The workers of some 400 early childhood centers (CPE) affiliated with the CSN in Quebec formed the first pickets of their indefinite general strike on Wednesday morning to demand an improvement in their working conditions.
“It is time to update the conditions in the childcare centers for everyone, both for educators and for support staff, administrative assistants, cooks,” said Nathalie Plante, director of the Early Childhood Center. Pitchounet, met in front of her establishment in the borough of Outremont, in Montreal.
Mme Plante notes that all employees should be entitled to a significant catch-up in salary – not just educators.
“Finding cooks is very difficult. They live a lot of stress, they take care of orders, they have to deal with a whole series of food allergies… They could go and work elsewhere in restaurants, but they devote themselves every day to our children. ”
The talks with Quebec also focus on the issue of the cost of group insurance, which can take $ 250 to $ 300 per month from educators’ pay, she said.
When you have employees who end up receiving $ 1,000 pay for two weeks of intense work, it’s not a lot to live in Montreal, to support a family.
Nathalie Plante, director of the early childhood center Le Pitchounet
Rami, who is an educator at the same CPE, explains that he has just spent $ 17,000 as a foreign student in order to receive training as an educator, and that he now receives $ 18 an hour.
“We have been open throughout the pandemic, taking care of the children of the doctors and nurses. We have made sacrifices and taken risks, and we ask that we have the means to practice our profession, ”he says.
“Unacceptable”, according to Legault
At a press briefing on Wednesday morning, Prime Minister François Legault called on the unions to accept his government’s offer regarding salary increases for educators.
PHOTO JACQUES BOISSINOT, THE CANADIAN PRESS
François Legault noted that the CSN’s decision to launch an indefinite general strike was “terrible” for parents and children.
“We offer educators to increase their salary to $ 30 an hour, an increase of 23%. On the other hand, the problem is that the unions are asking us for the same increases for support employees, such as those who do the cooking and cleaning. ”
Mr. Legault described this request as “unacceptable”.
It is not true that we can offer [une augmentation salariale de] 20% to all State employees, we do not have this capacity to pay.
François Legault, Premier of Quebec
The Federation of Early Childhood Workers of Quebec, however, noted that requests for salary increases for support employees were more between 13.6% and 14.8%, and were therefore lower than those made for educators.
The Premier noted that the CSN’s decision to launch an indefinite general strike was “terrible” for parents and children. On the issue of the special law, the Prime Minister said he was not considering using it at this time.
“What I want is that our offer, which meets the demands of the unions for the salaries of educators, is accepted. I want a negotiated settlement because our offer is reasonable. It does not make sense, what the unions do. “
Asked during another press scrum to find out if he wanted to settle the matter before Christmas, Mr. Legault replied that “we can negotiate even during the Holidays” and that “the important thing is that ‘we have a negotiated agreement’.
According to Sonia LeBel, President of the Treasury Board, the indefinite general strike “unbalances the family organization” of women who have to bring their children to the childcare center.
Mme LeBel can hardly understand why the union members of the CSN chose to go on strike, because “major advances” were being made in the negotiations, she said. The CSQ union members have not yet called for an indefinite general strike.
Certain jobs have been the object of priority in the actions of the government. “In the case of the CPEs, it is the educators. In education, we prioritized primary and secondary teachers, in health, nurses, ”she enumerated.
Québec solidaire on the picket lines
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, parliamentary leader and co-spokesperson for Québec solidaire, for his part noted that all caucus members were on the picket line Wednesday morning to support the strikers.
C’est une grève pour un certain modèle de société au Québec, c’est une grève pour les familles du Québec.
Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois, chef parlementaire et co-porte-parole de Québec solidaire
Les familles du Québec disent au premier ministre qu’il faut « enfin prendre soin des CPE », a-t-il ajouté. « Ça suffit de faire des économies sur le dos des CPE, sur le dos des gens qui y travaillent. »
Véronique Hivon, députée du Parti québécois, a aussi donné son appui aux travailleuses grévistes. « Cette cause pour laquelle se battent les travailleuses de la petite enfance, c’est une cause qui est aussi beaucoup plus grande que la seule cause de leurs conditions de travail, c’est la cause de l’avenir, carrément, de la qualité et du réseau des CPE », a-t-elle fait valoir.
La cheffe libérale, Dominique Anglade, a abondé dans le même sens. « Je pense, tout particulièrement […] to parents who have children in CPE and who will run up against closed doors, and that, the current situation, is the result of a government that does not listen, ”she lamented. The Liberal Party of Quebec believes that the government should negotiate “catching up for all stakeholders” in childcare.
With Tommy Chouinard, Press