By JAMAL BEN HADDOU

Dozens of childcare workers walked off the job today and demanded higher wages as part of Equal Pay Day.

Several childcare centres in the southeastern suburbs and Brunswick closed to support a push for higher pay rates in the childcare industry.

Childcare workers, parents and their children gathered at the Monash Community Family Co-Operative and participated in a stikre coordinated by the United Voice union.

The United Voice union found early childhood educators were earning 30 per cent less than their counterparts in primary schools.

United Voice Victorian secretary Jess Walsh said the work of early childhood educators was not being valued enough.

“We know that the work we do as educators is incredibly important and the families that are here today know that it is incredibly important too,” she said.

“Twenty bucks an hour is not enough to value the work that we do. Twenty bucks an hour is not enough to respect the contribution that we make, and $20 an hour is actually about half the average wage in Australia today.

Monash Caulfield Child Care Centre director Rukmini Bose-Rahman said the strike was only one part of an ongoing campaign by early childhood educators.

“There’s been several petitions, there’s been two significant rallies and also I’ve personally been part of a small group who chained ourselves to the Prime Minister’s office in the Treasury Gardens in Melbourne," she said.

"The Government is not listening which is why we have to take this step,” she said.

Ms Rahman also said the early childhood education wages were indicative of the gender pay gap.

“This definitely has something to do with gender because we are 95 per cent female in this industry.  Historically, our pay increases have been extremely slow, just like the general gender pay inequity,” she said.

United Voice  found childcare workers with a Certificate III earned $783 per week. In comparison, full-time adult average weekly total earnings in May 2016 were $1575, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The State Government website Live In Victoria found the average costs for centre-based childcare ranged from $80 to $120 a day.

Ms Rahman said families should not be forced to pay more for childcare fees.

“We need the Government to step in at some point and review how finances are allocated so funding can assist in paying staff better,” Ms Rahman said.