That the Solidarity Levy, which will go entirely into the Strike Fund, remain in place until at least November 2003. The Levy will be reviewed at the 2003 National Convention, unless the Strike Fund reaches the $15 million trigger earlier.
The continuation of the automatic Defence Fund Levy and the Solidarity Levy is crucial to helping achieve strength and stability in the Strike Fund. It should be noted that without these two levies in place, CUPE would barely have been able to cover strike pay or strike-averting costs for the 1999/2000 fiscal year, and would not have had any money left over for other Defence Fund programs. Many locals have had to make sacrifices to pay these levies in order to show solidarity with their sisters and brothers on strike. At the same time, the levies remain the key to building the Strike Fund so that CUPE will always be there to support CUPE members on the front line of the fight to save jobs and services.