The provincial government has released the details of the wage grid for Early Childhood Educators.
The grid officially takes effect on Saturday, but will be retroactive to January 1.
The grid is based on an educator’s certification level and is broken up into four categories; A base rate, and then three steps that are based on years of service.
The starting rate for a level two ECE is $25. The highest payrate will be just over $35 an hour for someone with a level four certification.
As well, there’s a 10 per cent adjustment for administrator positions, an allowance of over $5,000 for workers in Labrador, and legacy rates for staff whose current earnings exceed the wage scale.
If an ECE chooses to further their education and attain a higher certification level they will be placed on the first step of their new level, with each step lasting 12 months.
The province is also providing a one-time payment to ECEs to cover the period from January 1 to March 31 of this year.
Government had hoped to get the new wage grid up and running by January 1 but it was delayed for a couple of months.
Education Minister John Haggie says government will provide the one-time payment to take the burden off of employers.
He says that will ensure that ECEs get the pay owed to them during that period, but doesn’t provide an administrative burden on employers to make retroactive payments.
