The federal government says a plan by early childhood educators to strike next month for better pay is nothing more than a political stunt.

Parents are being asked to keep their children at home on March 27 so educators can send a message about how seriously they feel about equal pay.

They say the action comes after the federal government failed to meet a February 1 deadline set by their union to deliver funding for equal pay.

"Malcolm Turnbull has driven educators to take this extreme step as he continues to ignore their demand for equal pay," United Voice assistant national secretary Helen Gibbons said on Sunday.

Childcare workers - predominantly women - are paid half the average weekly wage which can no longer be tolerated, she said. The industry is pushing for a 30 per cent pay rise for workers.

But Education and Training Minister Simon Birmingham on Monday described the strike action as a political stunt.

"United Voice should well understand - as the union, an integral part of the Labor Party - that wage rates, minimum wage rates and conditions aren't set by the government, they're set by the independent umpire, the Fair Work Commission," the senator told ABC Radio.

"The government doesn't employ any child care workers or early childhood educators. We don't run any child care centres or early learning centres.

"It's nothing more than a political stunt for United Voice to set some arbitrary deadline for the government to allegedly intervene in something that is determined by the independent industrial umpire."

But Ms Gibbons says that because parents can't afford to pay any more for education the federal government should step in and fund the sector properly.

"Parents across Australia know very clearly where the blame for this lies," Ms Gibbons said on Sunday.

The union boss says the situation is an escalating crisis. The March strike will be the third nationwide walk-off in the past 12 months.

More than 3000 childcare workers last walked out of centres nationwide on September 7.