400 Quebec day cares to be affected by strike action Monday

Children's backpacks and shoes are seen at a daycare in Langley, B.C., May 29, 2018. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press)

About 400 of Quebec’s 1,772 day cares (CPEs) will be affected by another strike day on Monday.

This will be the third strike day for the union members concerned, those affiliated to the CSN-affiliated Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux (FSSS).

Their strike mandate is for five days, to be exercised at the appropriate time. They had already walked off for one day at a time on Jan. 23 and Feb. 6.

Negotiations took place again last Friday, but the FSSS did not consider the progress made sufficient to call off the strike on Monday.

The dispute concerns wages, workload, bonuses for workers in the regions, and support for children with special needs.

Negotiations have been going on for several months.

The three other union organizations involved in the negotiations - the CSQ-affiliated Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance, the Syndicat québécois des employé(e)s de service and the Syndicat des métallos, both affiliated to the FTQ - have already reached an agreement in principle with Quebec. The agreement has already been ratified by the members, in proportions ranging from 66 per cent to 100 per cent.

Generally speaking, their agreement provides for salary increases of 17.4 per cent over five years, as was the case for all government employees.

A special effort is also being made to attract candidates to CPEs, with a significant increase in the salary of a qualified educator at the first level. The wage will rise from $21.60 to $25.15 per hour.

Quebec is facing a shortage of childcare workers and the government wants to create thousands of spaces to meet parents' needs.

The Ministère de la Famille reports that there were 1,772 childcare centres offering 109,257 places on Dec. 31.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French Feb. 16, 2025.