CUPE National Sector Conference - Opening Night and Day 1: Intersectional Feminism, Privatization, Pensions and Precarious Work

Back in Ottawa (on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg peoples) - this time for the third CUPE National Sector Council Conference. Established in 2013, after many delegates at convention felt that the 2 hour sector meetings every two years were simply not enough time to connect with our counterparts from across the country, so we decided to hold a sector conference in the off years of national convention. 

The first version of the sector conference was in Toronto and well, it was not good. Then 2 years ago, we decided to give it another shot and it was great. I wrote about the conversation we had on sexual violence on campus in 2016, which led to some sector solidarity on the subject. We passed a resolution calling for a tool kit on the issue of sexual violence on campuses, critical incident stress support for stewards and bystander training for all CUPE members and staff. It passed - not sure where they are at in the development of the materials we asked for...so here we are again for the third iteration of the sector conference. This year the theme is RESPECT.

One of my favourite things about events like these is reconnecting with people from all over the country. I love that I can turn one way and see a friend from Nova Scotia, and then the other there's someone from Quebec and then turn in another direction and there's a friend from Saskatchewan! It's so cool. It's also really nice to see BC delegates - we're a pretty tight crew and I'm so proud to be from our region knowing all of the great work our members, locals and staff do in BC. Ok, cheesy union family love fest over. For now...

Our sector conference started yesterday evening, with our co-hosts - CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn and Diversity Vice President Yolanda McLean (who I love, she nominated me for Trustee in 2015) warmly welcomed all us to Ottawa and introduced Elder Annie Smith St. Georges who gave the land acknowledgement. She shared her own experiences with harassment and discrimination and frankly told us that most indigenous people will rarely come to union reps for support for fear of rejection and fear of being removed from employment. And why wouldn't they be skeptical? Years of intergenerational trauma, discrimination, violence - she talked about residential schools, the 60s Scoop, MMIWG and loss of culture and language. We have to work at building trust with our indigenous members. She asked us all to join hands as we honoured the creator. She tied the word "respect" and its meaning to land rights - it all comes down to land rights. She called on us to empower ourselves under the wheel of wellness - care, love, trust, and respect. I liked what she said to us "you didn't choose this path, you were chosen," a sentiment many of us feel. Now that we had been properly welcomed and the land acknowledged, it was on to Fred.

I always forget that CUPE Ontario is so much bigger than the rest of us. They have 260,000 members! Wow! Fred in his passionate Hahnian (I just made that up) way started his welcome off with discussion on the recent results of their provincial election where Doug Ford's Conservatives got 39% of the vote and 100% of the power. (PR anyone - don't forget to send your ballot in by November 30th). The good news coming from the election is that 6 CUPE Ontario members won seats in the legislature and were elected to the 40 person NDP Opposition caucus. All 6 came from the university sector - pretty cool eh? Fred called on us to hold up our solidarity and clear commitment to fight the poison of right wing populism - fighting for public services, good jobs and fighting against racism, xenophobia and white supremacy. Once we were all fired up, Charles Fleury introduced us to CUPE's Senior Economist Angella McEwan. 

Angella spoke to us about respect in the workplace in relation to the economy. The odds are already stacked against workers in the inherent power imbalance of a capitalist economy. She talked about language and code-switching. Using dry economic terminology isn't meaningful for many people - we're not going to grasp concepts like "economies of scale,""labour market segregation" and many more but people will understand the cost of poverty and its impacts. She talked about the economy not in terms of numbers or markets, but in terms of decision making, services, care, earnings, and the distribution of wealth. She talked about how we value work - especially women's work whether in the home or in the workplace. Economic decisions aren't just fiscal - they are political! YES! Then it got good. 

We started talking about intersectional feminist theory  - Angela Davis, bell hooks, Patricia Hill Collins and Kimberle Crenshaw. You can't talk about economics purely in terms of gender, you need to include class, race, and ability. She gave us a lot of food for thought and it was refreshing to have a different lens on the subject. As soon as she was done I turned to my friends and said "I am going to make her my friend." And then I did at the reception following the plenary. Woot!

The next morning started off with a plenary session Public Wins: Fighting Privatization featured the stories of 3 CUPE members fighting back attempts to privatize aspects of healthcare, education and food services. Our moderators - research reps Matthieu and Preethy were great - very engaging and asked great questions to move the conversation along. The panel covered the context of each situation, their campaigns, their fight back strategies and how they mobilized their members and allies in their victories.

Jamie Rose - CUPE 737 (Brandon School Division) - Manitoba

The Manitoba government got rid of their accountability and transparency legislation and proposed the construction of 4 P3 schools  - the union took the issue on, resisted and ended up with 5 schools built by public services. They submitted a cost-share with CUPE National and were able to develop flyers, radio ads, tv ads, billboards. They attended board meetings in droves and built relationships with community groups like faith groups and the Council of Canadians (makes me think of the Metro Vancouver Alliance). They built solid relationships with the Winnipeg locals as well. Building solidarity in the region. He was gracious and gave lots of props to CUPE National staff for their hard work. His parting words of advice to us - find your allies - whether it's a labour friendly reporter in the media (if they still exist), labour councils or community groups. 

