Professional childcare workers can earn less than €10 per hour with some staff on part-time contracts coming out with as little as €5,130 a year, a new survey claims.
Delegates at the Impact trade union’s annual conference in Dublin said salary scales for non- teaching staff in early years learning centres were close to minimum wage levels.
According to a survey carried out by the Montessori Alliance, which was set up in 2010 to further the interests of professional childcare, showed 94 per cent of respondents earned less than €15 per hour, with 44 percent of those earning less than €10 per hour.
The national minimum wage is €9.15 per hour
The figures, which were circulated at the conference, were based on responses from more than 600 childcare workers in the State.
The statistics translate to a full time salary for an early years assistant in the region of €20,000 a year.
Impact deputy general secretary Kevin Callinan said it should be remembered that much employment in the sector was on a casual basis with some jobs offered for just 38 weeks a year.
The Montessori Alliance survey also found some staff working 15 hours a week, for 38 weeks a year would earn just €5,130.
The pay rates for qualified staff were also described as low. According to Impact early managers typically earned €16.44 an hour; room leaders €12.22; cooks €10.78 and even qualified Montessori teachers said they were earning €13.31 per hour.
Speaking at the conference Mr Callinan accused politicians of abandoning the childcare issue less than a month after the election.
He said his union would work with early years providers to keep pre-school services on the political agenda.
Mr Callinan said the additional free pre-school year, announced by the outgoing Government in its last budget, was applauded by parents and providers alike.
But he said the programme’s inadequate capitation payment was driving down wages because employers were being asked to provide services “below cost”.
Ireland spends just 0.2 percent of GDP on childcare, compared to an OECD average of 0.8 percent.
More than 100 delegates are attended the conference called A Good Start: Professionalising Early Years Servicee.
