400 daycare centres to strike on Jan. 23 in Quebec

The coat rack at a daycare centre, pictured in Langley, B.C., on May 29, 2018. (The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck)

Workers in 400 childcare centres will be holding a one-day strike on Jan. 23.

More than 12,000 of them are members of unions belonging to the CSN-affiliated Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS).

This will be their first strike day within their five-day mandate.

Negotiations for the renewal of collective agreements resumed on Monday with the Quebec government after the holiday break, but they did not produce the expected result, Stéphanie Vachon, the FSSS representative for the CPE sector, said on Tuesday.

“We said that a week’s notice to parents was welcome and that only one day (of strike action) would be necessary. We hope not to have to carry out all the others, of course,” she said in an interview.

The main issues in dispute are pay, workload and support for children with special needs.

She said that the salary offer still on the table is 12.5 per cent over five years.

The Treasury Board has already explained that, while all government employees were granted increases of 17.4 per cent over five years, this was in exchange for greater flexibility in work organization.

“I’m not in a position to tell you what they clearly want in return. We really need to know where they stand and how they see flexibility,’ Vachon explained.

The salary of a qualified childcare worker in a CPE is $21.60 an hour at the entry level. It rises to $28.60 at the 10th level, then $30.03 after one year at level 10.

Quebec has already reached an agreement with other union organizations representing workers in childcare centres, notably the Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance (FIPEQ), affiliated to the CSQ, and two of the major unions affiliated to the FTQ, the Syndicat québécois des employé(e)s de service and the Syndicat des métallos.

However, their members have not yet voted on their agreement in principle, as it was reached just before Christmas.

Vachon admitted that she had asked the Treasury Board for the terms of the agreements with these other unions, but that the Treasury Board would not give her the details.

The negotiations are taking place against a backdrop of labour shortages in childcare, as Quebec seeks to open thousands of spaces to meet demand.

The Treasury Board has already pointed out that unions have the right to use pressure tactics such as strikes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 14, 2025.