As detailed in a new CUPE report entitled Reconciling the Gap, recent census data for Saskatchewan shows the Aboriginal population is growing and will likely make up one-fifth of the Saskatchewan population by 2036, while showing a stark picture of the current income and employment inequalities facing Aboriginal people in the province.
On October 25, 2017, Statistics Canada released information regarding the Aboriginal population from the 2016 census.
Attend a vigil in your community.
The National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women was established to honour victims of the December 6, 1989 massacre at École Polytechnique in Montreal, where 14 women were murdered because they were women. One of those women, Maryse Laganière, was a CUPE member who worked at the school.
Canada’s labour movement has shown leadership in making workplaces safer for women and advancing the well-being and rights of women in all areas of society. It’s at the heart of what we do.
Let’s remember and work for change to end violence against women, and all forms of sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination in the workplace, at home, and in the community.
CUPE Saskatchewan’s Global Justice Committee encourages CUPE members to take part in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights events in Regina and Saskatoon on December 10, 2017 –International Human Rights Day. The write-a-thon events bring people together to write letters to human rights defenders and to the governments that are putting them at risk. The write-a-thons are taking place around the world on December 10th. Your participation and action can help save lives, stop torture, free prisoners of conscience, and send messages of hope to those who have been unjustly jailed.
The Saskatchewan Division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees is calling on the Saskatchewan Party government to drop the mandated 3.5% compensation reduction for public sector workers that was announced as part of its 2017 provincial budget.
“CUPE is the largest union in Saskatchewan representing over 30,000 workers, with roughly two-thirds of our workers in or going into bargaining in the near future,” said Tom Graham, President of CUPE Saskatchewan. “Not one single CUPE local has agreed to accept a rollback in compensation since this regressive mandate was announced earlier this year. CUPE bargains forward, not backwards.”
The CUPE Saskatchewan Annual Convention 2018 will be held on March 7 to 9, 2018, at the Radisson Hotel in Saskatoon, SK.
Each year, delegates from affiliated CUPE locals across the province gather at the CUPE Saskatchewan Convention to set the direction and determine priorities for the year ahead, elect members to leadership positions, hear reports about the work being done by our union, and engage in discussions about issues facing CUPE members and the public services we provide.
Each and every day, CUPE members working in community-based organizations (CBOs) across Saskatchewan provide and deliver important services that strengthen our communities and make a difference in the lives of those they care for and support.
From child care centres to supporting people living with disabilities in the community, group home settings, and through vocational and other programs, CBO workers are dedicated to helping others in our communities.
On November 6, let’s extend our appreciation to CBO workers for all they do to help others and make life better for so many in our community.
The day before the throne speech, Premier Brad Wall promised in a video on his facebook page that he heard Saskatchewan people and his government would repeal its controversial Crown Corporation privatization legislation known as Bill 40. Now, with the promise only days old, the Sask Party government is already breaking its own promise to repeal Bill 40 and, instead, it will once again leave options open to shut down Crown Corporations through the backdoor.
“Breaking their own promise in the same week they told Saskatchewan people they would repeal Bill 40 is record-breaking hypocrisy and goes to show you can’t trust the Sask Party to do the right thing and leave our Crown Corporations alone,” said Tom Graham, President of CUPE Saskatchewan. “It’s deeply disappointing the political games of privatization continue with this Sask Party government in the months left before Premier Wall’s announced retirement, and its leadership hopefuls seem ready to rubber stamp the hypocrisy.”
TOM GRAHAM, President, CUPE Saskatchewan
REGINA – The provincial government’s throne speech lacks any real action to reverse the harmful cuts made in the cruelest, harshest Saskatchewan budget tabled earlier this year in March.
“Earlier this year, the Sask Party government delivered a budget that unfairly punished working families for their mismanagement with deep cuts to public services, rollbacks, and job losses for Saskatchewan people,” said Tom Graham, President of CUPE Saskatchewan. “Today’s throne speech does next to nothing to repair the damage and the mistrust caused by the government’s actions since the budget in March.”
On the day the Legislature opened for its fall sitting and the provincial government delivered its throne speech, hundreds of CUPE members and concerned Saskatchewan residents rallied in opposition to the far-reaching consequences of the 2017 provincial budget. Rally participants called on the provincial government to reverse its harmful cuts and stop the privatization of Crowns and public services.
Jackie Christianson, Chair, CUPE Education Workers Steering Committee
In a letter to the editor published in today’s Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Jackie Christianson, Chair of the CUPE Saskatchewan Education Workers Steering Committee, writes that during Education Week we could put student’s first by reversing provincial budget cuts to education.
CUPE represents over 7,100 educations workers in Saskatchewan, and we will continue to fight against the cuts to education that not only affect us now but will affect our future generations.
Read the letter here: http://thestarphoenix.com/opinion/letters/letter-of-the-day-our-children-lose-with-education-cuts