3 more strike days this week in 400 CPEs

Negotiations continued Monday between Quebec and the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS), despite the ongoing strike by workers in 400 childcare centres.

These union members from the FSSS, affiliated with the CSN, held their 11th day of strike action on Monday.

This second round of strike action is scheduled to continue Tuesday and Wednesday, unless an agreement is reached by then to renew the collective agreement.

“The strike is continuing in order to reach an agreement as quickly as possible,” the union confirmed Monday.

Negotiations were held last weekend to avoid a strike, but “the parties have not reached an agreement,” the FSSS announced on social media Sunday evening.

“Discussions continue intensively to reach an agreement as quickly as possible,” it added.

The Quebec government and the FSSS have been negotiating more intensively in recent days, but discussions began several months ago.

Last week, Stéphanie Vachon, the representative of the Early Childhood Center sector at the FSSS, stated that only salary conditions were preventing a settlement.

However, the Quebec government is sticking to its offer of a 17.4 per cent salary increase over five years, out of respect for the unions that have already settled, as stated by the President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel.

This is indeed what was accepted by all government employees and by the three other unions representing childcare workers and who took part in these national negotiations: the Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance (FIPEQ), affiliated with the CSQ, the Syndicat québécois des employé(e)s de service (SQEES), and the Syndicat des métallos (Metalworkers), both affiliated with the FTQ.

As part of the agreement reached with the three other unions, the entry-level salary of a qualified childcare worker has been significantly increased, from $21.60 per hour to $25.15. Improvements have also been made to overtime. A $7 hourly premium is added from the 36th to the 39th hour of work in the week. The premium then increases to $17 from the 40th hour of work in the week. After 41 hours, educators are paid time and a half.

Other improvements have also been made to vacation time and the group insurance plan, according to the unions that settled.

But the FSSS finds this insufficient; it insists that the government’s offers be improved. “It is important that the government agree to improve its offers to address the workers’ concerns,” it argued Monday.

The union federation did not grant interviews Monday to focus on the negotiations.

The Ministry of Family Affairs specifies that as of December 31, there were 940 CPEs in Quebec and 1,772 “installations” – a CPE can manage more than one installation.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews