#WORLD #WORLDWIDE #FRANCE #ANARCHISM #News #Journal #Update - (en) France, UCL AL #323 - unionism, Early childhood: let's put a layer on for our demands (ca, de, it, fr, pt)[machine translation]

 Early childhood is a professional sector with more than 90% women, low salaries,

precarious conditions, and the current government reform will worsen the
situation by lowering standards and requirements, to the benefit of the private
sector. The CGT has launched a consultation to bring out the word and develop a
protest campaign. ---- As Marie Buscatto, teacher-researcher at Paris-I, writes,
" it is less sex than the gendered socialization that we receive from childhood
that influences our choice of professions ". Women are assigned to jobs seen as
the " natural " extension of their social role as mothers: to take care of others
for free and to make themselves available for this. It is therefore no
coincidence that women represent 99% of childcare auxiliaries and 97% of
childminders and educators of young children (EJE) [1]. Economically and identity
disqualified, these professions are undervalued, low level of qualification, low
wages, and vectors of many gender stereotypes.

We must not forget that the thousands of women who work in early childhood enable
other thousands of women to work and ensure their economic, social and political
independence. The health crisis has been an incredible revelation: it is thanks
to caring for others, listening, sharing and solidarity that we will be able to
survive capitalism and its crises. On these bases of mutual aid, a society based
on needs rather than profits can be born. And yet...

The market sector is growing
Of the 2.2 million children under the age of 3 in the country [2], around 60%
would be cared for mainly by their parents, family or relatives, and half the
time it would be for lack of someone else. solution. Indeed, barely 50% of
requests for crèche places are satisfied. To meet the needs, 230,000 additional
crèche places would be needed, or at least 30,000 jobs. Local authorities and
social action centers still represent 59% of the offer, and the voluntary sector
25%, but over the past fifteen years, private companies have been gaining ground.
 From 2012 to 2018, they created 80% of new spaces, and now account for 18% of
supply [3]. The government favors the private sector by degrading the reception
and working conditions of the whole [4].

Lowering of standards
In 2017, the Macron government, which had prided itself on making early childhood
a priority, published a National Framework for the reception of young children .
Noting that it echoed the recommendations of child psychologist Sylviane Giampino
[5], the Early Childhood Pros website deemed it "strong, unifying and demanding"
. Then, in 2021, an expert commission chaired by Boris Cyrulnik, submitted a
report to the Secretary of State for Children and the Family, Adrien Taquet, with
recommendations to better support parents during the first 1,000 days of the
child, determinants for language, socialization, stimulation.

But the reform that Taquet draws from it is a disaster. It aligns all the
standards downwards: reduction in the rate of supervision, the level of diplomas
required, the minimum surface area of the premises, etc. "1,000 days will have
been enough for the government to deteriorate the reception conditions for young
children!" , Protests the collective No babies at the locker.

Since 2009, this collective made up of unions, professional organizations and
movements such as Cemea or FCPE has been defending collective reception methods
and calling for a recruitment plan for qualified professionals. Since 2019,
strikes have been regularly initiated, without the government paying attention to
the demands. The employees mobilized, however, all describe the same context:
assembly line work, less time to take care of the children, to wake them up, more
responsibilities... and a health context that aggravates everything.

"My work is worth it"
The social utility of these professions must be understood, valued and
politicized so that this sector can organize itself and achieve social progress.
This is the objective of a consultation launched by the CGT, "My work is worth
it", which wants to bring out the word in the feminized sectors. The results will
feed into a organizing campaign.

Several organizations and federations can represent professionals in the sector,
and it is almost impossible to assess their rate of unionization. Women are a
little less unionized than men, and early childhood professionals are often the
forgotten ones, whether in the territorial or hospital public service, or in the
voluntary sector. The ideal would be to be able to bring them together in a trade
union collective within the confederations, so that they can weigh in and make
themselves heard.

It would be necessary to take into account the reality on the ground which
unifies them, their history and the meaning of their intervention. To defend a
job, you have to know it well and recognize its value, and it's a huge job. In
this sector as elsewhere, we often fight to prevent social setbacks, when much
more should be demanded [6].

Anne (UCL Montpellier)

WHO ARE THEY, WHAT DO THEY DO ?

Early childhood professionals work in crèches, nurseries, toy libraries,
pediatric and child psychiatry departments, medical-educational institutes (IME),
nurseries, children's homes (MECS), accommodation and social rehabilitation
(CHRS), educational action services in an open environment (AEMO), parent-child
reception centers, social centres, etc. Nearly 200,000 work in establishments for
young children (EAJE), with babies and children aged 3 months to 3 years.

To validate

[1] Information report n°4517 on gender stereotypes, National Assembly, October
6, 2021.

[2] "1st economic barometer of early childhood", French Federation of Crèche
Companies (FFEC), November 2019.

[3] EY-Cekoïa estimate according to CNAF (2012 to 2017) and ONAPE (2013 to 2018).

[4] This is the purpose of the Acceleration and Simplification of Public Action
Act (ASAP)

[5] Sylviane Giampino, "Early child development. Modes of reception, training of
professionals ", May 9, 2016, available on Solidarite-sante.gouv.fr

[6] Read "Care professions: early childhood prepares the fight" , Alternative
libertarian , March 2021.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Petite-enfance-remettons-en-une-couche-pour-nos-revendications
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