Your wages will be harmonized upward to the highest rate among comparable classifications, no matter where the rate came from or how many people held it.

If you are a member of another Union and your wages are higher than a comparable CUPE member right now, your wages will stay at that higher level. Further, the new members of the now-provincial CUPE local will have their wages raised to that higher level.

CUPE has an amazing track record during prior mergers of harmonizing wages to the highest rate present across the workplaces involved. No other union has this record. 

CUPE is the largest union in the country, representing over 800,000 workers. CUPE represents 300,000 workers in Ontario alone, including 90,000 health care workers. We are the most well-resourced and powerful union in the country.

Yes. CUPE has already successfully negotiated a first collective agreement with Ontario Health. CUPE represents former LHIN workers who were transferred to Ontario Health. CUPE has dealt with Ontario Health since its inception and has bargained with OH. We know OH inside and out. We are familiar with the benefits, vacation, personal days and pay structures that their 3,000 non-union employees receive.

Each Local decides at the local level, democratically, how grievances move forward. CUPE National representatives and legal counsel are there to support the desires of the member and Local. We make sure we present the strength of the grievance and potential implications of arbitration decisions.

CUPE combines local democratic decision making with support and expertise from CUPE National staff.

CUPE has 1,000 staff across the country who specialize in research, law, human rights, workplace health and safety, bargaining, communications, and other specialties. CUPE has 698 offices across the country with a $138 million strike fund.

Dues allow you and your Union to negotiate and defend your rights and create conditions that will allow for a better workplace. In CUPE, there are two portions. National dues are 0.85 percent of base wages and provide your National Staff Representative and specialist services, including legal, research, communications, health & safety, WSIB, pay equity and more.

The Local portion of your dues provides such things as time for your locally elected representatives to work on your behalf, to take important issues to arbitration and cover the cost of local meetings. CUPE’s dues are tax-deductible.