About Us: Details of the Union's Organization

CUPE Manitoba, 704-275 Broadway, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3C 4M6
Phone: 942 0343

We Care for Manitobans

Every day throughout the province, thousands of CUPE members are working to make Manitoba a better place. Whether it's a big hospital or quiet home for the aged. CUPE members are there. In Manitoba's parks and on the streets, CUPE members are there to ensure everything is safe, efficient and running smoothly. In Manitoba's libraries CUPE members are there helping keep people informed.

Schools and universities depend on CUPE members too. From helping special needs students to maintaining public buildings, CUPE people are there. When it comes to social services like childcare or women's shelters or community development, CUPE Members are there. We care for children, the disabled and others who need help coping with their daily lives. Wherever and whenever Manitobans need quality public services, CUPE members are on the job.

What is CUPE?

The Canadian Union of Public Employees is Canada's largest union. Public service employees formed CUPE to protect our rights, to gain the wages and working conditions that we need and deserve, and to achieve dignity in the workplace.

The national union provides services to the Manitoba region through its staff and offices in Winnipeg and Brandon as well as the national office in Ottawa. National representatives are assigned to work with local unions and provide a wide range of support including assistance with negotiations and processing grievances. Specialist staff are also available with expertise in technical areas such as Health and Safety, Union Development, Equality and Anti-Racism, Legal and Legislative, Research, Communications, Job Evaluation and Technology. A wide range of services are brought together under the guidance of Manitoba's Regional Director and backed up by clerical support staff.

CUPE Manitoba's Purpose

CUPE Manitoba exists to provide a bridge between CUPE members among our various local unions. CUPE Manitoba is the glue that helps union members actively participate together, collectively, to promote the aims and objectives of public employees within the province. CUPE Manitoba's primary goal is to be a better and stronger voice on behalf of all members.

As public employees, CUPE members are constantly under a variety of pressures placed upon them by their supervisors, political directives as well as taxpayer and public demands. Individually, we are incapable of demanding the respect and dignity due each one of us. United we have the strength and expertise to deal with the many and growing complexities of our public service workplaces.

CUPE Manitoba plays a strong leadership role in coordinating its affiliated local unions in their collective bargaining goals through sector policy conferences. One of our main roles and functions is to promote suitable legislation at all levels of government, particularly provincial.

Almost all laws under which CUPE locals operate are at the provincial level. Laws dictate what locals can negotiate; who can and cannot belong to a union; and what procedures must be followed in negotiating contracts. CUPE Manitoba speaks for public employees in attempting to improve laws and strive to have MLA's (Members of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba) understand the needs and desires of our members.

We promote educational programs and other activities to assist all public employees. In addition, CUPE Manitoba works with other labour bodies such as the Manitoba Federation of Labour, Labour Councils and Coordinating Committees, and coalition groups like Canadian Centre For Policy Alternatives to further the aims of CUPE members.

How CUPE Manitoba Works

At the CUPE Manitoba convention, CUPE members who belong to the division play an important role in making policy decisions for the provincial body. At these conventions, CUPE Manitoba's Executive is elected. All activities of CUPE Manitoba are funded by a per capita tax paid by all CUPE local unions. CUPE Manitoba also receives financial support from our national union.
CUPE Manitoba has a President and an Executive Assistant who work out of the office on a full-time basis.

The Executive

CUPE Manitoba's Executive consists of 11 members and meets at least four times per year. In addition, there is a Coordinating Committee comprised of Executive officers, the CUPE Manitoba Executive Assistant, and the Manitoba Regional Director. This Committee meets regularly between Executive meetings to ensure that action is taken on CUPE Manitoba matters.

The Executive works to implement the policies and programs of CUPE Manitoba as decided by delegates to the Annual Convention. They also act as communication links between the Executive and the local unions in their regions. In addition, they deal with any issues concerning CUPE members that may arise between conventions.

The President, Vice-President, Secretary-Treasurer and Recording-Secretary of CUPE Manitoba are elected at large, from the attending delegate population of conventions.

