Child-care workers vote to strike on September 7
About 21,000 qualified professionals are needed to address the shortage in early childhood education. Photo: Getty
Fed-up early childhood educators plan to walk off the job across Australia amid pay disputes and a push for systemic reform.
Hundreds of United Workers Union members voted on Wednesday to take industrial action on Early Childhood Educators Day, September 7, to draw attention to the “crisis” within the sector.
“Educators are sick of being stuck. After nearly a decade of inaction the new federal government needs to commit to an urgent plan to fix the early education sector,” UWU early education director Helen Gibbons said in a statement on Thursday.
“UWU members’ vision is for a sector where educators’ vital work is valued with professional wages and working conditions, and where early education is recognised for its vital role in children’s development.
“The only way out of the crisis in early learning is real reform that respects educators.”
In the statement, the union – which represents workers across early childhood education – issued three demands to the government: A pay increase, putting greater value on the early learning sector, and to “put children before profit”.
Federal Early Education Minister Anne Aly is yet to comment.
-with AAP
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