CUPE National Sector Conference - Day 3 - Sector Priorities and Jagmeet Singh

Homestretch! We spent the morning in our sectors concluding our meetings. After a quick debrief by the room we were ready to head back into plenary to hear back from all of the sectors and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

One by one the sectors shared their top priorities, so in random order:

Education

• address chronic underfunding and workload issues
• create a national campaign against privatization to highlight work in the school sector
• tools and resources for locals to deal with ineffective managers and employers (whatever that means)

Library

• countering austerity - tackling precarious work, staffless libraries, underfunding and the use of volunteers 
• health and safety - library workers' roles in the opioid crisis, and violence in the workplace
• mental health in the workplac

Healthcare

• strategies and tools to deal with workplace attendance management programs
• workload
• health and safety - violence in the workplace - prevention and lobbying for further protections for workplace injuries

Transportation

• mapping of the sector/video of the sector
• fatigue and harassment
• coordinating bargaining (wut?)

Social Services/Childcare 

• address chronic underfunding to look at staffing levels
• participated in training delivered by the Canadian Institute for Change, facilitated by none other than our friend Olivia Chow
• political action

Post-Secondary

• Anti-oppression and anti-racism lenses in our locals
• looking at creative ways to implement the relevant TRC calls to action/UNDRIP
• protecting our pensions - coordinating in the sector - training
• continuing to combat rape culture on campus 

Emergency Services

• psychological injuries and advocacy for presumptive language for every worker
• review essential services designations for paramedics
• bargaining structures in both our locals and in other unions

Energy

• climate change and transition to geo-thermals
• mandatory drug testing
• social media challenges
• energy policies and political action

Communications

• technological change (layoffs, contracting out)
• mental health
• lobby Canadian government for Canadian ownership and operations of communications infrastructure

Municipal

• cannabis in the workplace
• mental health
• generations in the workplace (Linda Duxbury)

That's a lot of material - not sure how all of it will be actioned but it sounds like the meetings were full of interesting dialogue. 

To close out or sector conference we were fortunate to have Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speak to us about public services to reinforce our strong relationship with the NDP. I had the opportunity to meet him earlier this year when my pal Harp invited me to an event in Surrey. Because I ask every person I meet about their relationship with libraries we had a great discussion about how access to information, internet and data is a human right and it was pretty cool to hear him speak to those points in his speech today. 

Jagmeet was born in Ontario, grew up in Newfoundland and Labrador, went back to Ontario and then is in the process to moving to BC. If that's not a Canadian story, I don't know what is! He's a lawyer and a former MPP (Ontario's version of an MLA), and as of this year the leader of the NDP. We are currently waiting for Trudeau to call the election in Burnaby South so that he can finally sit in the house. 

We live in scary times and this has been a tough year for progressives, as the rise in divisive politics seems never-ending. Whether it's the rise of the alt right, anti-immigrant talk, massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations...it's not good for workers. As Jagmeet makes his way across the country talking to Canadians, people of all walks of life are struggling at all levels of housing - buying, renting, finding assisted living. Affordability of medications is another common struggle from coast to coast. The environment and climate change are hitting every corner of the country whether it's forest fires, flooding, freak tornados, hurricanes and lightning and according to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (which includes 6000 scientists from around the world) we only have 12 years left before catastrophic climate change. Yikes. That does not sound good. So he called on us to keep fighting and for politicians to connect to people.

Connection and connectivity framed his narrative on privatization and infrastructure. We're all connected by transit, roads and bridges. Rail and publicly owned airports connect us all to our friends and families. Safe drinking water is the most basic need that all of us need access to. If our public infrastructure is owned by the public, then public interest is the public good - and private profit margins are null and void. Then he went into a spiel on access to digital services, internet and data. Without that, we are isolating segments of the population which leads to isolation and division. Isolation and division also creates distrust - distrust of politicians and unions (and lots of others too). He made sure to mention some of the fights CUPE members have taken on across the country. He moved to talking about not falling for Trudeau and the Liberals seemingly progressive platform politics. 

I liked the last part of his story as he took us to cheesytown (fromageville for our french speakers). He talked about his mom and how she's always told him that " we are one, that we are all connected." If the people around us are doing well, we're all doing well. If we lift up the ones around us, we all rise together. He also encouraged all of us to tap into the well of courageous optimism, especially ahead of the impending federal election (E-346). 

He outlined the NDP platform - pharmacare for all, tax fairness, climate change and a just transition, robust public services and access to high speed internet. Each time I hear him speak, I am proud to be a  New Democrat. It was a great way to end our conference. 

I have met so many great folks from across the country at events like these. We had such great conversations, heard compelling stories of triumph and heartbreak, I broke bread with femtors and co-conspirators, reconnected wth my pals from all over Canada, hung out with Susanne and watched the US elections on bated breath and made some new friends. 

That is all.