Childcare workers do very valuable work, but they get low wages – just €13 an hour. Which begs the question: Why are financial executives who add little benefit to society paid more than a childcare worker? Why is the gap so outrageously large?
SIPTU have launched a claim for a €15 an hour payment for childcare workers. This is still well below what a primary school teacher who is responsible for junior infants gets. Yet many childcare workers have professional qualifications in their training. But €15 is a start.
But the IBEC group Childhood Services Ireland says it is too much and would lead to extra charges for parents. They argue that they had to freeze fees to benefit from a government package of €221 million in core funding.
Yet this argument gets to the heart of the problem with how childcare is organised in Ireland. It is run as a private-for-profit system.
Childcare should be funded and organised as a public service. This is why People Before Profit have proposed a National Child Care Service paid for through direct taxation.
The existing childcare providers should be integrated into this service and receive a decent wage.
In the meantime, full support for SIPTU claim for a €15 an hour for childcare workers.
