History

Members United stands proudly for union reform and renewal - and that means standing for continuity with the progress of the last three years.

Where We Were

For most of our history, CAPE has not been a union that centered, invested in, or internalized every union’s source of strength, at the bargaining table and in the workplace: us, as members. 

Instead, for most of our history: 

• CAPE functioned as a top-down organization built on low participation, minimal member ownership, inactive local executives, and closed-door bargaining. 

• We did not even have a defense fund until Harper’s attacks in 2015, and subsequently it was never deliberately built (and capped in 2023).

• In bargaining, we always agreed to binding arbitration and relied exclusively on benefiting from the pattern set by the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC). 

• We sat with the employer at countless “consultation” tables instead of taking our demands to a negotiation table.

Why? In all these ways, we continued to bet heavily on the employer’s goodwill, openness to argument and evidence-based decision-making, and commitment to retention of talent - and trusted that that would be sufficient to keep our lives and conditions at work improving. 

If that strategy ever worked for us, it no longer does in 2026. Not in the era of unjustifiable Return-to-Office mandates, sweeping cuts to public services, scapegoating of public servants, decaying office real estate, and top-down introduction of AI. 

As our employer has changed, the kind of leadership we needed has changed too. We too need to modernize - to become a union that internalizes our real source of strength – the members – and that puts it at the centre of a long-term strategy to change our lives and workplaces for the better. 

And that’s exactly the work that was started over the last three years - and that Members United plans to carry on through this round of bargaining and far beyond.

Where We Are Now

In 2023, a reform team of 23 members called Members for Change (M4C) ran for the National Executive Committee on an open platform to change the union into a real member-driven vehicle for making our lives better. All 23 candidates, including presidential candidate Nate Prier, were elected to the board. 

In the past three years, that leadership team held itself accountable to that platform and has kicked off sweeping reform and modernization of CAPE. Those changes have included:

• Dedicating resourcing of member-to-member organizing campaigns on core contract issues, especially remote work, systematically driving an increase in workplace activity and boots on the ground

  • An nearly 40% drop in the RAND (non-registered members) rate compared to three years ago

  • Organizing committees active and trained in most large departments

  • 30 locals up and running, compared to about 12 three years ago

  • More than 4400 EC members attended bargaining information sessions put on by the EC Collective Bargaining Committee than voted on elections and resolutions in 2022 and 2023 combined

• Moving to open bargaining so members decide what happens at the table instead of closed-door deal-making

  • Elected EC and TR bargaining committees unanimously endorsing conciliation

  • Members actively debating and deciding on contract proposals on wages, remote work, AI, leave, and job security through Article Committees

  • Equity-denied members actively shaping bargaining priorities through an Equity Review Committee

  • New possibilities of inter-union bargaining coordination around shared issues 

• Improvements to members’ ability to defend one another and enforce their contract through empowered stewards pilot program and toolkits for local leaders

• Establishment of five new equity caucuses to empower equity-denied members to shape union strategy, communications, and coalition-building

• Modernized communications capacity, including increased media landscape impact and significant leaps in reach and circulation of content

• Unprecedented expansion of activity and visibility in strategic coalition-building to support bargaining and Stop the Cuts campaigns, especially in healthcare, climate, and reconciliation contexts.

Where We Want to Go

Members United is extremely proud to stand in continuity with these reforms, and pledges to build on them.

In the next months, both EC and TR groups are coming to the bargaining table with a hostile employer that has shown the extent of their disregard for evidence, data, and good sense. We have a chance to make real gains, and the stakes are high.

Now is not the time to retreat from our commitment to a union that can fight and win on key issues - or to go back to a model of CAPE that hopes and trusts that the employer will do what’s right.

Now is the moment to recommit to being a strong union, and to keep building momentum together.

Read more about how we plan to do that on our Platform page.