Unions have long been champions in the fight for better child care. From organizing child care workers to speaking out for more accessible, affordable, and high-quality services, they’ve played a vital role in pushing the conversation forward.
One of the most striking examples comes from the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) and its Child Care Fund. This initiative not only helps expand high-quality licensed child care, it also steps in where government systems fall short, especially for postal workers caring for young and adult children with disabilities.
The impact goes beyond individual households and CUPW members. The union’s work shines a light on the gaps in government policy, showing how unions continue to serve their members while fighting for the broader public good. By treating child care not as a private problem but as a social justice issue, they’re helping to build a future where care is a collective responsibility. Such efforts will contribute to transforming child care into a government funded public good every household has the right to access.
Responding to the demands of women postal workers and families with disabilities
CUPW members began to demand more support for child care in the 1970s and 1980s, as more women joined the workforce at Canada Post. Many of these women began speaking up about the child care challenges they faced, whether it was finding backup care, securing options for evening and night shifts, or simply accessing reliable services. Their concerns were voiced to CUPW and Canada Post management, and in 1991, CUPW successfully bargained for a groundbreaking solution: a jointly administered child care fund capped at $2 million.
The fund was designed to support child care projects and carry out child care needs assessments and research. It was a trailblazer; the first of its kind in North America, and among the first in the world. But in its early years, the fund fell short of its potential. That changed in 1995, when CUPW secured sole control and hired a dedicated child care coordinator, transforming the fund into a powerful tool for change. To this day Canada Post continues to provide money to support the fund, and the union manages the fund’s projects.
From the beginning, CUPW placed equity and accessibility at the heart of its work, with one of its first major investments dedicated to supporting parents of children with special needs. In 1996, the union produced In Our Way, Canada’s first study on the workplace barriers faced by parents of children with disabilities. The results were clear: these families faced steep costs for out-of-pocket expenses not covered by government benefits, including for essential specialized equipment and private therapy to bypass long public waitlists.
In response, CUPW partnered with SpeciaLink, the National Center for Child Care Inclusion, to launch the Special Needs Project. As part of this project, CUPW provides a benefit based on individualized funding to help postal workers offset expenses such as respite care, child care, transportation, and uninsured health services for children with disabilities aged 0 to 18. The Moving On Project extends similar support to parents of adult children with disabilities, covering costs like life skills training and equipment.
Beyond these additional costs, parents of children with disabilities continue to face persistent challenges navigating fragmented services, especially for immigrant parents, who may experience language barriers and lack familiarity with complex and bureaucratic government systems. In response, CUPW employs bilingual Special Needs Advisors and support navigators who provide members with personalized guidance and connect members with services that can be difficult to locate on their own.
While these provisions can’t completely ease the financial strain and stress of caring for a child with a disability, CUPW’s fund and advisory support offers postal workers’ families recognition and some relief by helping bridge the gap between what’s needed and what public systems provide.
Expanding licensed home-based child care in Newfoundland and Labrador
CUPW’s Child Care Fund goes beyond supporting families of children with disabilities, it also helps postal workers across Canada access high-quality licensed child care. In the first five years of the fund, the union launched 11 community-based projects aimed at improving child care access for its members.
To ensure projects meet real needs, CUPW staff consult with local union executives who have an understanding of their members’ child care challenges, drawing insights from direct conversations and membership surveys. The union also funds research on child care across Canada to better understand household needs around child care accessibility, affordability, and inclusivity. Through these member-informed initiatives, CUPW has found that postal workers face many of the same challenges as other Canadian households, including difficulty finding care in rural and remote “child care deserts.”
This process has led to dozens of child care initiatives nationwide, often in partnership with high-quality licensed not-for-profit centers. CUPW provides administrative grants to these centers, improving care for all children, not just union members, while also offering partial fee subsidies and prioritized access for CUPW families.
One especially notable initiative is CUPW’s support for licensed home child care in Newfoundland and Labrador. In the spring of 1996, the union conducted a comprehensive child care needs assessment of its members in the St. John’s area. The assessment revealed a major gap: existing child care programs could not meet members’ needs, and there was no regulated home-based child care in Newfoundland. Child care provided in a caregivers’ home is often the most practical solution for shift workers and particularly members living in rural and remote areas, preventing families from having to drive long distances to the nearest licensed center.
In response, CUPW established and funded the precursor to the province’s only home-based care agency. Not only did the resource centre offer playgroups, a toy and equipment lending library, and parent resources, it recruited caregivers and modeled regulations the government could use in a public system. Formerly known as the CUPW Family Resource Centres, the Family and Child Care Connections agency recruits, trains, monitors, and provides operational grants to family child care providers who are encouraged to offer part-time, evening, and flexible hours to meet the needs of workers with non-standard schedules. The agency also monitors the quality of home-based care providers, initially developing internal policies and quality standards that would go on to inform Newfoundland and Labrador’s Early Childhood Services Committee’s development of quality standards for the early learning sector.
Home-based providers have access to medical benefits and are compensated for statutory holidays, vacation days, and professional development. In turn, the agency now supports 165 home-based care providers, giving families in rural and remote Newfoundland and Labrador access to licensed, high-quality home-based care. CUPW is proud of the role they played, however most recognition goes to expertise and unrelenting leaders in the child care community.
The need for local planning
CUPW’s efforts to address child care deserts and gaps highlights the need for the government to adopt locally driven planning, grounded in community insight, to ensure child care expansion reaches the areas of greatest need.
The child care movement has advocated for municipalities across Canada to become more significant players in planning for and directing where child care operators should establish themselves to ensure lower-income, rural, and remote communities are not underserved.
With the exception of Ontario, municipalities across Canada play only a limited role in child care, and few have voluntarily developed dedicated strategies, action plans, or policy frameworks. Empowering municipalities to lead local child care planning would enable them not only to identify needs but also to actively improve, develop, and expand publicly managed services that are inclusive and high quality.
With strong municipal authority and proper federal–provincial funding for a national child care strategy, CUPW’s child care fund could be used even more judiciously to support members with unique care needs, including workers caring for children with special needs.The work of CUPW underscores the value of community-led planning in child care and the importance of providing equitable support for families caring for children with disabilities. This is an approach that remains crucial as child care expansion continues to fall short of household demand and fails to be fully inclusive of all children.
Supporting CUPW means more than supporting postal workers; it’s backing a union that is continually pressuring and highlighting what still must be addressed by federal and provincial governments to have a truly quality accessible early child care system.
