CUPE National President Paul Moist recently sat down for an interview with UnisonTV, part of the Unison trade union in the U.K. The interview took place during the Unison National Delegate Conference, which was held in Bournemouth, England from June 13-18, 2010.
He warned trade union leaders about the harsh realities of the so-called ‘Canadian model’ for public spending cuts that the country’s new coalition government wants to pursue to axe services and jobs.
- Watch the UnisonTV interview with Paul Moist.
“Canada’s federal government simply transferred the debt, from a policy point of view and financially to junior levels of government,” said Moist. “The best ground for Unison to learn from Canada’s experiences is to defend services.”
“We learned we can’t [only] solve all of these problems at a bargaining table or lobbying with politicians. But the pressure from the community… when we link up with the community we are much stronger.”
Unison is Britain’s largest union with over 1.3 million members. For more information about the trade union, visit the Unison website.