CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn kicked off Convention on Wednesday morning with an electrifying speech that pledged to defend public services and public employees from the austerity agenda, and protect Ontario’s public power from privatization. “The hydro grid is there because our parents and grandparents bought and paid for it with their taxes. It belongs…
Robert Gauthier, winner of CUPE Ontario’s Injured Worker Advocate Award, is VP of CUPE Local 4000 and chairs the local’s WSIB/Return-to-Work committee. According to his executive, he is a formidable force on behalf of injured workers. “He knows his stuff extremely well, he works incredibly hard and he always manages to get the best terms…
This year’s Sisters in Solidarity Award was presented to Pam Parks of CUPE Local 1999 in Oshawa. Sister Pam, who works at Lakeridge Health, was nominated for her support of social justice, union solidarity and fairness. Her nominees cited her encouragement of new and young workers, which led one of them to join the CUPE…
CUPE Ontario Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick greeted delegates in dramatic fashion Thursday morning. Holding a copy of our loan agreement, Sister Candace informed delegates that every penny of CUPE Ontario’s debt has been paid off. Then, with a flourish, she tore up the agreement. “The good news I bring to you is that we did it…
Following a year-long formal review, a large majority of delegates voted in favour of “historic change,” as CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn put it, by changing the CUPE Ontario Executive Board to meet the needs of our diverse membership. The new structure moves from three diversity vice-presidents to six equality representatives and a representative from…
TORONTO, ON – More than one thousand people converged on Queen’s Park Thursday afternoon, calling on MPPs to cancel plans to privatize Hydro One. The rally took place as the legislature began its final clause-by-clause review of the provincial budget bill, which includes legislation intended to make the sale legal. “We are here to tell…
OTTAWA, ON – The president of Local 4000 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) expressed profound dismay today at The Ottawa Hospital’s move to cut yet more patient services and dump sick and frail patients onto an overstretched and under-resourced community care system. “The Ottawa Hospital is abandoning patients with no thought…
Kathy MacKinnon from Local 7800 in Hamilton received this year’s CUPE Ontario Health and Safety Award. For 25 years, Sister Kathy has served on local and joint health and safety committees, representing more than 3800 members at six hospitals and five satellite sites in Hamilton Health Sciences. Asbestos is a key issue for Sister Kathy…
TORONTO, ON – Hailing from every corner of the province, hundreds of members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario will join the rally at Queen’s Park on Thursday to Keep Hydro Public. CUPE Ontario has repeatedly raised concerns expressed by leading economists and legal experts that the proposed Hydro One privatization…
TORONTO, ON – CUPE’s 55, 000 education workers in Ontario are appalled at the decision of the Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) to declare the teachers’ strikes in Durham, Peel and Rainbow Boards to be unlawful. “The Durham, Peel and Rainbow boards should have been focussed on getting deals at their local bargaining tables rather…
