Posts published in February 2026

CUPE members are celebrating the news that the four years of wage freezes forced on Nova Scotian workers through Bill 148 has been found unconstitutional. Today, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia has upheld the constitutional guarantee in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms that workers have a right to negotiate the terms of their work through free and fair collective bargaining.

“Workers lost out on wages and benefits that should rightfully be theirs because of Bill 148,” said Alan Linkletter, CUPE NS President.

“Tim Houston said he’d repeal this legislation. Instead, he put more taxpayer money into undermining our Charter rights. It’s disrespectful to the people who keep our province running.”

The bill was initially introduced by then-Premier Stephen McNeil and the Liberals in 2015.

In the most recent budget, Houston, like McNeil before him, has decided to attack workers rather than fix the problems that we’re facing. If Houston moves to appeal, he’ll continue operating under this same legacy.

“You don’t fix the problem by attacking workers, you fix it by investing in communities, and improving the services people rely on every day,” said Steve Joy, president of CUPE’s highway workers local, whose long-service awards were a major target of the bill.

CUPE workers in Nova Scotia are calling on the Premier to respect worker’s rights to free and fair collective bargaining and not waste more taxpayer money on an appeal.

In her decision, Justice Ann E. Smith writes, “The evidence shows, and I find that Bill 148 did not respect the principle of the duty to consult and negotiate in good faith.”

With almost six times the royalty revenue of the last government, the UCP are raising taxes, running deficits and cutting services.

CUPE Alberta President Raj Uppal says Alberta deserves a new approach.

“For the last six years, the UCP slashed corporate taxes, underfunded education, underfunded health care, cut post-secondary funding, and cut municipal funding,” said Uppal. “In yesterday’s budget, we have a huge deficit, tax increases, and they’ve still not reversed their own cuts to education and health care.”

“There’s a crisis in health care, but no new funding for hospitals or primary care. Classrooms are overcrowded, but no funding for a single new public school.”

Uppal noted that Albertans will pay an additional $360 million in increased taxes and fees while corporate taxes remain the same.

The almost $10 billion deficit wipes out the surpluses of previous years that were themselves built on cuts to key services.

“Today’s budget just shows, again, that the UCP are incompetent managers of our money and our public services.”

Winnipeg’s largest union says that Winnipeg City Council needs to go back to the drawing board on the Request for Proposals, RFPs, for garbage and recycling services.

“The garbage contract stinks,” said Gord Delbridge, president of CUPE 500. “From start to finish, the process, the bids, and the contractor selected all need to be trashed.”

The RFP process began without consultation with CUPE 500, despite a repeated council direction, including motions by Councillor Mayes that direct the public service to engage with the union prior to contracts.

“I would think council’s direction to consult is pretty clear based on the history here,” said Delbridge. “But that’s not what happened.”

The union also raised concerns that the RFP did not require bidders to demonstrate a plan for managing their environmental impact—an area that accounted for only slightly more than two percent of the overall evaluation rubric.

“The successful bidder, GFL, stated in their submission that they do not have a plan to operate as a green company,” said Delbridge. “That should concern everyone.”

GFL recently moved its headquarters from Canada to the United States, which has raised serious concerns about their debt levels, as the CEO has recently purchased himself a private jet and a yacht.

“This isn’t a company Winnipeg should be in business with,” said Delbridge. “We have an American firm, pulling millions out of Winnipeg’s economy to fund yachts and private jets? Give me a break.”

CUPE is urging council to defeat this motion and consult properly with CUPE 500 on bringing some of the work in-house and ensuring that Canadian companies are able to bid on the rest.

“This will tell us which councillors are with team Canada and which are not,” said Delbridge “We have seen that is something voters care about a great deal in previous elections.”

Bargaining between CUPE 5435, representing frontline workers at CBI Health in Saskatoon, and the employer has reached an impasse. The union has formally filed for impasse under The Saskatchewan Employment Act.

CUPE 5435 members provide vital, hands-on support to children, youth, and adults living in group homes – services that families and communities depend on every day. Yet wages at CBI Health continue to fall significantly behind those paid by other organizations performing similar work.

“Our members are already well behind the sector average, making less than $20 per hour at the top wage, and instead of addressing that gap, the employer is proposing changes that push workers even further behind,” said Kent Peterson, president of CUPE Saskatchewan. “These workers deserve wages that reflect both their skill and the value of the care they provide.”

Peterson noted that CUPE 5435’s proposal aims to move members closer to fairness after years of wages that have not kept pace with rising costs of living.

“We are asking for reasonable and necessary wage improvements, so workers aren’t falling further behind every year. Competitive wages are critical for recruiting and retaining staff and maintaining high quality care.”

Mediation dates are scheduled for March 4 and 5.

CUPE 1299, the Syndicat des cols bleus de la Ville de Châteauguay, which representing 122 outside workers, denounces the remarks made by the mayor of Châteauguay at Monday night’s city council meeting that show contempt for the employees and distract from the real bargaining issues.

From the start of the talks, the city has demanded major rollbacks from workers: abolishing the minimum complement for employees and making unlimited use of contracting out. However the city has never shown how these rollbacks would improve services to residents. After months of bargaining that led nowhere, the union launched an information campaign showing examples where contracting out has cost taxpayers more.

This French-language campaign on the ABCs of city management, called “Gestion de la Ville de Châteauguay pour les amateurs,” has a simple goal: it asks the city to put figures on the savings it claims its bargaining demands will bring. The campaign features just a few of many documented cases in recent years, proving that turning to the private sector is more costly for taxpayers. Instead of addressing these concerns, the mayor used the forum of city council to publicly attack his own employees, making claims that feed unfair prejudice against outdoor workers.

“While he tries to discredit his workers, the mayor has still not provided numbers,” said Stéphane Paré, union representative. “He has not presented analyses or otherwise justified the rollbacks his administration is demanding at the bargaining table. Worse yet, he has done exactly what he accuses us of: spreading disinformation. It’s true that outside workers are currently the last group to sign a contract, but the agreement with the firefighters took four years. This is an unacceptable amount of time. It does not demonstrate good faith from the employer.”

The union objects to how the mayor, instead of looking for solutions, stigmatizes the front-line workers who serve citizens every day. His comments are not only inaccurate, they are outright irresponsible because they feed negative stereotypes of municipal employees, which undermines these workers’ well-being in the workplace.

“I’ve seen a lot of labour conflicts in my career, but rarely has a mayor spoken so disgracefully about his own employees in public,” said Patrick Gloutney, president of CUPE Québec. “It’s inappropriate for a municipal administration.”

Despite the sorry state of these relations, the union wrote to the employer today in an attempt to restart talks. The goal is still to reach a negotiated agreement.

The last day of mediation with the Ministère du travail was February 2, 2026. The union has reiterated its willingness to continue bargaining under mediation. The employer, however, has indicated that it does not wish to continue discussing any of the demands and has refused for the mediation to go beyond the 120 days provided for by law.