CUPE was created on September 24, 1963
Public sector employees were among the last to form unions but, even then, there is a long deep history
to the efforts of those that went before us. The letter carriers in the Post Office formed a union in 1891.
Then, in 1907, workers employed in the federal government formed the “Civil Service Association,”
which, in 1966, became the “Public Service Alliance of Canada.”
OCHU has its own deep roots. The “National Union of Public Service Employees” (NUPSE) was an early
Canadian public-sector union. It traced it’s roots back to 1921 when the Canadian Electrical Trade Union
was formed in Toronto. Initially, its membership was centered in the Toronto area. As they organized
more members, it gradually expanded beyond municipal electrical workers and represented a wider
range of public service employees. It expanded from coast-to-coast and adopted the name NUPSE in
1952.
Hospital workers were forming unions as early as the 1930s. The “Trades and Labour Congress of
Canada” (TLC) would help those organizing by chartering hospital workers into independent “Federal
Unions.” In 1953, those locals were transferred to a new 12,000-member organization that was being
formed. After working with little contact or solidarity with activists in other hospital unions, this new
structure was a welcome advancement. In 1954, it became the “National Union of Public Employees”
(NUPE).
After several years of discussions in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, NUPSE and NUPE were ready to
unite. Both held conventions in Winnipeg on September 23, 1963, voting to merge. The following day,
they formed the “Canadian Union of Public Employees” (CUPE), becoming a major national union in
Canada and the largest public sector union.
Stanley Little, the first CUPE President, spoke about the task which confronted the new union. He told
members that their responsibility was to challenge all public employees to take their rightful place in the
community and share the responsibility by being an important part of Canadian labour. One of the
important areas of development he believed was in hospitals “because this is a group whose wages are
well below the rest of the community and who are badly in need of the strength and protection that a
union organization can bring.” In 1982, Ontario CUPE hospital locals came together forming OCHU.
Celebrate your labour and your union this Labour Day!
