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Cobh Early Years’ Educators are joining ‘Big Start’ the fight for better pay and conditions in their sector

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Local women working in the early years and care sector met SIPTU organiser Eva Mitchell last Wednesday evening the 13th Of November in Cobh Community centre to discuss issues around pay and conditions that they are experiencing while working in the sector. Attendees at the meeting included a variety of providers, managers and those working in the sector as Early Years Educators. Many people might not be aware that the early years sector in Ireland is chronically underfunded by government compared to our counterparts across the OECD. UNICEF recommends we invest 1% of our GDP into Early Years Care and education yet in Ireland we invest only 0.2%.

Consequently, those working in the early years sector only receive an average wage of €11.20 per hour which is well below the living wage. In addition to this many services must close their doors for the summer months which results in workers having to sign on the public register for 6 weeks of the year, this has a knock-on effect on their ability to access mortgages and deal with the unexpected expenses of life. Other issues include the absence of pension plans and sick pay schemes. SIPTU organiser Eva Mitchell said ‘’It is incredibly difficult for people to stay in the sector long term and so we see huge turnover rates which again has a negative effect on quality care for children, it is totally unjust considering these women are caring and educating our youngest citizens they need to be valued and recognised for the work that they do’’. Providers in the sector are struggling too, many providers struggle to take home a wage of their own and feel the government don’t value them for the providing the much-needed services which are integral to any functioning society.

‘The Big Start Campaign’ is targeting the government for increased funding specifically for pay and conditions, they have an actionable plan to increase the flow of funding for pay and conditions into the sector, the mechanism to achieve this is called a ‘Sectoral Employment Order’ which will provide workers with legally binding pay rates and conditions. In order for the sector to achieve an SEO, they must apply to the Labour Court. In order to apply to the Labour court, the union must prove they substantially represent the sector, so we need people to join now. Alyson Condon who works in Lorraine’s Montessori and also St Mary’s preschool said during the meeting  ‘’At this stage we need to stand together as educators to demand that we are recognised for the important work that we do , we are teachers and we need to be valued as that! If we want better pay and conditions we need to join the union so I urge people to please get involved, we can make history for our sector! ‘’

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