It's enough - one law for everyone!
Employees of private kindergartens and after-school care centres in Vienna continued public works meetings.
Elementary Education
At a public works meeting between the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Natural History Museum in Vienna on Wednesday, the staff at private Viennese kindergartens and after-school care centres once again demanded better framework conditions. The central point was a nationwide framework law. This affected around 63,000 children in private kindergartens or after-school care centres in the federal capital, including the Wiener Kinderfreunde, the St. Nikolaus Foundation, Children in Vienna and the Diakonie. This is about two-thirds of the approximately 100,000 children in elementary education and care facilities or after-school care centres. The facilities remained closed on Wednesday.
Uniform training for assistants
The trade union vida spoke out in particular in favour of uniform training for assistants throughout Austria. The responsible vida trade unionist Michaela Guglberger also emphasized the future effects if no more investment is made in elementary education.
"If we know that we have a shortage of staff; why is it still so difficult to get an apprenticeship? Why is there no sufficient funding, when we know how many people should be employed for this area in the future?"
High participation in protest
On banners, the approximately 4,000 participants also demanded smaller groups and a better supervision ratio, more recognition ("I'm not a tinkering aunt, I'm an education officer!"), sufficient preparation and follow-up time as well as paid reflection time. The main concern, however, was a uniform framework law. It must not matter whether a child is cared for in Vorarlberg or Vienna or by a private, church or municipal provider, according to the tenor of several speakers.
Pressure on the government
The protest is intended to "build up pressure that elementary education must be a central issue" of a future government, according to GPA chairwoman Barbara Teiber. "The last federal government slept through this issue," said ÖGB Vice President Korinna Schumann. "There needs to be a nationwide regulation." Now it is also important to get the solidarity of parents. This is not the first time the staff has been on the streets - the last major demonstration took place about a year ago. Since then, there have certainly been improvements, such as the increase in assistance hours or the assurance of more funds. But it's not enough!
