-

ECEs Want Pensions, Not RRSPs: Union

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--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 Local 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.”

:sm/cope 491

Contacts

Media inquiries:
Mary-Dan Johnston
CUPE Atlantic Communications Representative
902-412-5780

Industry:

Canadian Union of Public Employees

Release Versions
English

Contacts

Media inquiries:
Mary-Dan Johnston
CUPE Atlantic Communications Representative
902-412-5780

More News From Canadian Union of Public Employees

Survey results reveal why CUPE 4900 members rejected tentative deal and are planning Thursday rally

Newmarket, ON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Paramedics, roads workers, public health workers, and other CUPE 4900 members will hold an information picket and rally outside of Thursday’s Committee of the Whole meeting. The picket sends a clear message that members are mobilizing after the Region’s offer fell short of addressing serious financial pressures facing frontline workers. The tentative deal was rejected by members for failing to respond to a worsening affordability crisis made clear in a recent CUP...

Amherst Long Term Care Home Votes to Strike

AMHERST, NS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Workers from Northumberland Hall long term care home, represented by CUPE 5018, voted 94% in favour of a strike mandate late last week, bringing the total number of CUPE long term care homes voting to strike to 30. “This is not how we wanted to start 2026,” said CUPE 5018 President Barb Jenkins. “I think we all hoped that, by now, the government would have made an offer that recognized the vital work we do and our role in the health care system more broadly, but th...

CUPE raising alarm: “Our home is under attack from within.”

St. John’s, NL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) predicts 2026 to be an incredibly difficult year to defend public services in Newfoundland & Labrador, without public pressure on the provincial government. CUPE members in every public sector are reporting attacks to our services through funding cuts, reduction of services, public-private partnerships (P3s), and the increased use of artificial intelligence. “Our government is systematically deconstructing the pu...
Back to Newsroom