Prologue: A historic contract

In late July, hours after a midnight strike deadline had passed – but with both sides still at the bargaining table – child care workers with CUPE 2484 reached a momentous deal with Ideal Child Services Group. 
 
They mobilized parents, info-picketed outside each of the five centres with an ice cream truck and flyers, delivered a supermajority petition to their employer’s head office, and won nearly everything they had been fighting for, including an 11.25% wage increase over their three-year contract. 
 
It was a game changer of a deal – and a massive validation of two years’ worth of effort. It was also just the first phase in CUPE 2484’s plan to change the way child care workers organize, fight, and win.
 

Chapter One: The opportunity

In 2022, everything was changing in child care. COVID-19 had ravaged the sector. While some child care centres closed, others were called on to provide emergency care. Child care deserts spread throughout Saskatchewan, uncertainty chased workers from jobs across Ontario, and child care spaces dried up in British Columbia. The pandemic fundamentally altered the nature of child care work while, at the same time, reinforcing for policy makers the essential role it plays in a thriving economy and a gender-equal society.
 
Then the federal government announced the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Plan, promising accessible and affordable care through new federal funding to provinces and territories.
 
“We had a sixth sense, a sort of premonition about where things were going. We’d already experienced big changes in our work in terms of a new focus on sanitizing, bubbling, keeping family cohorts together. Our jobs looked nothing like they did before the pandemic,” explains Jess Tomas, an early childhood educator and president of CUPE 2484. “We saw this as a reset. The new federal plan was our opportunity. It was aimed entirely at parents but we were going to take advantage of the moment.”
 

Chapter Two: Coordinated bargaining

CUPE 2484 is one of the largest child care composite locals, representing more than 600 early childhood educators, assistants, cooks, cleaners, and others across the GTA. The local knew they had to make serious improvements in terms of wages, benefits, and working conditions. It was perfectly positioned to capitalize on the moment. 
 
“We knew if we didn’t do something bold, something different, we’d continue to be on the defensive. Our work had changed, so we decided to demand that our compensation change too,” Tomas says.
 
Not only did CUPE 2484 have roughly 20 bargaining units entering negotiations in 2022, it is also home to workers at the Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care (OCBCC), a leading advocacy group in the child care space. 
 
The OCBCC, together with CUPE 2484’s leadership, designed Raising the Floor, a coordinated bargaining campaign built around five pillars of decent work beyond a drastic improvement in wages: paid programming time, paid sick days, paid professional development time, Workplace Safety and Insurance Board coverage, and access to communities of practice.
 
CUPE 2484 brought all the units entering bargaining together to present the proposals and include them in a Unity Letter. Signed by more than 86% of members, the letter stated their commitment to decent work for all and affirmed support for the coordinated bargaining pillars. It also served as a touchstone members returned to whenever bargaining got challenging.
 

Chapter Three: Building confidence 

The first and most urgent challenge in the campaign wasn’t convincing the employers or advocating to the government. It was changing the way child care workers saw themselves and their value.
 
“Even a few years ago, we’d never have asked for serious change. We didn’t know we could. That’s part of the nature of care work generally. We feel like a part of these family units. There’s a tremendous amount of closeness, of trust, and child care workers never want to do anything that damages that relationship,” says Tomas.
 
Jess Tomas delivering the Unity Letter to Ideal Child Services Group, flanked by the chairs of CUPE Ontario’s SSWCC and municipal committee.
That is why so many early childhood educators spend their savings to buy supplies for their classrooms, walk home instead of paying for transit so they can put their own dollars toward creating learning opportunities for the children in their care.
 
The depth of workers’ commitment has been weaponized by employers and governments, sapping the sector of a sense of organizing power. But building members’ confidence was the key to help them advocate for themselves.
 
“Those early meetings were part organizing strategy, part support group for child care workers to gain a sense of community and trust,” Tomas recalls. “And those conversations carried us through the entire campaign. They literally changed the way many thought about themselves, helping them understand that they deserve better.”
 

Chapter Four: Ideal 

Ideal Child Services Group was among the last of that initial cohort to start bargaining. While other employers saw the value in Raising the Floor – many proposals were aimed at improving the quality of service and stabilizing a sector in turmoil – management at Ideal was intransigent from the start.
 
Compounding the difficulty of this bargaining is the logistical challenge of Ideal – its five centres are spread across the Greater Toronto Area, each with different, opaque management structures – and the fact that a large number of Ideal’s staff are newcomers to Canada whose immigration status is tied to their employment. 
 
“Management tried to atomize workers, to divide them from each other, to leave them feeling helpless,” Tomas says. 
 
But CUPE 2484 returned to the Unity Letter and their solidarity actions, with members from other centres sharing supportive photos of themselves. “We wanted workers to feel their power and the community behind them. And I could see their transformation, from frustration to hope and eventually confidence.” 
 
That confidence led to a 100% strike vote, packed in-person meetings to train for a strike, conversations with parents to win them over – and eventually a ratified contract that Ideal workers could be proud of.
 

Chapter Five: Member-led

The new contract at Ideal energized CUPE 2484 and gave them the confidence to move to stage two.
 
