L: 
     
    
   
   
    
     Page 8, me Cadre, Tuesday, February 4, 1975 
     
    
   
   
    
     Canadian Unioii of Public Employees "- active. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Robert Crockett -Pres— 
     
     ident of Canadian Union of 
     
     Public Employees (CUPE) for 
     
     Local Union No. 501 consent— 
     
     ed to give the Cadre an in— 
     
     terview. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The National Union of 
     
     Public Service Employees & 
     
     the National Union of Pub- 
     
     lic Employeesdecided to 
     
     dissolve their unions and 
     
     merge together to form one 
     
     big union for public 
     
     service employees. This 
     
     one big union, called 
     
     The Canadian Union of 
     
     Public Employees (CUPE) 
     
     came into exiStence in 
     
     Winnipeg in September 
     
     1963. 
     
    

    
     Since many groups of 
     
     members had been involved 
     
     in unions prior to the 
     
     formation of CUPE, there 
     
     was that special know~ 
     
     how and knowledge needed 
     
     in producing a system 
     
     most suitable to the 
     
     interests of public 
     
     employees.‘ 
     
    

    
     CUPE has more than 
     
     160,000 members. It is 
     
     a National organization, 
     
     operated by and for the 
     
     Canadian people. 
     
    

    
     Among the CUPE mem— 
     
     bers are professionals, 
     
     white collar workers, blue 
     
     collar workers, technicians, 
     
     labourers and skilled trade— 
     
     smen. Approximately half 
     
     of the CUPE members are 
     
     women. 
     
    

    
     It is a known fact 
     
     that when dealing with 
     
     management and governments, 
     
     Unions need experts. For 
     
     this reason CUPE employs 
     
     more than 100 full—time 
     
     experts. 
     
    

    
     These experts help 
     
     locals in writing barg- 
     
     aining proposals and they 
     
     step in when the local is 
     
     having difficulty enforcing 
     
     the collective agreement. 
     
     CUPE has experts in research, 
     
     law, public relations, and 
     
     education. 
     
    

    
     An educational program 
     
     has been established to 
     
     provide local unions with 
     
     leadership training. The 
     
     courses given are: Steward 
     
     Training, Duties of Offic- 
     
     iers, Parliamentary Proced- 
     
     ure, Public Speaking, Union 
     
     Administration and Collect- 
     
     ive Bargaining. 
     
    

    
     One of the newest de— 
     
     partments of CUPE is job 
     
     evaluation. Job evaluation 
     
     is the system where the 
     
     Unioh and the management 
     
     jointly asses the worth of 
     
    
   
   
    
     'various job classifications 
     
    
   
   
    
     on the basis of skills re— 
     
     quired, training difficulty 
     
     etc. It is a system which 
     
     guarantees that people are 
     
    
   
   
    
     paid according to the job 
     
     content and not the job 
     
     title. 
     
    

    
     The Legislative Depart— 
     
     ment of CUPE is responsible 
     
     for providing assistance to 
     
     local unions on matters of 
     
     arbitration and the wording 
     
     of contracts. 
     
    

    
     The Research Department 
     
     provides CUPE locals with 
     
     detailed background infor— 
     
     mation on general economy 
     
     and collective bargaining 
     
    
   
   
    
     trends. It works out jointly 
     
     agreed upon bargaining re- 
     
    
   
   
    
     quests. It establishessa 
     
     liasion committee or a joint 
     
     committe which will actually 
     
     conduct bargaining. 
     
    

    
     The local union is the 
     
     key level of activity for 
     
     CUPE members. These local 
     
     unions are autonomous & 
     
     came about because a major- 
     
     ity of employees decided to 
     
     unite together to better 
     
     express their collective 
     
     feeling to management. 
     
    

    
     In Prince Edward 
     
     Island, we have CUPE. In 
     
     Charlottetown, it is local 
     
     Union No. 501. Involved 
     
     in this local union are 
     
     civil employees ie. city 
     
     police, firemen, etc. and, 
     
     also some Security Police 
     
     employed by the University 
     
     of Prince Edward Island. 
     
    

    
     Through collective 
     
     bargaining CUPE has managed 
     
     in less than two years to 
     
     encrease the salaries of 
     
     the Security Police at U. 
     
     P.E.I. by approximately 
     
     $2,000. These collective 
     
     agreements usually cover: 
     
     wages, hours of work, va— 
     
     cations, holidays, pension 
     
     and insurance plans, mat— 
     
     ernity leaves, work loads,, 
     
     promotion systems, protect— 
     
     ion against unfair discip— 
     
     lining and firing, ways of 
     
     combatting favoritism and 
     
     any other aspect of work 
     
    
   
   
    
     Photo by Gordon Pierce 
     
    
   
   
    
     I 
     
    
   
   
    
     that local union members 
     
     deem important. 
     
    

    
     A formal structure is 
     
     setdup and admimistered by 
     
     the local union, to allow 
     
     the individual to have his 
     
     case heard by t0p levels 
     
     of management. If the in— 
     
     dividual still feels he has 
     
     been unfairly treated, he 
     
     can have his case'heard by 
     
     an impartial arbitrator who 
     
     will decide if managements 
     
     actions were unfair or not. 
     
    

    
     Strikes by CUPE members 
     
     are rare, but on those rare 
     
     occassions when deemed ne— 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     Th UPEI Security Police are CUPEWMembéf§.* 
     
    
   
   
    
     z" '1 j, », 
     
    
   
   
    
     I', 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     cessary, the decsion to call 
     
     them is made at the local 
     
     level by a vote of ali local 
     
     union members. CUPE is a 
     
     union where 99% out of 100% 
     
     of collective agreements 
     
     are signed without a strike. 
     
    

    
     For further information 
     
     on CUPE please contact any 
     
     CUPE member in local union 
     
     # 501 or-contact the Region— 
     
     al Office in St. John, N.B. 
     
     or contact the local office 
     
     for'this region in Moncton 
     
     N.B. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Colleen Warren