On April 21, 1951, 23 delegates representing 9 local unions, met in the Calgary Labour Temple to discuss their common needs and aspirations. Those locals were:
- Local 8, Calgary General Hospital Employees
- Local 30, Edmonton Civic Outside Employees
- Local 37, Calgary Civic Outside Employees
- Local 38, Calgary Civic Inside Employees
- Local 41, Royal Alex Hospital Employees of Edmonton
- Local 46, Medicine Hat Civic Employees
- Local 52, Edmonton Civic Inside Employees
- Local 70, Lethbridge Civic Employees
- Local 182, Calgary Department of Public Health.
The nine original locals have met together annually since 1951, first as the Federation of Public Employees, then as the National Union of Public Employees, Alberta Division and finally under its present name CUPE Alberta.
Since then, CUPE Alberta has grown across the province. Over 100 locals represent members in 200 different worksites. CUPE Alberta represents employees of municipalities, hospitals, long term care facilities, schools, libraries, post-secondary institutions, social service agencies and others.
CUPE has played a leading role in the labour and political scene of the province. In 1995, CUPE hospital workers in Calgary went on strike to protest Conservative Premier Ralph Klein’s attempts to privatize their work. CUPE has worked with the Alberta Federation of Labour, the Friends of Medicare and the Alberta NDP to fight the many attempts to privatize health care in the province, including the fights against Bill 11 and Bill 37. CUPE has always led the way against attempts to privatize public services.
CUPE has also fought for the rights of workers in the private sector. In 2005, CUPE led employees of ABS Calgary in the province’s first Casino strike. The four week job action saw much violence on the picket line, as addicted gamblers went to extremes to feed their habit. But the CUPE membership held on and won a fair contract which is still in place today.
Today, we have over 40,000 members. The growth in our membership reflects the strength, diversity, and integrity of Canada’s largest union.
Important dates and events in CUPE Alberta History:
| 1963 | NUPE and NUPSE merge to form CUPE |
| 1968 | CUPE Alberta membership hits 10,000 |
| CUPE 40 strike at Calgary Board of Education | |
| 1970 | 1,100 members of CUPE 474 and 784 go on strike against the Edmonton Public School District for 11 days, closing all schools. A committee of 100 students was formed to assist in the strike effort. One of the main issues in the strike was wages for male caretakers (wages for women caretakers were settled before job action). Clipping |
| 1973 | CUPE 41 goes on strike for eight weeks at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton. Clipping. |
| 1974 | CUPE 1606 (Town of Wainwright) go on a wildcat strike. See the scrapbook. |
| CUPE 1606 (Buffalo Trail School Division) is on strike for nine days. See the scrapbook | |
| 1975 | CUPE Alberta passes resolution calling for the removal of abortion from the criminal code of Canada |
| CUPE Alberta calls for future exploitation of the oil sands to be Canadian owned and operated, and (1976) placed in the public sector | |
| CUPE 1855 (County of Ponoka) go on strike for union security and automatic deduction of dues | |
| 1977 | CUPE 41 strike begins at Parkland Nursing Home, Edmonton, and lasts 26 months, putting the state of private nursing homes under a microscope for the first time. Fifteen hundred people attended a rally at the Legislature in support of the strikers. |
| 1978 | The beginning of a bitter, 55 day strike between CUPE 37 and the City of Calgary. The Local gains a four-day work week. Clipping |
| 2,200 members at 17 hospitals strike to protest the government wage guidelines of 6%. Inflation at the time was 9% annually. Photo | |
| 1980 | CUPE 38 holds a 13 day strike against the City of Calgary. Photos |
| 1981 | CUPE 70 (City of Lethbridge) makes big gains after three week strike. Scrapbook |
| 1981 | CUPE 812 goes on strike against the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, and organizes a successful boycott of Highway 3 to bring the strike to an end |
| 1982 | CUPE 520 members at Calgary Catholic schools strike for a week to earn 17% wage increase. Due to poor finances at CUPE National, members did not receive any strike pay. Clipping |
| CUPE 1606 goes on strike against Buffalo Trail School Division, wins a 30% wage settlement. Scrapbook | |
| 1984 | CUPE 1357 (Grande Yellowhead Regional School Division) on strike for first contract |
| 1986 | CUPE 2550 goes on strike for 10 weeks at Thibault Roman Catholic School Division (now called the Greater St. Albert Catholic School Division). |
| 1991 | Calgary Paramedics start a 14 day strike, ending it on Christmas Eve, only to start again in January after the city rejected the settlement. |
| 1995 | CUPE 8 laundry workers at Calgary Hospital stage a 10 day, illegal walkout to protect their jobs |
| 1997 | Rather than take rollbacks, CUPE 38 goes five years without a contract, finally accepting a deal with wage freezes and modest increases. Newsclipping |
| 2001 | Edmonton Paramedics (CUPE 3197) stage illegal strike. |
| Strike at Bonnyville Extendicare. Photos and clippings | |
| 2004 | CUPE1606 engages in one week strike at Buffalo Trail School Division. See photos and clippings |
| 2005 | CUPE 4655 goes on strike against Calgary Casino for 45 days in Alberta’s first casino job action. The often violent strike ends with a first contract for CUPE members. Photos |
| 2024-2025 | Nine locals representing over 6,000 education support workers strike for living wages. |