Nova ScotiaUnifor Local 4600 members set up a picket line outside private school Munro Academy after last-ditch efforts failed to persuade their employer to agree to a 40-hour per week schedule.Members of Unifor Local 4600 walked off the job Monday in a dispute over guaranteed hoursErin Pottie · CBC News · Posted: Sep 12, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours agoChild-care workers have been picketing since Monday outside the Munro Academy Early Learning Centre in Sydney Mines. (Erin Pottie/CBC)A community-led rally has been planned for striking child-care workers in Sydney Mines, N.S., who walked off the job Monday in a fight over guaranteed hours. Unifor Local 4600 members set up a picket line outside private school Munro Academy after last-ditch efforts failed to persuade their employer to agree to a 40-hour per week schedule.Munro Academy’s non-profit early learning centre, which offers daycare services for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, usually provides early childhood educators (ECEs) with 37 to 40 hours per week. “Our union is very familiar with this kind of language and employers typically will go to the lower end before they guarantee the higher end,” said Jennifer Murray, Unifor’s Atlantic regional director. “The difference of a few hours a week could mean a tank of gas for a family. It could mean certain groceries.”Murray said over the long term, the loss of three hours per week represents more than 150 hours a year and means less paid vacation time and fewer Canada Pension Plan contributions.This is the first contract the union has negotiated for the 23 women who work as ECEs at the daycare. A union news release last week said the newly certified unit has been in negotiations for its first collective agreement for over a year, including three days of conciliation.MLA Kendra Coombes shakes hands with striking workers. (Erin Pottie/CBC)On Friday afternoon, a public rally is planned outside the Munro Academy campus in Sydney Mines that will involve parents and children who rely on the daycare. Stacy MacNeil says without the care of the ECEs, she’s been forced to depend on family members to care for her three-year-old son. She said other families have not been as fortunate. “We just wanted to show our support to the ECEs,” said MacNeil. “The centre offers full-time care, there is no part time. We think they’re held to the highest standards and their hours just don’t reflect that.”Collective bargaining processMunro Academy school administrators say they have offered concessions to the union as part of the collective bargaining process. Doug Beane, who serves as the academy’s head of school, said ECEs were offered increased sick time and vacation time. The school also provides ECEs with janitorial cleaning and extra kitchen support, which is not covered by government funding, he said. “Putting all that together with these additional services, if we were to commit to 40 hours of guaranteed work, our biggest concern is that it would make the centre unviable,” Beane said.Under the current schedule, Beane said ECEs would work an average of 38.4 hours per week. Beane said the early learning centre has an operating margin of under four per cent of its budget. But he said he would not provide any information on the cost of guaranteeing ECEs a 40-hour week out of respect for the collective bargaining process. Unifor said it represents workers at three other child-care centres in Cape Breton, all of which have consistent 40-hour weekly schedules for their ECEs.ABOUT THE AUTHORErin Pottie is a CBC reporter based in Sydney. She has been covering local news in Cape Breton for more than 20 years. Story ideas welcome at erin.pottie@cbc.ca.
Rally planned for striking Sydney Mines child-care workers