At Manitoba conventions, there are seven area Executive Board members elected from geographical regions. Two come from the Winnipeg area while one executive member comes from each of the following: Brandon, Eastern/Interlake, North, South Central and Western areas. Area meetings are held during the convention where delegates in those areas elect their Area Representatives. The boundaries of the geographical areas and terms of office for elected Executive members are laid out in the CUPE Manitoba Constitution.

At each CUPE Manitoba Convention, there is one three-year Trustee elected, at large, for a total of three Trustees. One of the offices comes open each year.

Who is Eligible for Elected Office

All CUPE Locals within the province may affiliate with CUPE Manitoba. Any voting delegate duly accredited by their local union is eligible to run for office.The number of delegates a local union is entitled to is based on their number of members. Entitlement is as follows:

All Presidents' and other Meetings

CUPE Manitoba's Executive may call meetings of all local unions in the province or within a particular sector or region. These meetings are commonly referred to as "All Presidents'" meetings. These meetings are usually called to deal with urgent and important issues such as pending provincial legislation, upcoming elections or other such issues.

CUPE Manitoba's Committees

As well as Executive activities, CUPE Manitoba has a number of committees. The Committees meet in Winnipeg though a few have sub-committees which meet in Brandon. CUPE Manitoba's Committees assist Locals in identifying common goals and developing strategies to achieve them. Each of the Committees elects its own Chairperson and Recording-Secretary. The Chairpersons attend a yearly planning session with the CUPE Manitoba Executive, Trustees and National Staff to help develop coordinated plans of action for CUPE Manitoba and its Committees.

Aboriginal Council - Promotes and defends the rights and interests of all people of Aboriginal ancestry in the union and society as a whole.
Equal Rights and Opportunities Committee - promotes economic and social equality for all workers, especially women. It also promotes women's equality within the labour movement. The Committee has an educational function and as part of its activities holds regular conferences. The Committee works with CUPE's National Women's Task Force.
Health & Safety Committee - holds practical education sessions for members on workplace health and safety issues. For example, it provides training on how to make workplace H&S committees function. Members monitor changes to provincial legislation and work with the CUPE Manitoba Executive to lobby the government for improvements in H&S laws. As well, the Committee works with the National Health & Safety Committee.
Contracting Out and Political Action Committee - is involved at all political levels, from school divisions to the federal government, and helps candidates sympathetic to labour's concerns get elected. Between elections the Committee is involved in membership education and on-the-job and telephone canvasses to contact members on issues of current concern, including those not directly related to government. It advises members on what contracting out and cutbacks are and how to fight them through negotiations or by setting up campaigns and sponsoring educational schools. The Committee liaises with the National Contracting Out Committee.
Public Relations Committee - The Committee undertakes activities that promote CUPE Manitoba throughout the province.
Manitoba Municipal Employees Committee - discusses common bargaining strategies, drafts bargaining proposals and keeps municipal locals informed about settlements across Canada. The Committee also shares information among its sector members and holds regular policy conferences.
School Division Sector Committee - meets to determine common bargaining objectives for school division locals and keeps up-to-date on bargaining information from other CUPE education sector workplaces in different provinces. It holds regular policy conferences as well as shares information across its provincial sector.
Provincial Health Care Council (for hospital and public nursing homes) - provides a strong, unified voice for CUPE health care locals and shares information throughout its sector. It also holds regular policy conferences. One of its primary activities is central bargaining where Locals agree to common proposals for the Council's Negotiating Committee to take to the bargaining table. Locals can only become involved in central bargaining with the agreement of their employers. Council member Locals pay a separate per capita tax to cover the Council's costs. The Council works in close cooperation with the Manitoba Council of Health Care Unions, a coalition of all health care unions in the province, as well as the Manitoba Medicare Alert Coalition, a community health care coalition.
Education Committee - works with the Union Development Department and the Education Representative to help plan for education courses delivered in the province.
Social Services and Child Care Committee - is comprised of members from local unions within these sectors. The Committee works to coordinate common bargaining strategies as well as to share information. Regular policy conferences are held and the Committee liaises with the national Child Care Committee.
Global Justice Committee - works on issues of union solidarity on a global scale linking the struggles of CUPE Manitoba workers with those elsewhere in the world. The focus is on labour and solidarity issues in developing nations. The Committee works in liaison with the National Union's Committee on International Solidarity.
Committee Against Racism and Discrimination - focuses on dealing with issues of racism and discrimination both within CUPE and within workplaces throughout the province. The Committee shares experiences and ways of bringing about greater equality for visible minorities and aboriginal people. The Committee also works in liaison with the National Union's Rainbow Committee.
Young Members Committee - provides a voice for young workers. Create an awareness for young workers and to make others aware of young workers.

