Is back on the agenda! In anticipation of a federal election campaign and Liberal government plans to move forward on initiatives that are popular with Canadians, CUPE is working with national child care advocacy groups, anti-child poverty groups and the CLC to collect one million “voices” in support of a federally-funded national child care initiative. Our National Child Care Working Group has developed a plan to collect the “voices” by encouraging CUPE locals to adopt resolutions in support of a national child care program and announcing the decision in letters to provincial and federal politicians. Locals could also encourage their employers to adopt such a resolution. Sample resolutions, letters and background notes on the importance of a public, non-profit child care program will be sent to all locals in the fall.
In April, our working group took part in a national symposium on child care human resources funded by the federal government. The symposium brought together 100 participants from provincial and national child care organizations, the research community, training and educational institutions, the child care community, provincial and territorial governments, and labour. The symposium is aimed at providing a forum to address training and education issues as well as to move forward on the issue of decent pay for child care providers.