The union representing 83 daycare centres in the Montreal and Laval region said it has not yet made a decision on a strike, while the employer association maintains that the union has reacted to its latest counter-proposal by asking for an unlimited strike mandate.

The union of Montreal and Laval daycare workers will consult its members on a strike mandate on Wednesday evening.

The union is attached to the CSN-affiliated Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux.

"It is not certain that it will be an unlimited general strike. It could be a bank of strike days to be held at a time deemed appropriate. It will be up to the members to decide," said union vice-president of negotiations Nathalie Fontaine, in an interview Monday.

The National Childcare Employers' Association countered that "parents would be penalized, workers would be penalized, and so would the childcare centres. No one wins from strike days," said the employers' association spokesperson Chantal Bellavance.

In the event of a strike, some 1,500 workers would be affected, in 65 daycare centres that manage 83 facilities.

Fontaine said that negotiations with the employers' association for the Montreal and Laval region are "at an impasse" after months of discussions.

Bellavance believes, however, that there is still a chance to reach an agreement, as long as the parties sit down and negotiate.

"These are articles that can be negotiated, discussed," she said. "There are three articles left to negotiate. We think there is a way to settle this between the union and management without a strike mandate."

Bellavance said she does not understand the union's attitude. She said that she has "accepted the entire union proposal," in particular the point of integrating the national agreement concluded last winter with all the unions.

It should be noted that the association was not at the national bargaining table last winter, which is why the dispute is only now coming to light.

The employer association does admit to having three demands on regional clauses -- and that's the problem with the union, which sees them as "major rollbacks", Fontaine said.

These three clauses relate to guarantees on the length of the workweek, the role of the work team and the selection and tenure committee.

The employers' association insists on these guarantees, in the name of the flexibility that must be had, the "functional" aspect of a centre and the accountability that management must have.

The union, on the other hand, does not agree.

"We can't go any lower than the status quo," said Fontaine.

-- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on April 11, 2022.