Single dad needs to work and be a good father?

I have a friend, 40 y/o single dad with a 6 y/o son, his only child. He has sole custody and gets child support from his ex-gf. She had 3 kids from other dads, but has custody of none of them; not "mom of the year". He doesn’t have any college, and he was discharged dishonorably from the navy for failure to show up for duty. He just got a temp job at /hr (never made "two digit" hourly wage before), but he is having attendence problems, because his son frequently gets sick and he can’t find a babysitter, and daycare won’t take a sick kid. He was told in a meeting with his management that his son’s doctor excuses don’t excuse him personally from missing work, even when he explained that he was a single dad. They gave him a warning, but fired one of his co-workers the same day for attendence issues. Since he is a temp, he gets no sick/vac, but he is paid directly by the company, a union shop. He is not working through a "temp agency". How can he keep his job & care for his son?
He has union dues deducted from his check, but he was told that he is not part of the union, unless he works a certain amount of days, since he is a "temp". He has worked for the company about 90 days.