Adelaide child care centres to close on September 7 for protest rally at Parliament House

Thousands of parents will need to make alternative plans for their kids when childcare workers at centres across the country walk off the job next week.

Industrial action will close dozens of childcare centres across South Australia, leaving thousands of young children without care next week.

The United Workers Union has called on members to attend a stopwork rally at Parliament House next Wednesday – Early Childhood Educators Day.

It has urged parents to contact their childcare centres to make alternative arrangements.

Early childhood director Helen Gibbons said the union’s members in SA were part of a day of national industrial action.

“Centres all across the country are closing their doors next Wednesday,” she said.

Ms Gibbons did not know how many childcare centres would be closing in SA but expected “hundreds and hundreds” of workers would attend the rally.

Childcare centre workers are walking off the job in protest over low wages and poor working conditions. Picture: Jamie Hanson/Courier Mail

“We are still getting it all organised but we are expecting centres to either close rooms or the whole centre,” she said.

“It will either be all day or for part of the day.”

Ms Gibbons said the early childhood sector was in crisis, with workforce shortages being exacerbated by low pay and poor working conditions.

She stressed the industrial action was not just about getting improved wages.

“We are not just closing for better wages, there is a crisis,” she said.

“Urgent reform of the whole sector is needed.

“It is about putting children ahead of profit.”

The United Workers Union wants improved wages and working conditions for early childhood workers. Photo: Isaac McCarthy.

Mr Gibbons said early childhood educators were “sick of being stuck”.

“After nearly a decade of inaction the new federal government needs to commit to an urgent plan to fix the early education sector,” she said.

Ms Gibbons said the union's vision was for a sector “where educators’ vital work is valued with professional wages and working conditions, and where early education is recognised for its vital role in children’s development”.

“The only way out of the crisis in early learning is real reform that respects educators,” she said.

Ms Gibbons said parents should be supportive of the industrial action as it was about delivering better outcomes for their children.

The rally will be held from 11am on September 7 on the steps of Parliament House.