Early Childhood Educators and support staff at Halifax-area child care centres say a misleading government survey could cut off their options for retirement security. The survey, designed and conducted by the RRSP-focused consulting firm HUB International, targets ECEs across the province and is structured to produce results favouring group RRSPs, which cannot provide the security guaranteed by a real pension plan.
“ECEs need true retirement security. We’ve been saying it for years. People are leaving the sector in droves because it is impossible to save for retirement on the wages we receive. For many ECEs, access to a decent pension plan would make it possible for them to stay in this sector, doing what they love,” said Margot Nickerson, President of CUPE 4745. “Group RRSPs provide no guaranteed income on retirement. That’s not a risk ECEs are willing to take. We deserve better than that.”
“Government has been unclear and noncommittal about what, if any, benefits and pensions it plans to provide to cooks and other support staff at childcare centres,” Nickerson said. “We denounce this divide-and-conquer strategy. The success of Nova Scotia’s childcare system depends on all of us.”