Fred Hahn was elected President of Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario today in Windsor at the 47th annual convention of the province’s largest union. This is the first time since 1992 that CUPE Ontario has elected a president other than Sid Ryan.
Originally from Tillsonburg, Ontario, 42 year-old Fred Hahn is a social worker from Toronto, and is the first openly gay man to be elected to lead an Ontario trade union. Hahn has been an active CUPE member since 1990. He was first elected to the CUPE Ontario Executive Board in 1998 and was elected Secretary-Treasurer in 2006.
In his acceptance speech to more than 1100 cheering convention delegates, Hahn said, “Job one is mobilizing our union members to reach out to the general public and work with them to save public services,” which now face a challenge as contracting-out emerges as an issue in many of Ontario’s 2010 municipal election campaigns.
Hahn was joined on the platform by his life partner Kerry Peer. Hahn thanked the delegates telling them, “We can meet any challenge by working together,” and committed himself to continuing to make CUPE a leader on equality issues.
For more information, please contact:
Chris Watson
CUPE Communications
TeL: (416) 553-9410
cwatson@cupe.ca
