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CUPE PEI began its 43rd annual convention this Thursday, May 25. The convention will last until Friday afternoon. More than 135 convention-goers have come from the four corners of the province to assemble at the Rodd convention hall in Brudenell.

Many resolutions will be debated, notably on housing, cost-of-living issues, anti-privatization, support for our long-term care workers, health and safety campaigns, and much more. Delegates will hear speeches from multiple speakers such as CUPE National Officers Mark Hancock and Candace Rennick, Frédéric Brisson, Secretary-General of SCFP-Quebec, Carl Pursey, President of the PEI Federation of Labour, among others.

Friday is Leonard Gallant’s last day as CUPE PEI president: delegates will vote for a new Division president for a 2-year term.

Charlottetown – CUPE Local 3260, which represents over 800 Education support workers in PEI, is calling on politicians of all stripes to hear what front-line staff have to say to improve the quality of education on the Island.

“Political parties, particularly the PCs, have been rather quiet in this election on what measures they will take to improve K-12 education. There are a lot of challenges in the sector that are unnecessarily happening. Why did Premier King let our bargaining situation degrade to the point where we are at this very moment in the arbitration process?” asked Carolyn Vandaele, President of CUPE Local 3260. “We should have had a new contract by now, but instead, the Education Minister has let the situation fester because apparently, they don’t believe in wages that go above inflation for front-line workers,” added Vadaele.

The Educational Support workers have been without a contract since April 1, 2021. The union is seeking better contract language and better wages to tackle recruitment and retention in their sector.

“When inflation is this high and our pay cheques are going behind, the government should not be nickel-and-diming the people making inclusive education possible on PEI,” said Vandaele.

Local 3260 conducted internal polling, which showed that over 50 percent of members need a second job in order to put gas in their cars and food on their tables for their families.  One member shared just how this affected her: “I am really feeling the brunt of the last 5 years of constantly holding down after-school and summer jobs.  The mental toll that it takes to organize, schedule and complete the after-school jobs that I do is huge.”  

“Our members need to hear from each political party what measures they would put in place to improve working conditions in our sector. It’s not easy making a living when you are only promised about 6 hours a day for 10 months a year,” concluded Vandaele.

CUPE Local 3260 represents over 800 Educational Assistants and Youth Service Workers, Student Attendants, Workplace Assistants, and Education Interpretation Workers in the PEI school system.

Charlottetown, PEI – Recently, some parents are making propositions at home and school association meetings to remove the province’s guidelines for respecting, accommodating, and supporting gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. CUPE Education Locals (CUPE 1145, CUPE 1770, CUPE 1775, and CUPE 3260) are unanimous in their support for the existing guidelines.

“We see these guidelines as something positive for students, our communities, and our members. Making public services safe and welcoming for all is something to celebrate, not to tear down,” said Carolyn Vandaele, President of CUPE Local 3260. The provincial guidelines are aimed at ensuring schools are safe and welcoming for all students, and that children’s and staff members’ sexual orientations and gender identities are respected.

“The guidelines are 100% in line with our unions’ stance on respectful workplaces. We salute the Public School Branch’s recent public statement of support for the guidelines,” said Robert Geiss, school bus driver and President of CUPE 1145.

“We call on our Education Minister Natalie Jameson to do the same, and issue a public statement,” said Tracy Campbell, President of CUPE 1770.  “Clearly, the Department must do a better job at raising awareness and helping parents understand why these guidelines exist,” concluded John Doucette, President of CUPE 1775.

CUPE represents over 1,600 education workers on the Island. CUPE 1145 represents school bus drivers and aids. CUPE 1770 represents education administrative and support staff. CUPE 1775 represents school board maintenance staff. CUPE 3260 represents educational assistants, youth service workers, workplace assistants, student attendants, and educational language interpreters.

More than 1 500 healthcare and long-term care workers are angry at being left out of a new staff retention incentive plan crafted by the Dennis King Government. On Monday, Premier King and the Health and Wellness Minister Ernie Hudson announced an $8 million “Retention Initiative” in exchange for a one-year return in service agreement from healthcare staff.

