The Sea to Sky Community Services Society's unionized child care workers have joined a campaign decrying what they say are low wages and lack of funding.
The early childhood education (ECE) workers have placed a poster in the window of their Second Avenue building reminding locals "B.C. needs child care to work" and imploring them to "vote for change."
The B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union (BCGEU) sent the posters to child care centres throughout the province who requested them in a campaign to increase child care worker wages, which locally, amount to between $12 and $14 an hour.
"The BC Needs Child Care to Work signs are issued on request to union members," said union spokesperson Teresa Marshall. "The slogan 'Vote for Change' leaves it up to citizens to research different party platforms on child care and make their own voting choice."
Manager of Early Child Development Services Tami Overbeck said that although the posters weren't placed by management, they are "supporting our staff and saying that they have the right to ask for more money for the incredible job that they do."
Overbeck said since the Liberals took over government from the NDP eight years ago, early childhood funding and wages have been lacking.
"The early childhood educators are not getting paid enough because the parents can't afford what it costs and the government chooses not to fund it."
Once elected, the Liberals cut the NDP's ECE wage subsidy of up to $2 an hour resulting in wage rollbacks, said Overbeck.
The Liberals also cut after school care subsidies that had required government and parents to each pay $7 a day.
"Now it's $300 a month all on the parents," said Overbeck. "There is some funding centres can apply for, but it's minimal. They can get $1.47 for a pre-schoolers and $2 for an after school child per day. So it's still not enough to offset the cost."The parents that work are paying into our tax base, and their children need to be well taken care of."
Sea to Sky Community Services Society (SSCS) executive director Lois Wynne said the organization is supportive of all its employees, but takes no position on the BCGEU's campaign. "Ms. Overbeck's comments are her own personal views and are not the views of the SSCSS," she said.
There is a waitlist for Sea to Sky child care programs, according to Marshall.
"There are currently eight spaces in the infant-toddler program at Sea to Sky that could be made available to local families - but no qualified professional early childhood educators can been found to staff these spaces. Squamish is experiencing the same problem as communities across BC - cuts to wages and benefits by the Campbell government have created a recruitment and retention crisis in the province's child care sector."
Local B.C. Liberal candidate Joan McIntyre did not accept child care workers' criticism of the government. She said she's "disappointed" in the poster's message given the amount of funding the province has put into child care and the amount of work she's put into advocating for Sea to Sky Services."I'm disappointed that that sign was posted in the window," she said. "I totally appreciate that there are issues. There's a huge demand for child care services."I personally have been very supportive of this issue in the corridor."
"My understanding is the salaries range anywhere from $10 or $11 to $38 [an hour] for child care workers in this province," she said. "And we have been very supportive. We've created incentives for people to come back to early childhood education - $5,000 incentives to back into the field."
Marshall said McIntyre is not drawing on accurate information."The BC Liberal candidate is startlingly misinformed if she believes that child care workers in B.C. make up to $38 an hour," she said. "According to the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C., close to half of college-trained early childhood educators who responded to a recent survey indicated that they earn less than $16 per hour in B.C.
"And a recent Freedom of Information request shows that only 14 early childhood educators have benefited from the B.C. government's much-touted program to retain and recruit staff."
McIntyre said she wouldn't comment on whether she believed $14 an hour to be an adequate amount."I'm not going to get into a wage negotiations debate. I don't think that's appropriate."
She said the province was challenged by the federal government's decision to cut $600 million toward child care in B.C.
"Unfortunately, and I can understand, a lot of parents and the public blamed us or felt that we could just to step up to the plate and replace $600 million overnight, which we haven't been able to do."
However the Liberals have "steadily" increased funding, she said."We've taken a number of steps."Among the local steps, McIntyre listed $500,000 toward revamping the former courthouse building, now the Sea to Sky Services child care centre. They also provided a $50,000 grant to the society to make the centre an early childhood education "hub."
She said subsidies now help low income parents deal with increased financial pressure. Parents earning $38,000 and less now get help - an improvement from $21,000 or less when the NDP were in power eight years ago, said McIntyre.
McIntyre said the ministry also attempts to help Sea to Sky Corridor child care issues by working hard to help facilitate child care staffing throughout the area."The ministry staff was on alert on a daily basis speaking to people in corridor in trying to get accreditation for people from other jurisdictions, to fast-track accreditation to get workers in the corridor."
Marshall again disputed McIntyre's claims."In fact, all increases in B.C. child care budgets since 2001 come from federal funds. A review of government budgets shows that B.C. invests less provincial funds than in 2001.
"Further, while her government claims to have funded more child care spaces since 2001, the amount of funds licensed group child care programs receive through the Child Care Operating Fund (CCOF) has actually gone down under the Liberals' reign.
"The increase in the number of spaces receiving CCOF reflects the extension of this small grant to licensed family child care -not a bigger role for government in funding child care. Less than 16 per cent of B.C. families have access to quality affordable child care."
The BCGEU and Liberal government's accounting of child care funding are vastly different, as McIntyre points out child care operating funding has increased from $212,000 to $300,000, and the provincial government is supporting 90,000 spaces, up from 45,000 in 2001.
