Privatization

Privatization has many names. This newly updated guide cuts through the language that privatization promoters hide behind, to show what’s really at stake for our public services. It also lists some of the key privatization pushers, as well as the processes that governments and employers use to pave the way for privatization.

A new CUPE research report shines a spotlight on the ways for-profit services harm Indigenous, Black and racialized workers and their communities. The Colour of Privatization looks at the origins and ongoing impacts of privatization, shares members’ experiences with contracting out, and outlines concrete ways to fight racial discrimination and strengthen public services.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is at the forefront of the fight against the privatization of public services and has been since our union was founded in 1963. The collective power of CUPE members is our best defence against privatization, and CUPE collective agreements are a powerful tool in that fight. When CUPE members organize to achieve, and strictly enforce, contract language that prevents or restricts our employers from contracting out work, we can protect public sector union jobs and public services. CUPE collective agreements are far more likely than other union contracts to have some type of protection against contracting out. CUPE locals regularly use their collective agreement language to stop privatization in its tracks.

The Keep our pensions out of privatization toolkit gives CUPE activists and pension representatives information about the dangers of pension funds investing in public-private partnerships (P3s) and other types of privatization.

Stop privatization before it starts. Know the early warning signs. CUPE members are the eyes and ears of an early warning system that detects and stops privatization before it starts.