CUPE National President Paul Moist received a warm welcome Wednesday from the 600 delegates attending the 27th biennial convention of the Hospital Employees Union (HEU) in Vancouver.
Moist congratulated CUPE’s health services division in B.C. for its work on several campaigns - in particular the union’s Stand Up for Seniors’ Care campaign - and condemned the, “Cannibalism and contract-flipping” in B.C.’s long-term care system that has resulted in “less care for seniors and more attacks on workers’ wages and benefits.”
Moist thanked delegates for their activism and urged them to continue to address poverty issues for all workers, union and non-union, through the union’s living wage campaign.
He also pressed home the importance of supporting the national call to expand Canada Pension Plan benefits.
“Canadians are entitled to dignity in retirement,” he said.
“We want action. We are demanding fair pensions for all Canadians.”
Referencing CUPE National’s Year of the Steward, Moist told convention activists, “You are the bedrock of your union. There’s no CUPE, there’s no HEU without the people on the shop floor who stand up to the boss.”