Ontario early childhood educators still waiting for promised 2024 wage increases
CTV
Ontario Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) are still waiting for their promised 2024 wage increases and advocates say the delay is causing stress for workers.
Ontario Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) are still waiting for their promised 2024 wage increases and advocates say the delay is causing stress for workers and contributing to the ongoing staffing shortage.
In November 2023, the Doug Ford government pledged to increase the minimum wage for RECEs to $23.86 an hour, a nearly $4-bump from what they were expected to get that year. The new wage floor would be implemented in 2024, officials said at the time, with additional $1 raises implemented every year until 2026—at which time they are supposed to make $25.86 an hour.
However, staff have yet to see any of the additional money they were promised.
“I think overall, what this has just reinforced for us, is that this isn't a priority for Ontario,” Alana Powell, RECE and Executive Director at Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario, told CTV News Toronto in an interview Friday.
Powell said that when the announcement was made, it felt like the government was suggesting that staff could expect to see wage increases on their January pay cheques.
Instead, the government appears to be slowly fulfilling its promise.
In a March memo sent to municipal service managers, the government indicates the new wages went into effect on Jan. 1. However, the memo goes on to say they expect cities to flow the cash to child-care operators by the end of April.
