On March 4th, CUPE Manitoba’s Gina McKay spoke on behalf of CUPE 3060 and CUPE Manitoba on the new announcements of $10/day childcare. “We feel the government is neglecting the child-care sector, especially by making the announcement when it’s so close to an election. We have been lobbying the Government for eight years for better wages and benefits; our members deserve better than increases in nickels and dimes.” said McKay.
“The reduced cost will be great for families”, said Lorraine McConnell, executive director of Children’s Den Daycare, “but what’s missing is in increase in wages for staff”, who she insisted have been underpaid for years.
“Part of the bilateral agreement with the Federal Government was to get early childhood educators to a minimum of $25 an hour, so I was hoping that there would be an announcement of the next steps, or the steps being taken to get there.” said McConnell.
