12 Jan A message from the former CUPEU President

In my sixteen years at Concordia, I have had the honour of being a member of the CUPEU executive committee for the past 10 years, the last six of those as president. In that time CUPEU has gone through two collective agreement negotiations, two pay equity exercises, two voluntary departure programs, one major pension reform, numerous departmental restructuring, and centralizing or decentralizing of services. Throughout all of these issues I have seen the dedication, resourcefully and tolerance of the members and of the CUPEU and CSN union representatives. It has been a privilege to work alongside and being inspired by Adriana Volpato, Geoff Selig, Noemie Delisle, the current and past executive committees and many others too numerous to list.

Over those sixteen years CUPEU has grown from 260 members to over 450 members and we are now the largest non-faculty bargaining unit at the university. We actively pursue casual (timesheet) employees doing professional work and bring them into our union guaranteeing them fair wages, benefits and working conditions. We also have been instrumental in securing excellent maternity, paternity, adoption and parental benefits* for our members and the university at large. We have recently been looking at other government programs that can be applied to improve home/work reconciliation and continue to strive for better working conditions.

Thanks for the opportunity to represent you and I hope that the current representatives get as much out of serving you as I did.

Frank C.

*Prix ISO Familles 2002-2003 (http://ctr.concordia.ca/2002-03/March_27/04-parentalleave/index.shtml)