Over 500 social and labour activists from across Canada are taking part in CUPE’s 2nd National Human Rights Conference in Winnipeg. Day two focused on a look at the make-up of CUPE’s membership, and discussions on Canada’s human rights record.
Who are we? CUPE’s membership survey
Unions work to increase wage fairness and to eliminate income inequalities. We challenge discrimination in all its forms. Wage gaps are often the result of systemic discrimination—when policies, practices or social norms affect the way employers value jobs where women and other equity-seeking groups are concentrated. Systemic discrimination is often unconscious or unintentional, and can go unnoticed, except by the people it disadvantages.
WHAT CAN WE DO?
Many of our workplaces do not reflect the diversity of the communities we live in. Groups that are traditionally underrepresented include women, workers of colour, Aboriginal workers, workers with disabilities, and LGBTTI workers. These workers also tend to be concentrated in lower paid, insecure and more hazardous jobs.
Newly-leaked documents reveal secret trade talks could transform health care from a public service to a for-profit commodity.
A leaked discussion paper presented to negotiators at the World Trade Organization promotes health “tourism” and privatization. Canada is one of 22 countries at the table negotiating the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA), along with the European Union.
WINNIPEG – The role of unions in fighting racism and all forms of discrimination will be highlighted this week in Winnipeg. The Canadian Union of Public Employees is hosting labour and social activists from across the country at the CUPE National Human Rights Conference, February 5 – 8, at the RBC Convention Centre.
CUPE conducted its first-ever comprehensive survey of its membership in 2014 to give our union a better understanding of the union’s demographics and diversity, as well as the degree to which its members face precarious work. Nearly 3,000 members representing all regions and sectors were polled. This rich national level data from the survey has many stories to tell about our membership. We gained valuable insights into the wages, working conditions, and union involvement of our members from equality-seeking groups.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in Quebec has prevailed in the Supreme Court on the matter of the Expenditure Restraint Act (Bill C-10) and its impact on Radio-Canada employees belonging to CUPE 675. The Association des réalisateurs (AR) de Radio-Canada was also contesting the decision rendered by the Québec Court of Appeal. The Supreme Court has ordered that a new hearing be held.
WINNIPEG – Following two days of a precautionary boil water advisory, final testing proved that there is nothing wrong with Winnipeg’s water. Winnipeggers should be confident with the quality of the city’s public water system.
“We are very proud of our public water in Winnipeg,” said Gord Delbridge, vice-president of CUPE Local 500. “It is one of the best systems in the country, and recent events prove how seriously the City takes the monitoring and testing of our municipal drinking water.”
Letter: A serious issuePublished February 5, 2015 in The Regina Leader-Post.
The Supreme Court of Canada ruling that determined the provincial government’s essential services legislation to be unconstitutional and severely infringing on the rights of workers is no joke.
Canadians are walking into a retirement income crisis that will hit equality-seeking groups the hardest.
Over 11 million Canadians today – six out of every 10 workers - don’t have a workplace pension plan. When a worker doesn’t have a good pension at work, they have to rely more heavily on the country’s public pension system (Old Age Security, the Guaranteed Income Supplement and the Canada Pension Plan). But this system is inadequate, particularly for equality-seeking groups.
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