To increase pressure on negotiations, 13,000 childcare workers across Quebec are taking one-day strike actions. The first action was January 23 and a second was held on February 6.
The workers, who are represented by the CSN union, are in all areas from educators to kitchen workers to administration. They have negotiating for over 8 months.
Key demands are a lighter workload, better compensation to ensure attraction and retention; regional disparity bonuses for employees in certain remote regions; and measures to improve the quality of services for children including through clearly defined and respected ratios between the number of educators and children, and better support for children with special needs.
CSN rep Stéphanie Vachon said, “We don’t feel any urgency to resolve things quickly on the government’s side. The government must do more, it must respond to the solutions proposed by the workers to improve our working conditions and provide better services to children.”
The strikes affect more than 400 childcare centres across Quebec.
[Photo: CSN]
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