“It’s outrageous that more than 1 300 of us in healthcare, the lower-paid staff doing essential work such as laundry, cooking, sterilization, custodial tasks, maintenance and many more, were specifically excluded from the announcement,” said Chris Lewis, President of PEI Health Council.

“Our members have been running on fumes, doing double duty, running short, working longer hours, and having vacations denied when requested. We are frustrated King has chosen to play favourites when there is a real retention crisis in our sectors too,” said Leonard Gallant, President of Local 1779 and President of CUPE PEI. “King talks about ‘stabilizing the workforce’ but forgets that without a team approach, his strategy is flawed. Surgeries, for example, cannot happen if there is no one to clean operating rooms and sterilize equipment!” said Robyn Currie, president of Local 1051.

The same workers excluded from this recent initiative also were unjustly overlooked from provincial COVID-19 support measures. “There is a pattern emerging, where this government keeps on disenfranchising whole groups of workers by ignoring them completely,” said Rhonda Diamond, President of CUPE Local 805.

It is time the government recognized inflation is hurting the lower-paid workers the most, may they be in the public or the private sector like us nursing home workers. “When rent, bread, and gas prices go up, it hurts us disproportionately,” said Donna Gormley, President of CUPE Local 2523 and Local 5331, who were excluded from the Retention Initiative. Those Locals are comprised of over 200 members working in private long-term care facilities.

CUPE Locals are demanding government broadened and improved its Retention Initiative, to ensure no care workers are left behind. “Let’s be clear: each bargaining team should have been included in the conversation from day one. The Premier must fix this now,” concluded Leonard Gallant.

Dear Members of CUPE PEI,

On September 30th, let’s pause and take time to remember the victims and survivors of residential schools in Canada.

Proclaimed a statutory holiday by the Federal Government in 2021, the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation is the outcome of federal Bill C-5, sponsored by PEI Senator Brian Francis. The resolution was a direct response to the Call to Action 80 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. CUPE PEI stands in solidarity with the Miꞌkmaq, Maliseet, and Peskotomuhkati nations, whose traditional lands are in the Atlantic region of Canada. We remember all those who had to suffer the “Indian Day Schools”, the Shubenacadie Residential school, and other institutions put in place by governments to destroy indigenous culture and identity.

As a society, we must heal the wounds of the past and work towards a fair, equitable, and inclusive future where all will be able to reach their fullest potential. As trade unionists, let’s not forget our role in making reconciliation a tangible reality in our workplaces through collective bargaining.

We encourage you to participate in the September 30^th Ceremony, at 11:30AM, outside of the Provincial Administration buildings in Charlottetown (across from Rochford Square).

In solidarity,

Leonard Gallant
President of CUPE PEI

Charlottetown, PEI – This week, the four conservative Atlantic Premiers, along with Ontario’s Premier Ford, announced their idea of bringing in privatization in healthcare, instead of dealing with the recruitment and retention crisis.

Premier King floated the idea of publicly funded but privately operated health care services. The PEI Health Council, which represents over a thousand healthcare workers on the Island, along with CUPE PEI, are calling on Premier King to retract his statements and rule out privatization.

“One of the Government’s fundamental jobs is delivering good public services for all. Handing over this responsibility to corporations means he does not want to do meet his basic job requirements as Premier” said Chris Lewis, President of PEI Health Council.

“Privatization will not solve staffing issues. It simply drains workers from the public sector to the private sector, moving people around instead of bringing more people in it. It is robbing Peter to pay Paul,” said Leonard Gallant, President of CUPE PEI.

“In the U.S., where healthcare is completely privatized, they have massive staff shortages, so let’s not fall into that trap,” said Gallant. Earlier this year, the American Hospital Association called the workforce shortage in U.S. hospitals a “national emergency,” In July 2022, U.S. News reported that staff shortages were “choking the U.S. health care system”.

“This government must focus on public solutions, like removing barriers to entry in the workforce, cut tuition fees, stop the casualization of the work and improve working conditions of all to retain staff,” concluded Lewis.