Dozens of parents, in solidarity with the ongoing nursery strike, brought their children to the doors of the Quebec family minister’s office on Friday.
Young children dressed in snow suits were playing in front of Mathieu Lacombe’s office building behind a yellow warning tape.
The rally organized by a group of Montreal parents was intended to show their support for the public sector nursery unions in their ongoing contract negotiations with the Quebec government.
READ MORE: Hundreds of Quebec kindergartens closed due to general strike as contract talks stalled
“If he doesn’t allow us to go to school or work, well, he can take care of our children,” said organizing mother Nadine Ouellet.
“Please watch them. We would like to contribute, we would like to work and study all the time having children ”.
Friday marked the third day in a row in the unlimited strike mandate imposed by public sector daycare employees.
Thousands of workers in Quebec went on strike on Wednesday after contract talks with the government stalled over wage increases for support personnel, such as kitchen and maintenance workers.
The strike has shut down around 400 government-subsidized daycare centers across the province.
Quebec’s largest daycare workers union, the Confederación de Sindicatos Nacionales, or Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), says more people in the sector will resign and the province will face a labor shortage if the government cannot increase significantly. wages and improve work. terms.
This is a historic fight, said CSN union spokeswoman Stephanie Vachon.
“Every week we will ask the workers, ‘Is it okay like this? Are you ready to stop? Do you want to go further? They will choose. It’s them, not us, ”Vachon said.
READ MORE: Quebec nursery workers are not satisfied with the minister after the debate
About 10,000 CSN-affiliated nurseries participate in the unlimited strike, the main stumbling block being the salaries of the support staff.
Quebec’s new offer on the table, about 20 percent over three years for educators, equates to $ 30 an hour. Support staff, including kitchen and maintenance employees, were offered salary increases of up to 11 percent over the same time period.
Treasury Board President Sonia LeBel said Friday that unions are negotiating backwards.
A 3 percent increase from Wednesday said Lebel was higher than what was offered to his public sector peers.
“Every time I move forward, they take a step back, even two steps back,” LeBel told a news conference.
The union disagrees.
“We believe that it is not fair for all those people. They need to catch up with the public sector en masse, ”Vachon said.
According to Vachon, there is a salary difference of $ 4 to $ 5 less than in the public sector for the same job.
Adding pressure to the situation, both the Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance (FIPEQ), affiliated to the CSQ, and the Syndicat québécois des Employés de service (SQEES), affiliated to the QFL, have voted in favor of the strike mandates, although a strike date has not been set. dice.
Despite this, LeBel says return-to-work legislation is not yet on the table.
“As of today, my goal of reaching a conclusion by signing an agreement remains,” said LeBel.
– with files from The Canadian Press
© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
Reference-globalnews.ca