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The union’s objectives are:

  • The organization of workers generally, and in particular all workers in the public service of Canada.
  • The advancement of the social, economic and general welfare of active and retired employees.
  • The defence and extension of the civil rights and liberties of public employees and the preservation of free democratic trade unionism.
  • The improvement of the wages, working conditions, hours of work, job security and other conditions affecting all employees including retirees’ pension benefits.
  • The promotion of efficiency in public service generally.
  • The promotion of peace and freedom in the world, and the cooperation with free and democratic labour movements throughout the world.
  • The utilization of our world’s natural and human resources for the good of all the world’s people while promoting the respect and conservation of the environment and the creation of sustainable communities and jobs.
  • The elimination of harassment and discrimination of any sort or on any basis; for the equality of treatment regardless of class, race, colour, nationality, age, sex/gender, language, sexual orientation, place of origin, ancestry, religious beliefs, or mental and physical disability; and the active opposition to discrimination of same wherever it occurs or appears.
  • The establishment of strong working relationships with the public we serve and the communities in which we work and live.

CUPE pursues its objectives by doing the following:

  • Establishing cooperative relations between employers and employees.
  • Promoting required desirable legislation.
  • Conducting an educational program designed to enlighten the general public with respect to the problems of public employees.
  • Organizing and supporting central and provincial bodies of public employees for dealing with matters peculiar to a particular area or province and for assisting in the organizational efforts of this Union.
  • Cooperating with the Canadian Labour Congress, its chartered federations and labour councils, its affiliates and its departments in furthering the general well-being of the whole labour movement.
  • Cooperating with the Public Services International and the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions in their work.
Taken from Article 2 of CUPE’s National Constitution