Childcare workers protest for more pay

Parents may have to pick their children up earlier than usual from childcare centres as educators prepare to walk off the job to highlight their low wages.

To mark Equal Pay Day, childcare workers across the country will close centres at 3.20pm (AEST) on Thursday to protest that the 95 per cent female workforce effectively works part of every day for free.

"Almost half a century since the principle of equal pay for equal work was enshrined in Australia, early childhood educators are still being paid as if it is 1969," United Voice national secretary Jo-anne Schofield said in a statement.