The agreement in principle will be submitted to unions on Wednesday. Negotiations continue for early childhood centres, or CPEs.
Quebec has reached an agreement in principle with unions representing thousands of home daycare workers who have been carrying out strike actions for weeks, the Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance du Québec (FIPEQ-CSQ) announced Sunday.
“Big news today! An agreement in principle was reached at the negotiating table for the family education services sector,” FIPEQ-CSQ said in a Facebook post.
Pressure tactics and work actions are suspended and educational services will go back to normal, it said.
The agreement affects only the family-run childcare sector (responsables en services éducatifs en milieu familial, or RSE), with nearly 9,000 members. Negotiations continue for early childhood centres (centres de la petite enfance, or CPE).
Members of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec-affiliated Fédération des intervenantes en petite enfance have held four walkouts since mid-November, in both public and family daycares.
The union tabled its demands in September 2023; negotiations started only in the spring and resumed intensively on Saturday morning.
The agreement in principle will be submitted to the unions on Wednesday, said FIPEQ-CSQ president Anne-Marie Bellerose, and they will present it to their members for approval.
“The dates for meetings to vote have not been decided at this stage,” said Bellerose.
Meanwhile, FIPEQ-CSQ will suspend planned RSE work actions planned for Monday.
“Since we have an agreement, it was clear to us that we would suspend pressure tactics until the vote,” Bellerose said.
Earlier in the day, they voted 86 per cent in favour of a new six-day strike mandate, to be exercised at an opportune moment. FIPEQ-CSQ represents nearly 12,000 workers across the province.
On Wednesday, workers from 16 CPEs were on strike all day. They had planned two further strike days and have a mandate for an unlimited strike.
According to Sonia LeBel, the minister responsible for government administration and Treasury Board president, the agreement is for five years — 2023 through 2028 — and involves more than 70 per cent of workers in the family-run childcare sector.
“It will mean being able to increase the number of places, to encourage the care of infants younger than 18 months and to improve attraction and retention in the family-run childcare sector,” a statement from her office says.
LeBel and Bellerose said details of the agreement would not be made public until they have been presented to the unions and their members.