In her opening address, National President Judy Darcy served notice that CUPE’s fight for public services is just beginning.
Reminding delegates that “fighting back works”, Sister Darcy listed examples from across the country of CUPE’s many victories. Judging from the wild cheers coming from all over the convention floor, the stories recounted clearly brought back fond memories from delegates, too.
Sister Darcy called public services “the great equalizers in our society” and served notice that CUPE will fight to protect these services through vigorous opposition to privatization. “We will not enter this race to the bottom,” she said, strongly denouncing the concept of competitive bidding.
Delegates responded enthusiastically to Sister Darcy’s strong message. She advised them to get used to standing up: “Because we’re going to have to stand up over and over again in every single province.”