WYNDHAM childcare workers have warned that poor wages and working conditions are impacting on children.
Childcare employees around the country have mounted a campaign for better wages to put an end to the sector’s high staff turnover.
Early childhood education union United Voice says a third of childcare workers leave their jobs every year because of low wages.
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State secretary Jess Walsh said children found it distressing when carers were changed.
“Ninety per cent of a child’s brain development occurs under the age of five. Research shows that early childhood is the most crucial time in the education of our kids, and that they need to forge bonds with their educators in order to get the best start in life.”
Point Cook Goodstart Early Learning Centre director Claire Sutton has worked in childcare for 15 years.
She said while wages had improved slightly since she started in the industry, they did not reflect the type of work she did.
“A lot of people think we are just babysitters but we are more than that, we are educators. We spend a lot of time educating children and work long hours but we are not recognised.
“Great staff are leaving the industry because the wages are better elsewhere and other jobs have less stressful conditions.”
Ms Sutton said the federal government and wider community needed to recognise the work done by childcare workers and provide the industry with professional wages. The government has said it is up to independent tribunals to determine pay rates.
