CUPE Nova Scotia welcomes findings of child care review

HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA--(Marketwired - March 31, 2016) - The union representing most unionized child care workers in Nova Scotia is welcoming the findings of a long-awaited review by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development aimed at improving child care services in the province.

CUPE Nova Scotia President Dianne Frittenburg says, "We are particularly pleased to see Minister Karen Casey committing to improve the wages of early childhood educators (ECE's), since Nova Scotia's are among the lowest paid in the country."

"Chronically high staff turnover and low staffing levels in this sector are a direct result of inferior wages and working conditions. As a province, we have to stop burying our heads in the sand on this problem, and CUPE is encouraged to see this key recommendation in the review," says Frittenburg.

CUPE Child Care Co-ordinator Naomi Stewart says, "We are very pleased that the concerns of the Nova Scotia Child Care Association (NSCCA) with regards to development of the workforce have had a positive impact on these recommendations."

"CUPE has been a strong supporter of the NSCCA's 'Worthy Wage' campaign and we look forward to hearing from Minister Casey about how these improvements will be implemented," says Stewart.

Stewart says, "A recommendation to update the subsidy program does not take us in the right direction. Recent experience has shown us that subsidizing private operators isn't working. Even PEI has left that model behind.

"The review acknowledges that investments in child care both pay for themselves and act as an important stimulus to the economy, which is exactly what a 2011 report commissioned by CUPE from Robert Fairholm explained in detail," she says.

CUPE represents ECE's in six centres in Halifax and in Bridgewater.