BCGEU child care organizing team member meets with local workers
Courier-Islander - Campbell River
By: Denise Sharkey
25 Apr 2008

B.C. parents are paying some of the highest child care fees in the country, waiting lists are growing, and recruiting and retaining child care workers is harder than ever, said a representative of the B.C. Government and Service Employees Union (BCGEU) during a meeting…

"Child care affects us all," said Chantel O'Neill of the BCGEU child care organizing team. "Too often, it's seen as an issue for parents only, but it does affect society as a whole."

The April 27 meeting attracted about 45 child care workers and employers and was organized by the BCGEU and the Campbell River branch of the Early Childhood Educators of B.C.(ECEBC). Local child care advocates say the situation has become more and more difficult. Children are on waiting lists to get child care in Campbell River, but finding - and keeping workers - is a huge challenge. In Campbell River some child care workers are unionized already and some are not, but the average wage is around $13 per hour, and there are no benefits. Kathy Rae of the Campbell River ECEBC branch said that means more and more workers are leaving the field for better-paying jobs and fewer young people are choosing child care as a career.

At the meeting, O'Neill said BCGEU now has a child care organizing team. She provided information about how workers could organize into unions … allow child care workers to lobby the government together.

"We feel a political solution is the only answer," O'Neill said.

The provincial ECEBC board has passed a motion saying they support the "concept of unionization as part of our strategy for achieving a publicly funded, high quality, accessible, affordable child care system."