On Wednesday, things came full circle for Claude Généreux.It started in Vancouver and it ends in Vancouver. After serving as National Secretary-Treasurer for ten years, Claude Généreux, surrounded by his family, received a resounding tribute from the Convention.
First, CUPE-Québec President Lucie Levasseur thanked him elegantly, adding her own spin to a quote from Claude’s speech of the previous day: “What’s important cannot always be measured, and you were immeasurably important to us!”
One after another, his friends and colleagues testified to his finer qualities with a little humour, and above all, to his most eloquent success: the spectacular turnaround of CUPE’s finances over the last ten years.
In his address to the delegates, Claude recalled several key events that marked the past decade. He summed up by declaring that “we may lose some battles, but we win in the end.” Then he thanked the delegates for their struggles and achievements over the years.He closed by noting that what we are asking for is “bread and roses, respect and dignity.”
His partner Manon Charlebois had the last word: “Now that you’re no longer busy with the national, we’ll go ‘local’ together at home.”