‘Postcards from the Dole’ handed to Department of Finance by SIPTU Activist and Early Years educator, Sandra Hurley. Image: SIPTU

Childcare workers deliver ‘postcards from the dole queue’ to Government

Early years workers are only paid for 38 weeks a year – and draw the dole for the summer months.

Montessori and pre-school workers have delivered hundreds of ‘postcards from the dole queue’ to the Department of Finance in a push for fairer pay.

Workers are aiming to highlight their precarious contracts and the lack of state investment in the sector.

As part of the Early Childhood Care and Education scheme, early years workers receive a salary for 38 weeks of the year – and have to claim the dole for the summer months.

SIPTU is urging the government to treat the workers the same as any other teachers – while the workers themselves are calling for greater recognition and pay for the job they do:

Orla Quigley – who runs a Montessori school – said early years teachers are “paid very poorly.”

Read the full article on Newstalk.com here