Please Click Here to find recent news, events and information from CUPE Ontario.
WINDSOR, Ont. – More than a thousand members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are on their way to Windsor for the 51st annual CUPE Ontario Convention, May 28-31 at Caesar’s Hotel.
“This is a critical time for working people in Ontario,” says CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn. “Years of cuts have left communities struggling with rising poverty, with fewer of the public services they need and with fewer good jobs. Now we’ve got Tim Hudak promising to cut 100,000 public sector jobs – the educational assistants who support learning, hospital cleaners who prevent the spread of infectious diseases, child care workers who care for our children. His cuts mean job losses in the private sector too, and will drive Windsor’s unemployment rate up to almost 11 percent.
“This week we will be rallying our members for a strong defence of the public services Ontarians rely on – services that Tim Hudak says he plans to cut. Our members know the damage his foolhardy plans will do, and will work in their communities across the province to stop him from putting Ontarians out of work.”
This week, CUPE Ontario members will debate and vote on an action plan for the year ahead and will elect their provincial executive board. At Noon on Friday, CUPE Ontario members and community groups will hold an anti-poverty rally at Riverfront Festival Plaza.
“I’m looking forward to an exciting week of serious debate, and organizing to fight the Hudak agenda,” says CUPE Ontario Secretary-Treasurer Candace Rennick. “Communities across the province are already losing hospital beds, seeing child care centres starved out of existence and at-risk children left unprotected as child welfare agencies close their doors because of budget cuts. It’s time for us all to fight for fairness and demand a government that respects all Ontarians.”
Media are invited to attend the following highlights:
Wednesday, May 28
10:00 a.m. – Fred Hahn, president, CUPE Ontario
11:55 a.m. – Paul Moist, president, CUPE National
Thursday, May 29
10:50 a.m. – Kathleen Monk – political strategist and former director of strategic communications to Jack Layton
Friday, May 30
11:30 a.m. – Terry Melvin, president, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists
Noon – Rally for a Better Ontario – Riverfront Festival Plaza
Please contact Craig Saunders ([email protected]) to register.
CUPE is Ontario’s community union, with 240,000 members providing quality public services we all rely on, in every part of the province, every day. CUPE Ontario members are proud to work in social services, health care, municipalities, school boards, universities and airlines.
-30-
For more information, please contact:
Craig Saunders, CUPE Communications, 416-576-7316
