MONTREAL -- The 10,000 family childcare providers unionized with the CSQ are taking another step in their pressure tactics: on Friday morning, they will open their doors half an hour later.
This pressure tactic is part of an escalation that was launched on Jan. 31. Each Friday, these home childcare services will open later and later, 15 minutes at a time, until they reach two hours later after eight weeks.
These family educational service managers are members of the Federation of Early Childhood Workers, affiliated with the Centrale des Syndiques du Québec. The CSQ represents the vast majority of home childcare providers in Quebec.
The mandate for pressure tactics that was adopted by the union members also provides for a half-day and a day of closure. However, the daycare workers will not necessarily employ these tactics after the late closure movement.
The main sticking point in negotiations is compensation. These home child care providers are not paid by the hour; they receive a subsidy for the service they offer. Many say are working for less than minimum wage.
The lowest-paid workers earn only $12.40 an hour, while those operating in the public daycares earn an average of $21 an hour.
The family ministry said last week that negotiations were only at the beginning of the process. It therefore seemed to the government too early to undertake pressure tactics in this way.
