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The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE, French: Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique) is a Canadian trade union serving the public sector - although it has in recent years organized workplaces in the non-profit and para-public sector as well. With more than half a million members across Canada, CUPE represents workers in health care, education, municipalities, libraries, universities, social services, public utilities, transportation, emergency services and airlines. CUPE is the largest union in Canada. Over 60% of its members are women, and almost a third are part-time workers.

History

CUPE was formed in 1963 in a fashion resembling industrial unionism by merging the National Union of Public Employees (NUPE) and the National Union of Public Service Employees (NUPSE). The first national president was Stan Little, who had previously been the president of NUPSE. Having led public sector unionism through a period where almost no workers had the right to strike, Little has been credited with bringing public sector unions "from collective begging to collective bargaining." By the time of Little's retirement, CUPE had already grown to 210,000 members and had eclipsed Steel as the largest affiliate to the Canadian Labour Congress.

Little was followed in 1975 by Grace Hartman, a dynamic feminist activist who was the first woman to lead a major labour union in North America. Hartman led CUPE to involve itself in broader struggles for social justice and equality, and strongly emphasized the role of social unionism, as opposed to the more conservative business unionism practiced by many North American unions. Never afraid to be confrontational, she was arrested for leading Ontario hospital workers in defying a back-to-work order from the Ontario Supreme Court in 1981, and the 62-year-old grandmother was sentenced to 45 days in jail. She retired in 1983.

Hartman’s successor as president was Jeff Rose, a Toronto city worker with a reputation for being tireless, smart and tough. Rose's time as the defining face of CUPE was marked by membership growth from 294,000 to 407,000 members (largely through organizing), a strengthening of CUPE’s infrastructure and rank-and-file skills, and his outspoken opposition to Brian Mulroney-era wage restraint, free trade, the GST, privatization, deregulation, and cuts to public services. Under Rose’s leadership, CUPE was particularly effective in improving pay and working conditions for women. He stepped down in 1991 after eight years, becoming deputy minister of intergovernmental affairs for the Ontario NDP government.

In 1991, Judy Darcy followed Rose and became the defining face of CUPE. One of Canada's most visible and colourful labour leaders, Darcy was a vicious opponent of privatization, two-tier health care, and free trade agreements. Darcy was firmly committed to the union's involvement in broader social issues, and under her tenure CUPE strongly attacked the invasion of Iraq, condemned Canada's involvement in ballistic missile defense, and spoke out loudly in favour of same-sex marriage. Darcy stepped down in 2003 after 12 years as president, and was replaced by Paul Moist.

Internal organization

CUPE has an extremely decentralized structure, in which each local elects its own executive, sets its own dues structure, conducts its own bargaining and strike votes, and sends delegates to division and national conventions to form overarching policy. Advocates of this system claim that it places the power in the grassroots where it belongs; critics believe that it makes it difficult for it to organize concerted action and leaves the union highly balkanized with policies and strategies varying widely from local to local and sector to sector. This decentralized structure is often described as "CUPE's greatest strength and its greatest weakness." This political decentralization is mirrored by an organizational decentralization. Although CUPE has a national headquarters in Ottawa, it is relatively small -- the vast majority of its staff are scattered across over 70 offices across the country.

Organizationally, there are provincial divisions for each province, as well as the national organization. Nationally there are two full-time political positions -- the National President (currently Paul Moist), and the National Secretary-Treasurer (currently Claude Généreux).

Controversies and Israel boycott

The B'nai Brith of Canada called attention to CUPE's role in the UN-sponsored Conference Against Racism held in Durban in 2001.

Although many Canadian Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) were present at Durban, their reaction to the widespread antisemitism there was disappointing. The response of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) representative is instructive. In a report submitted by CUPE Ontario delegate Antoni Shelton, and posted to the CUPE Ontario website... Shelton presented the CUPE perspective on the conference. Shelton described the equation of Zionism with racism with utter passivity and accepted it as a legitimate point of contention, along with other issues such as compensation for slavery. Shelton was amused by the “photogenic” qualities of the marginal anti-Zionist Neturei Karta sect. He had no comment on the Nazi caricatures of Jews and other antisemitic paraphernalia circulating at the NGO conference at Durban.

The Ontario division of CUPE has more recently come under fire for their decision to support an international campaign dedicated to a boycott of Israel over what they perceive to be mistreatment of Palestinians. Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League labeled CUPE's action as "deplorable and offensive." The Ontario regional director of the Canadian Jewish Congress, Steven Schulman, characterized the vote as "outrageous." "For a respected labour union to engage in such a vote, which is completely one-sided and based on mistruths, is shocking," he said.

An editorial in the Canadian Jewish news also took issue with some CUPE leaders comparisons between Israel's policies and South Africa's apartheid system.

Let there also be no condoning the sly attempt by CUPE Ontario leaders to hide or obfuscate its true aim. The logic of the haters of Israel is as simple as it is distorted: Israel is an apartheid state. It must be treated in the same manner as the only other apartheid state was ever treated. It must be dismantled! By joining with the hate-filled slogans being hurled at Israel, the union, was de facto supporting, condoning and even affirming the call for the elimination of the Jewish State.

In May 2006, the Ontario wing of CUPE decided to boycott Israel for its alleged "apartheid-like" behaviour towards Palestinians. The action, which was suported by CUPE itself, was immediately condemned by politicians and Jewish leaders. Among the criticisms of CUPE's unanimous vote was the fact that it was held on a Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, thereby barring observant Jewish CUPE members from participating.

External links

• Official CUPE site
• A critical analysis of the 2005 CUPE Constitution

• Canadian Labour Congress
• Public Services International