This text is part of the special Syndicalism booklet
“Our network currently has a great need for love,” immediately announces Valérie Grenon, president of the Federation of Early Childhood Workers of Quebec (FIPEQ-CSQ). The network to which it refers is obviously that of childcare centers (CPE) and those responsible for family childcare services, regulated and subsidized.
“Shortly after its creation in 1997, the Quebec network of CPEs had become an example to follow,” recalls Ms.me Grenon. We even came from Europe to be inspired by it. This is no longer the case nowadays. Over the years, especially under the last Liberal governments, the network has been largely neglected, and today, we feel the full effect. »
This neglect is currently being felt by a major labor shortage in all sectors of activity. “First, it is increasingly difficult to convince young students to enroll in the DEC in early childhood education techniques, because it is the DEC that offers the second highest remuneration bass, she continues. Then, even after ten years of experience, an educator does not receive a competitive salary, which poses a staff retention problem for us. Same story for the other trades. “For example, a food manager who leaves a CPE for a school cafeteria can earn $8 an hour, illustrates Mr.me Grenon. There is a clear distortion between the remuneration in our network and that of the school and hospital networks. We are not competitive. »
In the case of educational services in the family environment, the shortage is mainly felt by the lack of respite. “Several of our family leaders opened their services at the start of the network and are now approaching retirement age,” she explains. The problem is that, under current conditions, it is difficult to find a replacement. In addition, the network must also take new realities into account, in particular the ever-increasing presence of children with difficulties. “These children need the services of specialized educators and we are unable to attract them to our network,” said Ms.me Grenon, which considerably increases the task of our regular educators. »
Negotiations in sight
Negotiations for the renewal of the collective agreements are beginning and the FIPEQ is tackling them by adopting a new strategy, joint bargaining. “We made the decision to join our two voices, that of CPE employees and that of CSRs, because there are enough common issues, says Ms.me Grenon. By doing so, we hope that strength in numbers will force the government to listen to us, because we have solutions to offer. Obviously, there will be two negotiating tables to take into account the particularities of the two sectors, but we want to speak with one voice. »
But beyond the next negotiations and the gains that may or may not be made, Valérie Grenon believes that the CAQ government must show initiative and come up with a medium and long-term plan for the public services network. early childhood education.
“The CAQ is sensitive to the problem, I admit, but the solutions envisaged are always short-term,” she laments. For example, to address the shortage of educators, the government is proposing to reduce training requirements. Yes, this makes it possible to train more educators more quickly, but once they arrive at the CPE, these new educators, who have not received the full training, will need help, and it is the regular educators who will therefore have to support, thus adding to their workload. Basically, by doing so, we end up going in circles. »
What Valérie Grenon suggests is to stop thinking in the short term and instead focus on the medium and long term. “You can’t fix everything all at once,” she says. Instead, you have to think about the medium and long term and have a plan. What do we expect from the network in a few years? And once the objective has been set, what are the actions to be put in place to achieve it? To do this, we must go back to the foundation of the network and the choice of society that it represents, namely a public network of early childhood education services that will once again make us proud. »
“We have to go back to the foundation of the network and the choice of society that it represents, namely a public network of early childhood education services that will once again make us proud. »
This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, relating to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.