Quebec daycare workers plan two-day strike in October

MONTREAL -- Some Quebec daycare workers are planning to strike on in late October unless they reach an agreement in principle with management by then.

In a press release issued Thursday afternoon, the QFL-affiliated Syndicat québécois des employées et employés de service announced that "its local units have voted for a 10-day strike mandate that will be exercised at the appropriate time," specifying that the first two days of the strike will take place on Oct. 18 and 19.

Sylvie Nelson, president of the SQEES-FTQ, explained that the dispute is primarily about wages.

"At $19 an hour as an entry-level salary, when you need three years of college to be an educator, you might as well work in a restaurant or in a warehouse. These are jobs that require much less involvement and knowledge, and offer higher salaries than a position in a CPE," Nelson said.

Technical training in early childhood is not recognized for its true value, she said, because "it is a predominantly female job, if not almost all."

The union head added that "these women, in the major centrs and their suburbs, are overwhelmingly of immigrant origin" and that "the current negotiations are an opportunity for the government to say NO to large-scale discrimination."

OTHER UNIONS WALK OUT

Several CPEs in Quebec will also be affected by a strike on Oct. 12 and 13, as workers unionized with the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) plan to walk out on those two days.

This rotating strike would affect the Greater Montreal region, namely Montreal, Laval, Lanaudière and Montérégie, as well as the Eastern Townships on Oct. 12, and the Quebec City, Chaudière-Appalaches and Abitibi regions on Oct. 13.

Last week, the president of the Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance du Québec (FIPEQ) explained in an interview that the exercise of these strike days will depend on the government offer that the union is expecting on Oct. 7.

"If the government's offer is sufficiently interesting in its eyes, the strike will not take place," said Valérie Grenon, president of the FIPEQ.

Before the CSQ union members, those of the CSN-affiliated Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux had walked off the job for one day, and they have announced a second and third day of strike action on Oct. 14 and 15.

These union members have a 10-day strike mandate.