In an overwhelming vote yesterday, workers at Anova: A Future Without Violence, in London, Ontario chose to join CUPE.

Anova is the largest gender-based violence shelter and sexual assault centre in Ontario. The agency serves and supports thousands of survivors every year through shelter, support, advocacy and education.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to join CUPE, a strong activist union, which aligns so well with Anova’s own feminist values. Staff across all helping professions are seeing record levels of burnout as we head into the third year of this pandemic, and our agency is no different,” said Christine W., an Anova staff member. “We look forward to working with our leadership team to find solutions, so that we can all continue bringing to life Anova’s vision of a world of shared power, where everyone can live free from violence.”

Across Ontario, CUPE represents more than 35,000 social service workers in community agencies, childcare, children’s aid societies, developmental services, municipal social services, child protection, children’s mental health, shelters and hostels, and at the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.