Childcare workers in Centretown are encouraged by Ontario’s planned dollar-an-hour increase in wages for employees across the province, but they say they’ll also be closely tracking the impact and sustainability of the income boost.
“I think it’s a positive step in addressing the workforce issues in regulated childcare, but there’s definitely some questions that still need to be addressed,” says Lauren Hamashuk, of the Dalhousie Parents Daycare on Booth Street and part-time education officer at the Union for Childcare Workers of Eastern Ontario, CUPE local 2204.
“How is the government going to ensure that the money going to the for-profit sector is properly used in increased compensation for program staff?” asked Hamashuk. “How will the wage increase be incorporated when new programs are open and expanded?”
On Jan. 19, Premier Kathleen Wynne announced that the government is moving forward to implement a wage enhancement for eligible childcare staff in the licensed childcare sector. The budget set aside $269 million in funding for the $1-an-hour hike this year and the same next year, and will apply only to workers making less than $26.27 an hour.
The money will be available for a three-year period as committed in the budget, but Hamashuk says the plan seems “very short term,” as there is no guarantee the funding will continue after the planned three years.
“It might cause some disparity with those who are in place now and would get this wage enhancement, but down the road if you’re hiring new staff, that could be an issue,” she says.
The Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario states that the average early childhood educator working in full-day kindergarten classrooms earns between $20 and $26 an hour while many employed in child care centres with the same professional training make between $13 and $15 an hour.
“Let’s not pretend that your work has always been valued as it should be,” Wynne said in Kingston. “It’s time to bridge that gap.”
Ontario’s childcare centres have struggled to adapt to changes since the introduction of full-day kindergarten in September, particularly in the search for early childhood educators, who have moved to take positions in schools for the full-day program, where a teacher is paired with an early childhood educator.
“ECE’s haven’t been staying in the field. They come and it’s a step forward to move elsewhere,” says Wendy Sommerville, co-ordinator at the Wellington Ward (Ottawa) Child Care Centre on Lisgar Street, noting that the wage increase “should help” in recruiting and retaining highly qualified and talented educators.
The wage enhancement funding will be available to eligible staff working in all licensed childcare centres employed as of Jan. 1. Those eligible include registered early childhood educators, program staff, supervisors, as well as private home daycare visitors and private home daycare providers.
Centre operators are responsible for applying for the funding to their respective municipalities. But according to Nilani Logeswaran, spokeswoman for Education Minister Liz Sandals, it could be well into the fall before childcare workers see the promised money because the applications process alone is expected to take time.
While the AECEO applauds the increase, it will continue to advocate for a provincially established salary grid along with base funding for childcare, according to a statement put out by the association in response to the funding announcement.
“A standardized wage rate in the childcare sector will ensure staff with equivalent education and work responsibilities are paid a similar rate of pay,” the association says, “no matter where they work.”