FOCUS CUPE - TURNS 60 - As our country has grown and diversified, so has our union

One in ten identifies And every day, since the day we were founded, the diversity as Black or racialized, while 5% of CUPE members identify of perspectives and experiences of our members has guided as Indigenous, which is slightly higher than the national our work and given us the strength we need to take on the workforce average. [...] Queering workers’ rights in the 80s and beyond In 1987, CUPE took the fight for same-sex benefits all the way to the Ontario Supreme Court. [...] For years, CUPE sounded the alarm about the danger of AND MORE asbestos in public buildings and the risks to the lives of the workers who build, maintain and work in them, even as government and industry were working hard to keep INCLUSIVE the asbestos mines in business. [...] Initiated by the Filipino members of the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee CUPE joined the anti-war movement in the 60s by urging (AWOC) to fight against the exploitation of farm workers, the Canadian government to stop sending weapons to it soon became an alliance with the Mexican National the Vietnam war. [...] Offering solidarity and calling for peace in the 70s and 80s “The convention decided CUPE should The anti-apartheid movement in South Africa and the urge all its members to boycott California revolutionary movements in Latin America in the 70s and grapes until the United Farm Workers’ 80s mark some of CUPE’s most significant international solidarity work.