Join the union!
Looking for dignity and respect at work? Join with CUPE’s 36,000 members in Alberta, and 640,000 members across Canada, to get the best protection there is: A CUPE contract.
CUPE Members are just like you. CUPE members deliver the services you and your family count on in you community, including: municipalities, hospitals, nursing homes, ambulance, school boards, post secondary institutions, libraries, women’s shelters, youth homes, home support services, lodges, casinos, airports and more.
Take the steps to protect your future today.
You have the means for official recognition as a union when at least 40% of the eligible employees sign membership cards and pay a minimal fee required by legislation, OR sign a petition with no fee required. Both of these are confidential and the employer is never given the names of who signed to join the union. Once an application is made, the Alberta Labour Relations Board (ALRB) will review it to ensure that CUPE has the required support. This process usually takes about two weeks.
When the ALRB is sure the union has the required support, it will hold a secret ballot vote at your work site. All members of the bargaining unit, whether they have signed a CUPE petition or card or not, have the right to vote. To be successful, CUPE must receive a majority of the employees that vote.
Once the ALRB certifies your bargaining unit, CUPE will be there to assist you with developing bargaining proposals and in negotiating your Collective Agreement. A Collective Agreement is a legally binding and enforceable document, which spells out the terms of employment between union members and their employer. These terms may include: hours of work, rates of pay, overtime agreements, vacation entitlement, and a dispute resolution process. No collective agreement comes into effect until CUPE members have voted to accept it.
The Alberta Labour Relations Board website explains the process of joining a union in more detail.
A CUPE contract is your best form of protection. Don’t go to work without one.
CUPE representatives provide you and your co-workers with assistance in negotiating your collective agreement, grievance handling, labour law, research, communications, health and safety, union education, fighting harassment and standing up against racism. All of these CUPE representatives live in Alberta and are ready to assist locals whenever they are called upon.
CUPE is not just resources and staff. CUPE is you. CUPE’s unique structure ensures that you and your colleagues make the important decisions. It is you, the members in each local that decide on bargaining proposals and whether or not to accept a collective agreement. It is the members who set the rate of the union dues, decide who goes to conferences, and who determines your Union’s priorities.
As a CUPE local you will have the financial strength to meet your goals. You determine your union dues, you keep money in your local bank account and send a portion to CUPE national. The portion of your dues that goes to CUPE national is used for staff resources AND for constitutionally protected strike funds and campaign funds. That money is guaranteed to be there for CUPE members when they need it.