Claude Généreux, National Secretary-Treasurer
Oct 20, 2009 07:36 PM
Claude was elected National Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in the fall of 2001.
Since that time, Claude has made many improvements to CUPE’s operations aimed at securing a stronger financial base for members’ activism and for servicing support to locals. Under Claude’s financial leadership, CUPE members now have $2.5 million in permanent funding per year to fight privatization and overall financial support for members’ activism has quadrupled since 2001.
Claude’s commitment to activism began early. When Claude was 18 years old when he participated in his first strike against the Montréal daily newspaper La Presse. The year was 1974 and the workers were fighting for a five-day workweek.
In 1980, he was hired by a psychiatric hospital in Montreal and became a member of CUPE Local 313. He quickly became a union activist, fighting for health and safety policies and other rights for workers. He was elected president of the Local in 1991.
In 1993, Claude was elected president of CUPE Quebec and became one of five vice-presidents on CUPE’s National Executive Board. In Quebec, he led a provincial council, bargaining for the health and social services sectors. In 2000, he led a staggered two-week strike by 27 health care locals. The workers achieved innovative language regarding workloads.
Since Claude was elected National Secretary-Treasurer, CUPE has come out of debt and the members’ asset base has built to over $65 million. CUPE members now own, rather than lease, 25 office properties across the country. CUPE’s new national headquarters in Ottawa is Gold LEED certified, which means that it is one of the greenest office buildings in Canada. While also building a strong financial base for operations, CUPE’s building policy ensures that CUPE is investing in members and in their communities with social leadership.
CUPE is Canada’s largest union, representing more than 590,000 members. They work in hospitals, school boards, long-term care facilities, power utilities, social service agencies, universities, municipalities and other public sector workplaces.
Claude Généreux publicity photo high resolution JPEG format
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