the NDP private members Bill C-303. CUPE members were in the House of Commons for the vote on the bill.
A detailed guide of procedures to follow when child care is provided on-site has also been completed. Because planning event child care is different, the manual Children Welcome will help provide consistent and transparent procedures that have been driven by experience in this field.
Sisters Jamie Kass, Karen Wright and Margot Young are on the Board of the Child Care Human Resources Sector Council. Brother Toby Sanger participates on a committee to project workforce shortages in the sector. The work of the sector council includes research, and the development of products and services for the sector. Some of the current projects include training issues, alleviating workforce shortage, developing and implementing occupational standards, recruitment and retentions and improving the accuracy and reporting of labour market information for the sector.
The existence of these two initiatives helped to achieve onsite child care at no cost to parents at the 2008 New Brunswick Division convention. A small extra fee was added to convention registration costs, specifically designed to pay for the on-site care ensured quality care for convention going members. Due to its success the division is taking the issue to the New Brunswick Federation of Labour for its events. Prince Edward Island proudly boasts that the division passed a resolution to provide on-site care, free to parents at its 2009 convention. The Alberta convention passed a resolution to investigate on-site child care.
Anti-privatization The National Child Care Anti-Privatization project, as part of CUPE’s Strategic Directions decision from the 2007 national convention is underway. We are organizing town hall style community events, with our coalition partners, planned for mid-October through November in many provinces across the country. YouTube videos can be found on the national website. Many new tools and materials have been produced for the campaign including provincial profiles on the state of privatization. We have also produced case studies of how public care works. Two new corporate profiles of home grown for-profit operators are available. We have new stickers and buttons.
Organizing, outreach and bargaining The working group thanks Brothers Paul Moist, Claude Généreux and Michael Hurley for CUPE’s statement on organizing in the child care sector. The statement states CUPE has no intention to organize Kids & Company in provinces outside of Ontario, or any other major private chains. Any initiative to organize for-profit child care centres, outside of Ontario, is to be vetted by senior political structures at the level of the National Executive Board/National Executive Committee beforehand. We continue to have discussions about the perils of organizing the for-profit child care sector and remain committed to public funding and public service delivery.
Jump Up – It’s time for Public Child Care will have a major anti-privatization campaign in Ontario with children’s concerts and parent mobilization and education about the need for public child learning and care.
In Newfoundland and Labrador, we have made links with the professional associations in order to collaborate and ensure input on labour standards. In Ontario we promote unionized centres at job fairs, and presenting to community college and high school students. In British Columbia, Nova Scotia and Manitoba CUPE attended and provided financial support for provincial child care conferences to raise our profile in the community and to promote unionization. The working group and the department of Organizing and Regional Services are working together to produce a brochure and Power Point presentation to support CUPE’s organizing efforts in the sector.
CUPE helped uncover news that 123 Busy Beavers – a corporation closely linked with ABC – was entering Canada, targeting British Columbia, Ontario and Alberta. Our work to fight the big box providers continues. In April 2009 CUPE spearheaded a demonstration with other unions and advocates to push back against the arrival of a large Canadian chain, Kids & Company, opening two new centres in Halifax. We continue to work closely with the Child Care Resource and Research Unit to expose the dangers of profit child care. The threat of privatization is still not well understood by members, the public, the media and governments.
Since 2007, 82 units and 4,000 child care members have been organized. This is approximately 15% of all newly organized workers in CUPE. We remain committed to increasing our organizing in this sector.
Child care at CUPE functions The National Child Care Working Group developed a policy for consideration by CUPE for on-site child care and child/dependent care allowances at conventions and conferences. This initiative stems from the recommendations from the National Women’s Task Force.
Six members of the working group attended the National Bargaining Women’s Conference in Montréal in 2009.
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