CUPE

For the last 20 years my involvement grew with CUPE at all levels and in April 2022 I decided to focus my efforts in my home local, CUPE 503. CUPE 503 represents almost 10,000 members spanning from Cornwall to Pembroke representing members in Healthcare, Municipal Services and Social Services.

In 2008 I was elected as Chair of the CUPE Ontario Social Services Sector, representing 35,000 social services members across the province and also served as the Co-Chair of the CUPE National Social Services Sector Council since its creation in 2011. In wrapping up my tenure in this position the end of March 2022 I bring this experience to CUPE 503 with a focus on moving the needle for our members in Eastern Ontario.

CUPE has a long history of not just demanding better working conditions and fair compensation for our members through collective bargaining, but also advancing social justice issues at all levels to change our society. With 800,000 members across the country we can have a big impact through our policy work, lobbying, working with coalition partners and engagement with our members. I truly believe public services that CUPE members deliver are the greatest equalizer when it comes to the impact of income inequality.

Community

In Ontario one of our greatest strengths is the power of coalitions to demand better of government to address systemic change. Over the last 17 years I’ve been working with a number of coalition partners in various capacities to bring about big change in our communities.

Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care

The OCBCC is Ontario’s central advocacy group for a universal, affordable, high quality, public and non-profit system of early childhood education and care. When I was working front-line with families in deep poverty one of the life-changing moments was securing a child care space. Access to child care allowed parents to return to full-time studies and to engage in the workforce. I currently serve as the Treasurer of the Coalition and in 2017 received the Olivia Chow Child Care Champion Award for child care advocacy.

Ontario Equal Pay Coalition 

Formed in 1976, the Equal Pay Coalition is comprised of dozens of trade unions, women’s and businesswomen’s groups, and community organizations seeking to end gender pay discrimination and close the gender pay gap through legislation, collective bargaining, and social initiatives. Workers in Social Services not only face chronic underfunding of programs and services causing downward pressure on wages, benefits and pensions, but also a care penalty due to the nature of our female-dominated workplaces. The Equal Pay Coalition is on the front-lines of demanding economic justice using a multi-pronged approach to close the gender pay gap.

Raise the Rates Coalition

For 12 years I delivered social assistance in Ottawa. The abysmal low rates for food and shelter, the lack of affordable housing, accessible childcare and the increasing precarity of employment means the cycle of poverty worsens for every month on the system. Without addressing adequacy of social assistance rates the cycle will continue to spiral. CUPE Ontario and the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty work together with other anti-poverty groups across the province to demand better for low income people and persons living with disabilities.