPE Sourithèque daycare in Montreal’s Ville-Marie borough.

Today is their 10th day of strike action, as their first strike mandate was five days long and they used it up. They had begun their new strike mandate with the three-day strike back on April 2.

All this could theoretically extend to a general and unlimited strike.

These workers are members of unions in the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS), which is affiliated with the CSN.

Salaries for the nearly 13,000 CSN workers are at the centre of contract negotiations with the Quebec government. 

They received an offer of 17.4 per cent over five years, the same wage increases as all government employees and other unions in CPEs that have recently renewed their collective agreements. 

“Especially, it’s the salary problem. We have a gap with the public sector that we want to know what the government is going to do to resolve that problem,” explained Vachon.

“Everything costs more. We just want to do the job we like and still have a good quality of life,” said Rachel Castonguay, an educator at CPE Sourithèque who was picketing at her daycare.

“It’s about principle. We don’t want to lose money. We don’t want to get there. But at the same time, the issues we’re facing are important.”  

Negotiations with Quebec to renew collective agreements in the Centres de la petite enfance (CPE) have been going on for several months.

The Conseil du trésor tabled its offers to all unions representing childcare workers in May 2024.

The other union organizations taking part in the national negotiation have already reached a settlement with Quebec, and their agreement in principle was even ratified by their members several months ago.

However, the FSSS, which represents the largest number of these workers, says it is still dissatisfied with Quebec’s offers, despite having obtained the same wage increases as all government employees and other unions in the CPEs. The union would like to see further improvements, including concerning overtime as well as more support for children with special needs, an improved workload and the ability to transfer vacation time when workers switch jobs to another daycare. 

“We want the government to understand that the educator needs to be consulted, what they need to help those kids with special needs,” said Vachon.

In a written response to CityNews, Quebec’s Treasury Board says that measures to support educators and children with special needs are being proposed on top of the 17.4 per cent increase. 

Speaking to parents in front of the picket line at CPE Sourithèque, they support the striking workers that include educators, kitchen staff, administrative staff and specialized educators. 

“We are behind them. We are supporting them. And this is mostly, I heard from this from mostly all the parents I’m talking to right now,” said Samuel Fortin-Lambert, a parent who has a child that attends CPE Sourithèque.

“When they say that they’re taking the population hostage, the parents, I think the government is, not the daycare people because we’re not hostages of any kind. We’re functioning and we’re behind them as long as it takes,” said Joëlle Bond, another parent who also has a child at CPE Sourithèque.

Going forward, the CSN says they have not ruled out an unlimited strike in the future. 

“Especially, it’s difficult for the parents and we want to find a solution without going to the unlimited general strike,” said Vachon.

-With files from the Canadian Press