With the largest research capacity of any union in Canada, CUPE ensures members and allies understand the implications of new legislation, and can promote positive alternatives. In 2013 researchers produced fact sheets on many topics including Employment Insurance, union dues and the Rand formula, right-towork laws, Bills C-377, C-4 and C-525, the WTO Ruling on the Green Energy Act, expanding the CPP, and social impact bonds.
At every level of government, researchers were a voice for CUPE members through briefs and submissions on many issues including waste diversion, electricity, private plasma clinics, P3s, airline safety, budgets, minimum wage, precarious work, Ontario’s long-term energy plan, health care restructuring, social financing, private health insurance in Quebec and more.
CUPE researchers and members also contributed to international trade union discussions at an International Labour Organization forum on the future of civil aviation, a PSI meeting of global energy unions in September, and the international conference of Trade Unions for Energy Democracy in October.