Charles Fleury | National Secretary-Treasurer
By updating our bargaining strategy in December 2016, CUPE’s National Executive Board renewed our union’s commitment to protect the right to free collective bargaining, including the right to strike.
At CUPE National, we take that mandate very seriously. Unfortunately, too often governments pass legislation taking away these fundamental rights. CUPE National is fighting back on all fronts to protect our rights so we can bargain forward. Through political action, we are working to defeat governments that remove our right to free collective bargaining. We also continue our long legacy of defending these rights in court when necessary.
In 2008, CUPE supported the Saskatchewan Federation of Labor legal fight against the Wall government’s law limiting public sector worker’s right to strike. And it was worth every penny since the Supreme Court affirmed that all Canadian workers have the constitutional right to strike or to have a fair way to resolve labour disputes if their work is essential.
In recent years, we also invested millions of dollars in multiple judicial challenges to overturn Nova Scotia, Manitoba and Ontario laws limiting wage increases, New Brunswick and Québec laws unilaterally changing our members pension plans or Ontario law prohibiting our members from striking, just to name a few. And as always, CUPE National will be there with you financially in your bargaining to improve wages, working conditions, job security, pensions, and benefits. Our financial foundation remains solid despite the pandemic.
This year we kept the National Defence Fund spending mostly at 2020 levels resulting in continued resources for bargaining support campaigns. The National Strike Fund has over one hundred and twenty-eight million dollars to fund your strike-avert and strike support campaigns. With the largest strike fund in the country, CUPE National can support our locals when they need it. And be assured, I will personally make sure we continue to have the resources to back you up at each and every bargaining table across the country.
