From May 28th to 31st, our President Ryan Conrad and Vice-President Internal Maria Vorobeva attended the CUPE Ontario Convention. It was an opportunity for our team to meet with the leadership of other CUPE locals across the province. During the convention we learned about common issues affecting all locals within Ontario such as the impact of Doug Ford’s budget cuts across all public sectors; policies silencing public demonstrations like bubble zone bylaws that have been implemented or proposed across the province and is currently being drafted by Ottawa city council; and the increased surveillance of workers across public services accelerated through the use of new AI technologies.
We also met with working groups within CUPE Ontario such as the Pink Triangle Committee to coordinate on issues involving LGBTQ+ workers, the International Solidarity Committee to discuss international collaboration among workers, and the Young Workers Committee to discuss issues relevant to young public sector workers across Ontario. We collaborated with locals in these groups to pass many resolutions, including ones to launch campaigns opposing the stifling of public demonstrations, extend the cut-off age for young workers within CUPE Ontario from 30 to 35, and our local’s resolution for support for the University sector in gaining access to and transparency with financial information from our Universities. We also pledged donations to other locals that were on strike at the time such as 1750 (representing WSIB workers), 5525 (representing personal care assistants at Villa Columbo Homes) and 2073 (representing Canadian Hearing Services workers).
Ryan met with Fred Hahn, President of CUPE Ontario, and Ryan Culpepper, chair of the post secondary education sector, to discuss CUPE 4600’s needs and challenges to our upcoming bargaining round. Most importantly, they discussed the need for a clear remedy for locals facing outstanding Bill 124 settlement issues with their stubborn and unsympathetic employers.
While many of the connections we made were positive, some aspects of the convention were disappointing. When reviewing CUPE Ontario’s action plan we pointed out that they did not have anything that directly addressed the issues plaguing the university and post-secondary public education sector.
- Nothing on the cuts to jobs
- Nothing on the increased financialization of Universities and the anti-worker policies implemented by university administrations and the Ford government
- Nothing on the increased focus on militarization of the education sector
We brought up our concerns and await the release of the updated Action Plan to see if our raised concerns are addressed.
Overall we worked hard to push the needs of our local and our sector. We extend our connections throughout the province to strengthen our position as we enter into bargaining with the employer in the fall. Should we take labour action, we know other CUPE locals will have our back as we have theirs!