The President of the Treasury Board, Sonia LeBel, defends the government offers to childcare workers and considers “desperate for parents” the indefinite strike that has just been started by union members of the CSN.
In an interview with 98.5 FM radio station on Wednesday, the minister insisted on the fact that she was offering up to $ 30 an hour, at the maximum of the salary scale, to educators in the Centers de la petite childhood.
But the stake, now, relates especially to the wages of the “other” workers in the CPE, in the kitchen, in the administration and in maintenance.
On this, the Minister was categorical: “I cannot make the same effort for the other employees as I did for the educators”. She estimates that the increase offered to educators reaches 23%.
For “other” workers in childcare centers, she says she offers 9.3%, in all fairness with what has been offered to their peers in the public sector.
But, according to the Federation of Early Childhood Workers, affiliated with the CSQ, the increase offered varies from 6% to 9.3% depending on the job title. And the FIPEQ emphasizes that their peers are better paid in the public sector in a proportion of 20 to 35%, depending on the job title.
Minister LeBel admitted that these “other” women workers do not earn the same salary as their peers in the public sector, but said this is justified by different tasks and environment.
Asked about the tabling of a special law, Minister LeBel reiterated that she preferred an agreement with the labor organizations, but that all possibilities were explored.
As for the indefinite strike started Wednesday by the workers of the CPEs members of unions of the Federation of health and social services, affiliated to the CSN, Minister LeBel stressed that “parents cannot tolerate it for very long”.
“The unlimited general strike is desperate for the parents,” she said, referring to an often difficult family organization.