CANADIAN UNION CUPE MOBILISES FOR SAFETY

Enough said

Canada's largest union has ripped up its safety strategy and started again. CUPE national health and safety director Anthony Pizzino tells Hazards why his union said "enough!" and moved to a more militant approach to union health and safety, with organisation at its core.

Four years ago, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), the country's largest union representing 540,000 public sector workers, embarked on a plan to take a decidedly political and militant stand on workers' health and safety. The goal is to organise around health and safety to bring it back into the fold of the union, where it belongs.

CUPE's new strategy - outlined in a nationally-agreed policy titled "Enough!" - centres on training workers to take action in a militant defence of the right to healthy and safe workplaces.

Workers know that health and safety improvements will not happen without aggressive pressure from unions, backed by vocal members. It's that simple. Use the rights we have or risk losing them. Provide union developed and led training or risk being co-opted by the bipartite dream.

Enough said Hazards 89 Jan-Mar 2005 Order the photospread

Find out more:CUPE health and safety pages

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