QUEBEC CITY — Eight thousand striking day care workers from all corners of Quebec marched on the provincial legislature here April 3. Some 13,000 education workers and support staff overall, members of the Confederation of National Trade Unions (CSN), from over 400 day care centers were on a three-day strike demanding increased pay, more staff and improved working conditions.
They flew in from the Madeleine Islands and Quebec’s North Shore and traveled from cities and towns in school buses, coaches and cars. Many wore rain ponchos, dancing and singing in the rain.
One striker carried a handmade sign, “4,000 education workers quit in a year; junior college classes are not filled; a system with no recognition, support or next generation is broken. Do something before it collapses.”
“In the hospitals, cooks make a standard menu and earn CA$28 an hour,” Zelia Rock-Picard, a cook, told the Militant. “We get CA$23.54 and we take allergies and all sorts of requirements into account.” Starting wages for education assistants is currently under 22 Canadian dollars an hour ($15.50).
CSN President Caroline Senneville spoke to the crowd in front of the legislature. “Whether employers and governments like it or not, strikes are the ultimate way for thousands of workers to improve their lives,” she said. “This is why the government must withdraw Bill 89.”
This proposed anti-labor legislation would give the Quebec government the authority to force strikers back to work and impose arbitration.
Reflecting union members’ determination to stand their ground, the strike was extended by two more days into the following week. “The parents support us,” said Veronique Bernier. “One mom wanted to bring us soup because it was cold on the picket line.”
Katy LeRougetel is the Communist League candidate for Parliament in the Dorval-Lachine-LaSalle riding in Montreal.