The following resolution by the Economic and Social Policy Committee has been passed unanimously by delegates at the Canadian Labour Congress convention. Delegates to the CLC convention are also distributing a petition calling for the federal government to legislate the right to universal access to child care.
Text of the resolution:
The Committee recommends concurrence in the following composite resolution:
The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) will engage in a well-funded, sustained campaign for federal government funding and a legislative framework for a pan-Canadian early childhood education and care system that:
a)provides children from birth to 12 years with optimal environments in which to grow and thrive;
b)provides those who care for our children the wages, working conditions, and respect that reflect the value of the work they do; and
c)is non-profit, public, high quality, accessible, inclusive, and affordable, with adequate compensation to Quebec;
The CLC will make child care a priority in federal elections;
The CLC will work with provincial/territorial federations, affiliates, Labour Councils, and coalitions to organize a National Day of Action, and to build provincial action plans that commit to public child care;
The CLC will campaign against privatization and public funding to private, for-profit child care companies;
Because child care is a human right according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Elimination of Discrimination against Women;
Because studies show investing in quality, early childhood education and care, as in Quebec and countries with national child care programs, stimulates the economy and creates jobs;
Because access to quality, affordable early childhood education and care is vital to the full and equal participation of women in our economy;
Because quality, early childhood education and care lays a foundation of success for our children's lives;
Because there are not enough quality, affordable child care spaces to meet the needs of working families;
Because labour opposes the exploitation of child care for profit, and the impact of for-profit child care companies includes higher fees for parents, rising public subsidies, lower wages for child care workers, questionable quality, and a switch to more for-profit child care at the expense of community-based centres.