42% of N.L. early childhood educators plan to leave the field. Low wages are driving the exodus
CBC
A new report from the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour says 42 per cent of the province's early childhood educators are considering finding a new job because of low wages and a lack of benefits.
The report released Thursday surveyed 520 educators, or ECEs. Fifty-seven per cent of respondents said they don't receive health or dental benefits through their work, 80 per cent don't have a pension, and 90 per cent don't know when they'll be able to retire.
"They feel like their workplace issues are not being heard, and that they play an essential role in our child-care system," Federation of Labour President Jessica McCormick said Thursday.
"But they are facing working conditions that are really pushing a lot of them out of the field at a time when we need them so much."
McCormick said ECEs also lack sick days on top of benefits. When they are sick, she said, there's often no one to replace them.
Fifty-four per cent of respondents said they would take stress leave if they could.
The report comes as child care spaces in the province continues to be high in demand and hard to find for parents. The province does offer $10-a-day child care, but slots fill quickly leaving parents with few options.
CBC News has asked the provincial government for comment, but has not yet received it.
McCormick said the province can't afford to lose ECEs to other provinces with the current level of demand.
"You know, we need about a thousand additional ECEs in the next few years to even just meet the demand that we have right now. And there are so much, a huge number of parents who are looking for those spots," she said.
"I think we need to do everything that we can to invest in good working conditions for them to keep them in the sector, and to recruit new ECEs to a job that is really a good job. That they want to stay in for their career."
McCormick believes that investment should come through an increase to operating grants to allow operators to be able to offer benefits to educators. Nova Scotia announced wage hikes, benefits and a pension plan for educators in December.
The suvey also recommended the province require and fund 10 paid sick days and daily lunch breaks through the operating grants and require and fund annual paid vacation.
It was a recommendation she said the federation made to Finance Minister Siobhan Coady in consultations leading up to the release of the 2024-25 budget, which she said provided little for the sector.
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