In Rennes, the turn of childminders employed by the city to go on strike!

In Rennes, early childhood professionals are angry and want to be heard.

^{West France}

Listening to young parents that (sometimes) we rub shoulders with, it seems that it is the cross and the banner to have your child looked after, even if different types of childcare exist: place in a crèche, shared custody… We may not know it, but in Rennes around thirty childminders practice their profession at home while being employed by the city. Each of them can accommodate a maximum of 3 children under the age of 3 and is attached to a municipal crèche. All receive the same training as the other professionals. As part of their specific professional activity, the latter receive daily allowances for maintenance and food for each child entrusted.

However, for nearly a decade, these allowances have hardly increased. Worse, they have neither kept up with the rise in the cost of living, nor the increasingly stringent and numerous requirements. The syndicate South specifies in a press release that in January 2013, the amount per day and per child of the maintenance allowance and the food allowance were respectively €2.97 and €3.83. They are now €3.10 and €3.99 respectively. (i.e. 29 cents more in all, editor’s note). In comparison, the total daily allowances are around ten euros in other cities (Lorient, Lannion, etc.).

^{Photo SOUTH Section CT 35 – City of Rennes-Rennes Métropole and CCAS}

The calculation is quickly made and remains against the agents. “Our superiors come to our house to check the food, to see if it’s clean. But what it costs: cleaning products, fish, meat, fresh or organic fruits and vegetables that parents want, they never talk about it”, testify some in the daily West France. « These increases are largely insufficient both in terms of food […] than gas, electricity or water bills which are constantly increasing added a union representative.

For months, childminders have therefore been trying to make themselves heard. Through South CT 35, a letter to elected officials and the administration was sent in March 2021, then a reminder was sent in September. No response to date. Like an air of deja vu… (cf. Librarians on strike in Rennes: “contempt is enough!”)

Despite a meeting with the elected early childhood of Rennes, the community has done absolutely nothing to find solutions! Sad habit, sad attitude. Therefore, last Thursday (January 13, 2022, editor’s note), the agents decided to go on strike too (unlimited strike notice filed by the Section Syndicale SUD CT 35 Solidaires Ville de Rennes Métropole and its CCAS, Ed), and gathered in front of the Town Hall.

Strength to those who struggle.