The Manitoba Child Care Association held a rally on Tuesday evening, August 22, 2023, at the legislature in an effort to make child care a priority in the current provincial election campaign.
“Child care centres report that they are paying 20-25 per cent below competitive wages and the majority do not have enough funds to pay all their staff inclusive of years of service,” said Lynda Raible, MCCA President. “Recruitment and retention continues to be difficult as ECEs (early childhood educators) report they left the field for better wages and working conditions.”
The association is asking the government to address compensation and retention issues permanently by funding a provincial salary scale at current market competitive rates that would apply to all childcare centres.
According to MCCA executive director Jodie Kehl,”The current early learning child care system in Manitoba has a shortage of nearly a thousand educators and we know that new spaces are important, we know that affordable spaces are important, but guess what, new spaces are going to be empty spaces without early child care educators.”
Several hundred people turned up at the rally, many of whom, marched to Upper Fort Gary and back to the Legislature waving signs and making noise in an effort to draw attention to their concerns.
–with files from Jason Driedger, Producer | News4.ca
