Ontario’s Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECE) are still waiting for promised 2024 pay increases and advocates say the delay is causing stress for workers and contributing to current staffing shortages.
In November 2023, Doug Ford’s government committed to raising the minimum wage for RECEs to $23.86 an hour, an increase of almost $4 over what they were expected to earn that year. The new wage floor would be implemented in 2024, officials said at the time, with additional increases of $1 each year until 2026, at which point they are supposed to earn $25.86 an hour.
However, staff have yet to see the extra money they were promised.
“I think overall what this just reinforced for us is that it’s not a priority for Ontario,” Alana Powell, RECE and executive director of the Ontario Association of Early Childhood Educators, told CTV News Toronto in a interview on Friday.
Powell said that when the announcement was made, it seemed as if the government was suggesting that staff could expect to see pay increases in their January paychecks.
Instead, the government appears to be slowly fulfilling its promise.
in a March memo sent to those responsible for municipal servicesThe government indicates that the new salaries came into effect on January 1. However, the memo goes on to say that they expect cities to send the cash to daycare operators by the end of April.
However, additional provincial payments to those service managers are not expected until the summer.
“Beginning in June 2024, payments to (service system administrators) will include incremental funding related to the 2024 workforce strategy allocation, with an initial lump sum payment to cover funding requirements from January to June, and the remaining funding will be paid monthly after this,” the memo says.
Powell noted that there is confusion about the timeline and when RECEs will actually receive their paychecks.
“The promise that it will be retroactive is good,” he said. “But in terms of living, planning and affordability, the wait and uncertainty has been really stressful.”
“We even saw last week that an early childhood educator started a GoFundMe to help her pay her bills because she’s struggling and she’s certainly not alone.”
When asked by CTV News, the government did not provide an explanation for why salaries have been delayed, saying only that the process takes time.
“We appreciate that these payments need to go out as quickly as possible, which is why we are working with municipalities (service system administrators) to ensure that all eligible RECEs receive their full back pay in the form of pay increases,” a spokesperson said. from the office of the Minister of Education, Stephen Lecce. he said in a statement.
A position paper suggested last year that Ontario early childhood educators were among the lowest paid in Canada, and advocates warned at the time that this could create a “perfect storm” amid a labor shortage. construction site.
Ministry officials have warned that Ontario could be short of at least 8,500 RECEs by 2026 as the province adds more child care spaces under the federal program.
Carolyn Ferns of the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care said in October that the labor crisis was causing local child care programs to close rooms and limit enrollment. She told CTV News Toronto this week that she was a big supporter of the government’s promised wage increase in the fall.
“That was supposed to come in 2024 and… I had child care workers like RECE email me in January, saying ‘why isn’t this on my paycheck?’”
“I think everyone thought it was going to start like this year,” he added. “(The salary increase) is a big difference. “That’s something you really count on.”
The increase applies to RECEs working in child care centers and opting into the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care (CWELCC) system, which will eventually result in an average rate of $10 per day for parents with children under six years old. in licensed child care by September 2025.
With files from The Canadian Press