When they had first introduced coordinated bargaining, the proposals were drawn up largely by the local executive and activists. Now, in an important first – only possible because of the confidence they helped instill – members are creating their own proposals.
 
Jess Tomas at a rally at Queen’s Park with other child care representatives from CUPE Ontario and Christina Gilligan, sector coordinator.
In October and November, dozens gathered in meetings to share their priorities and to draft proposals for the 12 units entering bargaining in 2025. This was a new experience in member-led bargaining. And it was proof to Tomas that the campaign had fundamentally changed the way members understand their own power. 
 
One example of the many issues members are mobilizing around is the need for reliable Wi-Fi in child care centres – a priority voiced by one CUPE member. At first glance, it might seem like an insignificant demand compared to wages or WSIB coverage. But it reflects the broad scope of challenges child care workers face.
 
They are expected to provide families with daily updates and track activities, often relying on their personal devices, as many have no reliable internet access on site. So, all bargaining units are now determined to make Wi-Fi a priority at the bargaining table, alongside other improvements that recognize the evolving nature of their work.
 
“I was so proud of that worker for explaining themselves and making their needs clear. That would not have happened even two years ago,” Tomas insists. “Our greatest enemy is thinking that we are alone as workers. The more we share, the more power we build.”
 

Chapter Six: Parallels in the Atlantic

This victory in Ontario echoed a similar triumph in Nova Scotia. There, Margot Nickerson, president of CUPE 4745, also helped secure historic gains after years of advocacy.
 
Since the pandemic, early childhood educators in Nova Scotia had been exhausted by tough working conditions and low pay. Many left the profession entirely, while those who stayed juggled multiple jobs to make ends meet. Just as CUPE 2484 leveraged the federal government’s Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Plan, CUPE 4745 knew that the timing was right to push for improved compensation.
 
What started with informal social media conversations rose to a sector-wide movement. Nickerson remembers with pride how, on a single workday in September, over 200 people turned out to demand better working conditions for child care workers. “I think everybody could identify with the asks. Our messaging was not threatening but it was strong. We were clear on our demands,” she says. 
 
Through rallies and information sessions, CUPE 4745 built broad support among workers and parents alike. They called for a provincial salary scale, pensions, and benefits. “What I am proudest of is that we pushed for a defined benefit pension plan,” Nickerson recalls, describing how members attended local information sessions to learn about different types of pensions.
 
Faced with mounting pressure, the provincial government conceded. Child care workers won a wage grid, extended health benefits, and a defined benefit pension plan. According to Nickerson, the key to their success lay in including all workers in the campaign — unionized or not — so the entire sector could stand together, build power and force significant change.
 

Epilogue 

Child care workers do far more than look after children. They help them develop vital social and cognitive skills, while enabling parents to be active participants in Canadian communities. Yet the working conditions in the child care sector often fail to reflect the depth of expertise and the true value of this work.
 
The victories achieved by CUPE 2484 in Ontario and CUPE 4745 in Nova Scotia signal a wider, national push for better compensation, safer working environments, and greater respect for child care work. CUPE members have proved once again that when workers unite, they can compel meaningful, sector-wide change. By tapping into new federal funding streams, publicly demonstrating the value of early childhood education, and pushing for decent work for all, they have set a powerful precedent for other child care workers across the country.
 
Now is the time to shine a light on early learning and child care and address the workforce crisis at its core. Explore CUPE’s comic strips to see the realities of child care work, and join the growing call for change. 
 
Add your voice to CUPE’s campaign to call on the federal government to fund a national workforce strategy, working with provinces and territories to ensure fair wages, extended benefits, a pension plan, professional development opportunities, and paid preparation time. 
 
With every signature, early learning and child care workers from coast to coast to coast gain more power to secure the respect, stability, and support they deserve. cupe.ca/lets-shine-light-early-learning-child-care
 

What is the $10-a-day plan?

 
In 2021, after decades of advocacy work, the federal government established a new national child care program. Similar to how the Canada Health Act revolutionized the Canadian health care system, the Canada-wide Early Learning and Child Care Plan is historic as it aims to ensure access to affordable, high-quality child care across the country. 
 

What does it include?

Through agreements, the federal government funds provinces and territories to: 
  1. reduce the cost of child care for parents,
  2. create new non-profit and public child care spaces,
  3. improve working conditions in the sector, and
  4. ensure high-quality, inclusive and culturally appropriate programming.
 
Once treated primarily as a business, early learning and child care is now recognized as a core part of children’s education that is worth funding and managing publicly. 
 
By improving access and affordability, more parents can work, study, or volunteer. Strengthening working conditions in a sector where 96% of workers are women, many of whom are racialized, also advances social equity. And by ensuring quality and inclusion, child care allows children to flourish in ways that benefit them throughout their lives. Although the Plan and its implementation are still evolving, all provinces and territories have made significant progress, making child care more affordable for nearly one million families.
 
Unionization reinforces these gains by sustaining workers’ power and by keeping pressure on governments to fulfill and expand the Plan’s goals, secure improvements in collective agreements, and elevate a historically undervalued sector. Ultimately, building solidarity benefits workers, parents, children, and society at large.