It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Thursday, December 02, 2021
Montreal
Unlimited general strike shuts public daycares across Quebec
Negotiations are ongoing, but salaries for support staff continue to be a sticking point
CBC News · Posted: Dec 01, 2021
Educators and daycare workers protest in front of the CPE l'Aurore boréale in Rimouski. (Radio-Canada)
About 11,000 daycare workers are taking part in an unlimited strike, shutting down about 400 public daycares across the province of Quebec.
The Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), representing the employees, is exercising its pre-approved strike mandate after collective agreement negotiations with the province failed to bear fruit Tuesday.
Negotiations stalled over the issue of salaries for support staff. Premier François Legault's administration is offering educators a pay hike of up to 20 per cent of salary, and daycare unions, including the CSN, have agreed to the increase.
But support staff in the daycares, including those who work in maintenance, administration and kitchens, were only offered a nine per cent increase. That proved to be a sticking point.
Negotiations continue Wednesday and Thursday, but Lucie Longchamps, vice-president at the union told Radio-Canada they felt the need to go on strike now.
She said the negotiations last week showed no movement on the increase for support staff, and while the union was optimistic that progress could be made Tuesday, that didn't happen.
"Educators, their salary has been handled, or just about," she said. "But there's no question, for them, to move on without their colleagues, who work in other jobs, without an increase for them too."
Kyrstin Ghezzo, an educator at CPE Pointe-Saint-Charles in Montreal, is among those striking. While her pay has already been settled, she agreed that everyone who works in the daycare should be getting the same increase.
Kyrstin Ghezzo, an educator at CPE Pointe-Saint-Charles in Montreal, said she's striking in solidarity with her colleagues who aren't educators. (Kate McKenna/CBC)
"At this point, with all the employees and all the children, and more children and being more demanding and longer hours, it takes a toll on us," Ghezzo said.
"As much as parents are suffering, we're suffering also, because we're not getting paid at the moment," she added.
Tzivia Abaiov's son recently enrolled in a public daycare. She said she didn't know what the hourly wages are for daycare workers, but wants them to be satisfied, especially since they work with children.
"But at the same time, is the union and the strike the best way?" she asked.
Longchamps said the union will return to the table Wednesday and Thursday.
"We can be there seven days a week, almost 24 hours a day," she said. "We will do everything we can to get a satisfying agreement for daycare workers."
A second union, the Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance du Québec, affiliated with the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (FIPEQ-CSQ), has 3,200 members. They also approved an indefinite strike mandate last week, but no walkout date has been set.
With files from Kate McKenna and Tout un matin
Amid unlimited strike mandates, 2 of Quebec's daycare unions are at the negotiating table Thursday
MONTREAL -- The two main unions representing workers in Quebec's public daycare system (CPE) are at the negotiating table Thursday, as an unlimited strike by CSN members enters its second day.
Members with the CSN-affiliated Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS) voted overwhelmingly for an unlimited strike mandate, which started on Wednesday.
The CSQ-affiliated Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance (FIPEQ) also received an unlimited strike mandate from its members, but chose not to exercise it until next week.
The FTQ-affiliated Syndicat québécois des employés de service (SQEES) announced Wednesday that its members have also voted for an unlimited strike, but have not yet set a start date.
The main issue has become the wages paid to support staff in the CPEs, such as kitchen, administration and maintenance workers.
Quebec is offering six to 9.3 per cent, depending on job title.
FIPEQ is asking for a 13.6 to 14.8 per cent increase; the FSSS says it does not want to reveal its demands, but states they are lower than those requested for educators.
-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Dec. 2, 2021.
Hanes: The unloved labour of daycare workers
A strike by early childhood workers reminds us that often the most important jobs in our society are the most difficult and the least valued.
Author of the article: Allison Hanes • Montreal Gazette Publishing date: Dec 02, 2021 •
Daycare workers demonstrate to push lagging contract talks Tuesday, November 23, 2021 in Montreal. PHOTO BY RYAN REMIORZ /The Canadian Press Article content
A row of little potties used to sit along the back wall of my daughter’s daycare classroom back in the day, one for each kid.
Behind each, a piece of paper was posted with the child’s name and a list of which “functions” they were capable of doing on their own. There was also a rigorous schedule for when the group of two-year-olds was supposed to sit on their little thrones, like before bundling up in their snowsuits to play outside and prior to nap time.
Toilet training one toddler is tough enough, but eight? At the same time? Yet my daughter’s superhuman early childhood educator managed to make it look easy. When I commended her on her amazing efforts and organizational skills, she said she’d rather start them early on the potty than have to change diapers all year.
This is just one small example of the kind of thankless, challenging and back-breaking labour that takes place in Quebec’s Centres de la petite enfance day in and day out. And it sprang to mind as unionized staff at more than 400 CPEs walked off the job Wednesday and launched a general strike.
Some 44,000 families who depend on this critical service have been left in the lurch after arduous negotiations with the government failed to result in a deal. But however inconvenienced, many parents understand that the kind, devoted, hard-working people they entrust their children to have been undervalued for far too long. A Léger poll, conducted for one of the unions over the course of a series of rotating strikes held over the fall, found 44 per cent of respondents are sympathetic to their child’s caregivers .
Parents know that raising the next generation is a labour of love. But it’s one thing to make sacrifices for your own kids. It doesn’t mean those who make a career of nurturing the littlest Quebecers should be underpaid. Working with children may be a calling, but it deserves fair compensation.
Much like those who toil in crucial caregiving professions dominated by women, including teachers, nurses or orderlies in homes for the elderly, early childhood educators have long been neglected. Despite the economic advantages of Quebec’s 25-year-old publicly subsidized childcare system to both the state’s coffers and parents’ pocketbooks, wages have stagnated in recent years.
Now, in the midst of a labour shortage, dearth of available daycare spots, and an ongoing pandemic where they are called upon to put their health at risk, many educators are quitting the profession entirely. There’s easier work to be found than wiping noses and quelling tantrums. Crafts, storytime and singalongs — the fun parts of the job — are emotional labour. Dispensing hugs and soothing tears can eventually lead to exhaustion or cause even the best educators to burn out.
This perfect storm has finally forced the government to acknowledge that it can’t take the labour of daycare workers for granted any more. It now realizes it needs to do more — much more — to retain, recruit and recognize the importance of staff in CPEs. Its last offer included salary hikes of 23 per cent to early childhood educators, bringing their wages up to $30 an hour, Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel said in the National Assembly on Wednesday. After years of unions struggling to wring a little more money out of the public purse, this is significant progress.
The sticking point that triggered the strike, however, is that the proposal to other staff, like cooks, cleaners and administrators, was far less generous. So educators — who know that feeding kids, sanitizing toys and overseeing operations is also overlooked under-valued work — took to the picket lines in solidarity.
The government of Premier François Legault also announced unprecedented incentives this week for those willing to train for hard-to-fill, in-demand jobs in Quebec to address a growing labour shortage. The $3.9-billion plan offers up to $475 per week in stipends and scholarships to attract people to study and eventually work in several priority sectors — among them Quebec’s daycare network.
The enticements may help lure new recruits to get their diplomas in childcare. But reasonable wages will be needed to keep them there long afterwards. That may be another factor in the wage hikes put forward to early childhood educators.
The pandemic has exposed the often difficult working conditions and paltry pay of those we depend on to do some of the most important work our society. If we care about our precious children and vulnerable elderly, we must also care for their caregivers, treat them with respect and show how much we value their efforts.
Daycare workers demonstrate to push lagging contract talks Tuesday, November 23, 2021 in Montreal. PHOTO BY RYAN REMIORZ /The Canadian Press
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