Manitoba Federation of Labour

Most CUPE local unions in Manitoba belong to the Manitoba Federation of Labour (MFL). The Manitoba Federation of Labour is the federation of all unions in the province that are members of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). The MFL works to coordinate activities among Manitoba unions as well as working on labour's legislative and political agenda. The Manitoba Federation of Labour represents labour's viewpoints to the Provincial Government and other provincial organizations. The MFL holds a tri-annual convention in which policy decisions are made on behalf of all organized working people in the province. CUPE has direct representation on the MFL executive. The current CUPE representatives to the MFL are Kevin Rebeck, Nicole Campbell and Lorraine Sigurdson. All CUPE local unions are encouraged to affiliate with the Manitoba Federation of Labour. The MFL's offices are located at Room 503 - 275 Broadway, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 4M6; phone: 947-1400.

Labour Councils and Coordinating Committees

Many CUPE local unions belong to Labour Councils or Labour Coordinating Committees where these groups exist throughout Manitoba. These organizations coordinate activities of all labour unions within specific Manitoba communities. Their focus tends to be on local issues of concern to union members within their geographic area. Labour councils exist in Manitoba as follows: Brandon, Winnipeg, Portage la Prairie, Selkirk and the South East Area centred in Steinbach.

Labour Coordinating Committees are a somewhat more informal structure but do similar activities as the Labour Councils. Labour Coordinating Committees exist in Manitoba as follows: Dauphin, Flin Flon, The Pas and Thompson.

CUPE local unions are encouraged to join the Labour Councils or Coordinating Committees in their areas.

For more information on Labour Councils or Coordinating Committees please contact: National Representative, Canadian Labour Congress, Room 500 - 275 Broadway, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 4M6; phone: 947-9494.

Organizing the Unorganized

There are many reasons for organizing workers who are not presently members of CUPE.

First, it is only fair and reasonable that workers, who are not presently receiving equitable wages and benefits, have the opportunity of earning the same wages and benefits that unionized workers do.

Second, it is extremely important in protecting our CUPE members' wages and benefits. There is intense pressure to reduce current wages to the lower levels of unorganized workers. As long as there are workers without collective bargaining rights, these pressures will make it very difficult for us to achieve improvements in wages and benefits for our present members.

When public services are cut back, CUPE members can find themselves in employment settings where the majority of workers are not covered by a CUPE agreement. Such changes could mean a reduction in wages, benefits or job protection for our CUPE members. We must do everything possible to prevent this from happening.

CUPE in Manitoba encourages any group that is unorganized to join CUPE.

If you know of any workers in your workplace or others, or friends, relatives and neighbours who do not belong to a union, please tell about the benefits of joining CUPE. Inform them that they have protection under Manitoba's Labour Laws if they want to unionize. Then contact your local union executive, or your national servicing representatives at our offices (phone: Winnipeg 942-3017; Brandon 725-8888 or 1-800-552-2873; Dauphin 638-0726 or 1-888-994-2873). Please leave your contact names with the message centre any time of the day or night.

With your help we will continue to protect our members as well as provide protection to other workers, and help to defend our valued social programs for all Canadians. cope 491