Childcare workforce in crisis
N.L. report shows ECES ‘have reached a breaking point’
A sobering report on the perspectives of early childhood educators (ECES) in Newfoundland and Labrador was released on Thursday, March 28.
More than 500 ECES were surveyed in November and asked about their views on wages, benefits and working conditions.
The resulting report, The Childcare Crisis is a Workforce Crisis, indicates the vital workforce largely goes without important benefits.
The survey found the following about ECES:
• 90 per cent are disappointed the wage grid did not include a benefits package.
• 83 per cent don’t have a pension.
• 57 per cent don’t have health or dental insurance.
• 42 per cent plan to leave the field due to low wages.
• 45 per cent are considering leaving the field due to a lack of professional recognition.
• 90 per cent have no idea how they’ll ever be able to retire.
• 76 per cent of ECES in for-profit daycares say the government does not view them as educators (63 per cent in non-profit daycares).
PRIORITIZE ECE WELL-BEING
The survey was commissioned by the Jimmy Pratt Foundation and the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour (NLFL) in collaboration with the Workers’ Action Network and local childcare researchers.
“In neighbouring provinces, governments have introduced pensions and benefits for ECES,” NLFL president Jessica Mccormick stated in a news release.
“As demand grows for affordable and accessible childcare in Newfoundland and Labrador, the provincial government must prioritize the well-being of childcare workers and ensure that compensation and working conditions are not a deterrent to staying in or joining the childcare field.”
TWO CHOICES
Jimmy Pratt Foundation executive director Neria Aylward said the provincial government has two choices.
“The first is to continue with the status quo, where getting a childcare spot is like winning the lottery,” she said.
“The second is to step up provincial funding for the ECE workforce and make Newfoundland and Labrador the best place to work in early learning and childcare. In the process, we’ll create thousands of childcare spaces and hundreds of stable, professional jobs. Why wouldn’t we do the latter?”
The news release issued by the NLFL said progress on expanding $10-per-day childcare has been too slow in this province because the system is missing a key ingredient: workers.
“Early childhood educators have post-secondary training that equips them to deliver age-appropriate, high-quality educational programs for young children. Without ECES, there are no programs,” the news release stated.
“If we are to meet the provincial government’s own targets, Newfoundland and Labrador will need at least 1,000 new ECES by 2026. Based on these survey results, unless working conditions improve, this target will remain far out of reach.”
WAGE GRID DISAPPOINTMENT
The provincial government touted its new wage grid for ECES when it was implemented last year, but 31 per cent of ECES surveyed said the wage grid did not increase their salary, and 56 per cent were disappointed with it.
“I am a Level 2 with 19 years of experience, and I am very disappointed with the wage grid. … The pay difference between 19 years of experience and 0 years of experience is $1.56 for Level 2; that is pathetic,” said one ECE quoted in the report.
A 2019 survey of ECES and a 2007 report both found that ECES believe benefits are nearly as important as wages to recruitment and retention.
“This feedback is not surprising given that ECES work daily with children and have little to no access to paid sick days. While Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island have taken steps to provide benefits and pensions to ECES, it is curious that our provincial government does not seem to have considered doing the same,” the report states.
MINISTER DOESN’T COMMIT TO BENEFITS, PENSION
On Tuesday, March 26, Saltwire told Education Minister Krista Lynn Howell that ECES felt disappointed that pensions and benefits weren’t a part of this year’s provincial budget and asked what she had to say to them.
“Again, always an ongoing conversation with our ECES as we continue to build our workforce and look at the value that they add to our communities, to families, and to the system as a whole. It’s always an open conversation and something that we’ll continue to work on,” she said.
REPORT RECOMMENDATIONS
The Childcare Crisis is a Workforce Crisis report recommended the following solutions:
• Introduce and fund benefits and pensions under the operating grant program.
• Require and fund 10 paid sick days, daily lunch breaks, and daily break under the operating grant program.
• Require and fund annual paid vacation.