The government must immediately stop using the problems experienced by parents to justify its negotiation strategies with unions representing childcare workers. Even aware that the indefinite general strike represents a colossal headache for parents, they do not want a special law that would force childcare workers to return to work.
The inconvenience caused by this walkout for families does not justify the imposition of a measure that interferes with the right to demand the improvement of working conditions and the enhancement of the public network of childcare services. A special law that would force staff back to work could exacerbate the conflict. What will happen if workers become so discouraged that they leave the network they are working to protect? The end of the negotiations would not then sign the end of the work-family balance problems experienced by the parents.
We believe that improving their working conditions is in fact a solution to the shortage of affordable and quality places in educational childcare services.
For many years now, service disruptions have been increasing due to the exodus of staff from childcare centers. The quality of services deteriorates with each departure. Added to this is the anguish felt by thousands of parents waiting for a place, or the despair that pervades those forced to sacrifice their career, their education or their mental health in response to this crisis.
It is especially our children who pay the price. Those with special needs who do not receive the specialized services they need. Those who have to deal with abrupt and continuous changes that weaken their integration into a childcare environment due to the departure of educators. Those who have only a limited time to interact with them, exhausted by the overload of work. Workers are the backbone of childcare centers and we demand that the government recognize the essential role they play in the lives of our little ones.
We are opposed to the government justifying its negotiating tactics on the basis of the difficulties in reconciling our family and professional responsibilities.
We ask him to adhere to the changes proposed by those responsible for ensuring the well-being, safety and harmonious development of our little ones. In doing so, we ask him to grant them the necessary resources to achieve this. The government will speak for us if it grants their demands.
In Quebec, we have inherited a network of quality public educational services, based on a model of governance by parents and for the community. The result of struggles of feminist and popular groups, our CPEs have ensured the overall development of our children in addition to increasing our collective economic wealth. Thanks to them, Quebec has risen to the top of the world ranking of the employability rate among women aged 20 to 54.
We sincerely hope that the government will respond to the requests of the staff in childcare centers, who are also those of the parents who are lucky enough to attend them, but also of those who hope one day that their child will flourish there.
* My place at work is a movement born in response to the shortage of daycare spaces in Quebec and the failure of the single access point La Place 0-5