Health care sector

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CUPE represents over 200,000 health care workers from coast to coast. Approximately 190,000 of those members work in dedicated health care locals such as hospitals, long-term care, community and public health, home care, and at Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec. The remaining members work primarily in the Municipal and Social Services sectors.

CUPE represents health care workers in every province, with the largest numbers in Ontario (Ontario Council of Hospital Unions members), British Columbia (Hospital Employees’ Union members), Quebec (through the Conseil provincial des affaires sociales), Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick.

Health care workers

Sector profile: Health Care

CUPE represents over 225,000 health care workers from coast to coast. Approximately 190,000 of those members work in dedicated health care locals such as hospitals, long-term care, community and public health, home care, and at Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec. The remaining members work primarily in the Municipal and Social Services sectors.

Pinochio with a red bird on his nose

Trudeau adds pharmacare to his evergrowing pile of broken promises

Despite promising to implement pharmacare since 1997, the federal Liberals have once again nixed a plan to do just that. Bill C-213, a bill from NDP MP Peter Julian to establish a framework for negotiating a national, universal, single-payer prescription drug plan with the provinces, was up for a vote in the House of Commons on Wednesday.

Workers from a variety of sectors

Sectors of work

CUPE is Canada’s largest union, with over 800,000 members. It is also a very diverse union in terms of the sectors it represents. Our members work in eleven different sectors. Some sectors have over 150,000 members each, such as health care, education, and municipal services, while others have fewer members. However, our union relies on the strength of all its members, regardless of their sector or type of job. Learn more about each of these sectors and the specific issues facing each one.

Bargaining table

Resources for bargaining committees

CUPE offers many tools to support locals during bargaining. They include CUPE National staff representatives, specialist staff support, the Collective Agreement Information System, bargaining-related workshops, regional office support, and materials for bargaining committees.