CUPE was founded in 1963 through the merger of two unions representing public sector employees. This year, we are celebrating our 60th anniversary.
Our union has been shaped by decades of work, activism and struggle on a multitude of issues. Our history is rich. It is important to learn about it and appreciate it more.
Throughout the coming months, leading up to our 2023 National Convention, we will dig into our archives to share highlights of our past, through articles from our publications, photos, and videos.
To follow us on this journey through time, we invite you to like the CUPE National Facebook page; this will be our preferred way to share this information. The capsules will also be available on this page.
Let us continue, together, to learn about the past, in order to better prepare for the future.
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Video: Judy Darcy, the activist president
Take a look at this short video entitled Judy Darcy: Forever on the front line, produced in 2003.
Video: Yes, We Can!
CUPE’s 1984 documentary Yes, We Can traces the experiences of women in our union. While we’ve made clear progress on gender-based rights in the 40 years since Yes, We Can was made, it’s striking how many of the issues discussed in the film remain relevant today. Topics covered include the need for women’s leadership, the fight for equal pay for work of equal value, the importance of bystander intervention, the impacts of precarity on women workers and struggles with balancing caregiving responsibilities.
Video: The Strength of the Many: Hospital workers assemble!
In this remarkable video from 1974, The Strength of the Many, we see the beginnings of what will eventually become OCHU (the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions).
VIDEO: Grace Hartman: The first woman to lead a major union in Canada
Have a look at this video titled Grace Hartman: The first woman to lead a major union in Canada, produced in 1997, a few years after she passed away. It helps us learn more about important moments in her career, including the events surrounding the 1981 illegal hospital workers’ strike in Ontario that led to her imprisonment.
In 1964, Stan Little shared his thoughts on the future of the new union
Join us on a journey back in time, as we go back to 1964. Have a look at CUPE’s very first publication, The Journal. It was published in both official languages, in October 1964, one year after CUPE’s founding convention in September 1963.
Video: When a union launches a newspaper
Back in 2007, media conglomerate Québecor and its CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau locked out 100 Journal de Québec employees, including journalists, advertising salespeople, press operators and office staff. In response, the workers, who were members of CUPE, resorted to a very original pressure tactic. They decided to publish and distribute their own newspaper, the MédiaMatin.
A hand in the rebuilding of Haiti
On January 12, 2010, Haiti was rocked by an earthquake that devastated many buildings and infrastructure. This was an event that the country, already the poorest in the Americas, could certainly have done without.
Video: A deal is a deal
“A deal is a deal, and we will do everything in our power to hold you to this deal.” This is the promise future CUPE national president Paul Moist made to Winnipeg City Council in 1996, when they announced they planned to open up the CUPE 500 collective agreement to roll back city worker wages. Watch the video “A Deal is a Deal” to find out how members forced the city to back down.
Video: Working for tomorrow
In Working for tomorrow, a video produced by CUPE in 1987, former CUPE National President Jeff Rose and others discuss contracting out and privatization.
Inflation: We’ve been here before
Whether it was 1975 or 2022, the federal government tried to push the cost of inflation onto workers, and CUPE was there to fight back. Then, like now, CUPE argued that workers don’t cause inflation, so they shouldn’t be asked to bear the brunt of the cost.
The OTHER time CUPE New Brunswick took on the government—and won!
Remember that epic 2021 strike where CUPE NB showed the government just how powerful workers can be? Well, there’s another incredible strike you might have forgotten. Let’s rewind to 30 years ago when our fiery New Brunswick division made the government blink.
The Saskatoon strike and Common Front
The largest strike in Saskatchewan’s history, at the time, took place in 1994 when 2,300 municipal workers from four CUPE locals, the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) formed the Common Front to put pressure on Saskatoon City Council after two and a half years of bargaining.
Video: CUPE in Quebec
For those interested in trade unionism in Quebec, a video produced in 1987 and entitled, Le SCFP au Québec, is a must-see. Back then, CUPE Quebec was approaching its 25th anniversary. This video provides a very good idea of the struggles of the past, along with the values and structures of CUPE in Quebec. The work done by CUPE on numerous issues such as union organization, contracting out, employment equity, job security and occupational health and safety is covered.
Video: H2O: The Price of Privatization
In the late 1990s, huge water corporations were circling offshore, eager to profit from Canada’s public water and wastewater systems. But CUPE was on the lookout and ready to fight back. H2O: The Price of Privatization helped kick off the Water Watch campaign. Working in coalition with the Council of Canadians and environmental groups, CUPE members helped stop many high-profile attempts to privatize our water and wastewater. We fought and won on the ground, community by community.
Hydro-Québec: A rotating strike paved the way to a major victory
In the spring of 1967, the 9000 CUPE members employed by Hydro-Québec began a six-week rotating strike, which, at the time, was a major innovation and the first of its kind in North America. The tactic paid off, as it prevented the employer, who was expecting a general strike, from resorting to back-to-work legislation, and enabled technicians, office employees and tradespersons to make major gains.
How CUPE led the charge to establish Canada’s Day of Mourning
Today, we know April 28 as the Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job. What is less known is just how instrumental CUPE was in establishing that day. In 1983, the health and safety director of CUPE, Colin Lambert, came up with the idea of a day to recognize workers killed and injured on the job. Lambert was a former steelworker and miner from Sudbury. He proposed the idea to CUPE’s health and safety committee, and members were quick to endorse the idea.
HEU merges with CUPE
In 1994, CUPE and BC’s Hospital Employees Union (HEU) completed what was described as “the largest merger in Canadian labour history to date” when 39,000 hospital workers voted to become a provincial service division of CUPE. According to CUPE National President Judy Darcy, the merger put CUPE “even more at the forefront of healthcare issues across Canada.” HEU retained its structure and autonomy, while strengthening its ability to advocate for its members by gaining access to CUPE’s specialist services and National Strike Fund.
Video: CUPE born out of a long, complex merger
CUPE was born in 1963 out of a merger between two public-sector unions. But this merger was far from a done deal. In this video, two of the pillars of our union talk about the process that led to CUPE’s creation, and the challenges along the way. They offered their thoughts at the 40th anniversary Convention. This video is a must-see for anyone interested in our history.