Rotating home daycare worker strikes shut down 30,000 Montreal-area spots

The province’s home daycare workers are holding rotating strikes across Quebec to protest against, what they call, the government’s lack of action in negotiating better salaries.

Today’s strikes are in the Montreal, Quebec City and Montérégie regions.

Protesters convened in Chatêauguay Wednesday morning wearing black T-shirts featuring the number 50 — what they said are the number of hours they actually work in a week, although they are only paid for 35 of them.

Cynthia Buckley, a home daycare operator in Île-Perrot, said on Wednesday that the salary earned by daycare workers needs a reality check.

"Most of us work way more than 50 hours a week. We have to go do groceries, we have to do cleaning, we have to do follow up training, we have to do meetings. It’s really a 24/7 sort of job," Buckley said.

More than 30,000 daycare spots in Montreal alone are affected by today’s strike.

Government offer not enough

The home daycare workers are asking for a five per cent salary increase to recognize the amount of additional hours they spend working.

The Quebec government has not recognized the additional 15 hours of work the daycare operators say they work, and has offered a 0.5 per cent increase over the next three years.

Home daycare workers currently earn about $12 an hour. They are asking to be paid the same as other daycare workers — about $15 an hour.

 Diane Rufh said the government's offer is a slap in the face.

"It's insulting, to tell you the truth. It's like telling me my work is not worth anything, and if you speak to my parents [clients], they won't tell you that. They really appreciate the work that I do," Rufh said.

This is the third day of rotating strikes in the province. The protests will continue moving eastward to the Saguenay, Gaspésie, North Shore and Lower St. Lawrence regions next.