Family daycares vote on mandate to open later until strike day

Ontario government says more money is needed from federal government to create more child care spaces in the province on March 14, 2024 (Katelyn Wilson/CTV News).

Heavier pressure tactics could soon begin in family daycare, as 9,000 workers have just voted in favour of a pressure tactics mandate that calls for services to open later and later, up to and including a strike day.

The 9,000 family childcare providers in 17 regions of Quebec are members of the unions of the CSQ-affiliated Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance (FIPEQ).

They want to put pressure on the Quebec government to make faster progress in negotiations to renew their collective agreement.

The mandate they adopted, by a 95 per cent majority, provides for later opening of the daycare service, every day of the week, for four weeks.

The first week, the service would open half an hour later; the second week, an hour later; the third week, an hour and a half later; and the fourth week, two hours later.

The mandate also provides for a half-day strike and a full-day strike, but to be exercised at the appropriate time only -- which would not necessarily be as soon as after the first four weeks of delayed opening of the daycare service.

"We don't want to use it. It's our last resort. We'll try to apply pressure to get things moving in other ways, but if we don't have a choice, we don't have a choice," said FIPEQ president Valérie Grenon in an interview.

In such cases, parents will be notified at least 10 working days in advance in order to find an alternative solution, she added.

"It won't be in the next few days, but it could happen faster than we think," said Grenon.

Negotiations with Quebec have not broken down, however, as a meeting is scheduled for this week.

Grenon maintains, however, that the financial issue has not yet been addressed. Only some of the normative clauses have been discussed, such as child care and the structure of the coordinating offices.

Family daycare providers are not paid an hourly wage, and workers in childcare centres are not. Instead, they receive a subsidy from the Ministère de la Famille to cover their wages, food for the children, toys, items needed for childcare, etc.

The FIPEQ is the union organization with the largest number of members in family child care. It also has thousands of members in CPEs, although it does not have a majority there.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 8, 2024.