Norma Robinson - CUPE 1252 (New Brunswick Council of Hospital Unions)

In 2012, the New Brunswick government tabled a request for proposal for the contracting out of hospital services (Sudexo), primarily food and cleaning services. They knew they were in the fight of their lives and mounted a significant campaign to fight to keep those services public. They had a comprehensive lobby campaign - meeting with MLAs and other elected officials. They bought a hearse to signify the death of public healthcare. They tabled at farmers markets, they took tombstones and coffins as dramatic props, they served thermalized food to elected officials, they worked with university researchers to talk about the economic impact of locally sourced and grown food on their local economies around the province. They managed to get public support and pressured the government to create a task force to look at the proposal - and populated it with frontline workers who could speak with authority on how these services should be delivered. Now that the campaign is over, it's given their members the confidence to ensure that their employers are following standards and not cutting corners. 

Her parting words of wisdom really centred around not giving up. We have to play the long game, take things slow and steady and not be afraid of being creative in your tactics. 

Stef Kennedy - CUPE 3261 (University of Toronto Service Workers)

In 2016, U of T decided to contract in Food Services at the St. George campus. This was an interesting take on the subject because the union didn't have to go out and sign cards, they absorbed hundreds of new members. For those workers, for the first time they had solidarity and they finally felt valued by the campus community for the work they'd been doing so long. Their wages and benefits increased, they had access to a pension plan, morale increased and they had increased pride in their work. The employer also became a lot more transparent in their decision making (for better or worse, but at least the union were aware of what was going on). 

All of a sudden they had a whole whack of new members so it was time to welcome them into the union family. The local staged a welcome BBQ, held numerous meetings and town halls to answer questions and make themselves available. They spent time building trust amongst these new members and it's paid off. It's not all sunshine and ponies though. As they work through significant challenges around casual workers, they do feel that there are people who have their back. I was struck by her final words - she simply said "you're worth it, you're worth the fight."

Amen, friend!

After the plenary we went into our sector meetings. In the Post Secondary meeting we have representation from 16 post secondary institutions from across the country. We represent inside and outside support staff, library workers, contract faculty, and teaching assistants. Our cochairs for our session were Michelle Waite (CUPE 3479) and Janice Folk-Dawson (CUPE 1334). 

After introductions we went straight into a panel about pensions. Moderated by our Universities Coordinator in BC, David Scott we heard from 3 brothers. Bob Jones (CUPE 1975), Kevin Skerrett (CUPE Pension Researcher), Jerrett Clark (CUPE 2424). 

I'm not going to lie, I was really disappointed to see a "manel" of all white men. Sigh..The first story we heard was from CUPE 1975, where they are in the middle of a pension fight at the University of Saskatchewan. The employer is trying to made unilateral changes to their pension plan which includes converting it from a defined benefit plan to a target benefit plan. They've been working hard to convince members to hold steady - they even had Jerrett Clark from CUPE 2424 at Carleton in Ottawa fly out to speak to their membership after their victory earlier in the year (more on that later). It was cool to hear of solidarity like that. They are going back into mediation next week to get to a resolve, and I wish them well. 

I always like hearing from Kevin. I got to spend a little bit of time with him earlier this year at Labor Notes in Chicago and go to know the activist side of our pension rep. He opened his remarks by acknowledging the all male panel. He then furthered the topic and talked about how pensions are gendered and it's time we acknowledge and hopefully find some time to talk a little more about this next time. I hope so. Anyway, he focused on the unique nature of pensions in our sector and encouraged us to bargain our pensions into our collective agreements to avoid conversion attempts and other attacks. He stressed the importance of relationships with other unions in our pension plans and to actively engage members in some way in their pensions. 

Finally we heard from Jerrett Clark from CUPE 2424 at Carleton here in Ottawa. We were here in March on the first day of their strike. I ran into Janice in the lobby of our hotel and she said "tomorrow morning at 7am, picket line is going up at the entrance of Carleton, come with us!" So we did. Anyway, the story is more of the same, the employer went after CUPE 2424's pension plan in bargaining and the union was having none of it. They were able to mobilize their members and fight off the attack on their pension plan. 

This whole conversation made me reflect on my experience in pensionland. I've spent 4 years on the UBC Staff Pension Plan Board of Directors -a position that has been a lot of work and a huge learning curve. My experience has been very positive and we have worked hard to maintain our pension plan and continue to fight for better benefits. We've built good relationships with the employer, the pension staff and allies on the Board of Governors to keep improving our most important benefit. 

After lunch we had great discussions world cafe style, about precarious work and organizing. That was a nice break from hearing from people, we had the opportunity to talk to each other. We posted all of our findings on the wall. Good work teams!

We also heard more about the CUPE National Post Secondary Campaign called "Our Time to Act." It's ok. It's more advocacy for our sector so I guess that's good. I'm disappointed that we don't have any strategy attached to our campaigns other than "talk to your members." Oh well, at least this time there is sample bargaining language and some interesting data to use. 

The last part of the day centred around what I think is our sector's and education's biggest issue and that's the increase of contract faculty across the country. The full 56 page report Contract U is excellent and I highly encourage you all to read it. This is not only an attack on workers, but an attack on our democracy. Academics have access to things like tenure because it's supposed to ensure academic freedom. Researchers should be able to be free in their work and when you are fearful for your next contract you are beholden to your employer. Or there are strings attached to the funding. Scary stuff. 

What a great day! We closed it out with a group photo of our awesome BC delegates!