We will continue building the capacity to bargain, organize, enforce our rights and deliver for members.

In the past, CAPE has not centred member participation as part of strategy. In bargaining, we relied on riding PSAC’s coattails and getting a watered-down version of what they got. In the workplace, we had a model dominated by resolving workplace issues informally or through employer driven “consultation” tables. These approaches get weaker outcomes, and they don't work in bargaining and conflict periods with the employer. An organized union is one with a systematic approach to developing collective strength. It also means taking seriously the idea of having a plan to win, and patiently building that. A high‑participation, organizing‑driven union makes us strong - because we, the members, are the union.

Protect and strengthen our bargaining capacity

• • Maintain dedicated staff and book-off resources for research, collective bargaining committees and organizing.

  • Ensure bargaining processes are not interrupted by major mid-process shifts in strategy.

Strengthen our ability to uphold and enforce our rights

• • Work with local executives, organizing committees, staff, stewards and other unions to identify and collectivize issues and develop integrated responses.

Empower stewards to defend members’ rights

• • Build on the empowered steward pilot and establish a steward mentorship program, including specific tracks for equity-denied groups.

  • Provide more frequent training, including virtually, and develop train-the-trainers modules.

  • Continue developing centralized resources with collective agreement interpretations, guides and practical tools.

Make our collective agreements accessible and actionable

• • Develop contract education and education series on members’ rights.

  • Create accessible knowledge products on our collective agreement.

Build our capacity to organize around workplace issues

• • Develop networks of workers around issues and campaigns.

  • Support coordinated member mobilization.

Continue building a union where members have the knowledge, connections and opportunities to participate, lead and shape the union and the work we do.

In the past, CAPE was a top-down, centralized union where members had little to no opportunity to shape direction, and were only asked to vote passively, with no debate, on proposals once or twice per year. Until recently, CAPE locals were largely defunct and had no organizing model to support them. Over the past three years, opportunities for members to key in have massively increased, in working groups, caucuses, committees, and much more substantial national meetings. But we need to do much more: we want members and locals to be directly involved in developing strategy and strategic planning, in the short, medium and long term. 

Create meaningful opportunities for member participation and representation

• • Establish a delegated convention model.

  • Strengthen opportunities for members to shape and participate in campaigns, education and union activities.

Reimagine new-worker onboarding and a revitalized member education program 

• • Support locals in developing more engaging and accessible approaches to onboarding, particularly in virtual and hybrid workplaces.

  • Re-imagine union education informed and inspired by member priorities and union strategies.

  • Improve website search and accessibility of information.

Recognize and develop member leadership, and build member-led issue networks

• • Create opportunities for members to share their expertise and experience.

  • Re-establish an awards system for engaged members.

  • Connect workers who want to organize around shared workplaces and broader public-service issues.

Give locals the resources, authority, relationships and support they need to lead effective union activity where members work.

For most members, reaching out to their Local Executive is their first contact with the union. That’s why Members United believes in building Locals as centres for member servicing and support, building community, and workplace-level democracy. For this, we need to continue to work towards empowering stewards to actively defend members’ rights day-to-day. But we also need to directly support Local Executives and Locals to do their important work. Most of us in Members United are current or past local executives or stewards. We have a personal stake in moving this work forward to support our local execs and the colleagues we work with day-to-day.

Put resources in the hands of locals

• • Improve access to book-off for local initiatives.

  • Strengthen regional representation and support for locals.

Clarify and strengthen local governance

• • Update Local Organizing Committee approach to clearly define the relationship between, and roles of, Local Executive Committees and Local Organizing Committees.

Build stronger, more active locals

• • Strengthen local general meetings as opportunities for member engagement and updates from National Executive Committee members, VPs and the President.

  • Provide training and development for local executives and members, including in virtual and hybrid formats.

  • Dedicate resources and time to strengthening activity in union-management consultations through Local Executive Committees.

Strengthen coordination and mutual support between locals

• • Develop mechanisms for locals to coordinate responses to emerging issues and support one another in education, organizing and mobilizing.

Share resources and knowledge across locals

• • Make practical tools, guides and other union resources easier for locals to find, adapt and use.

Make equity a core part of how we organize, bargain, educate and represent members.

In all the recent attacks that we face, from tightened control on employee networks, to lack of progress implementing Employment Equity Act reform recommendations, to lack of data on how sweeping WFA is impacting equity representation, to the disproportionate impact of RTO on equity-denied workers - it’s more important than ever for our union to look beyond employer platitudes about equity and inclusion, to understand how workplace inequality is produced, and to commit to the fight for structural change. CAPE equity caucuses now include over 300 members: Queer and Trans Workers, Gender Justice, Indigenous Circle, Anti-Racism, and Disability Justice. And equity-denied members are actively shaping bargaining strategy and proposal development, including through dedicated structures. We’ve made progress, but none of us are free until all of us are free and we need to act like it: by empowering and constitutionalizing equity structures, and also resourcing education for the broader membership.

Empower equity caucuses through an integrated strategy

• • Enshrine equity caucuses in the union’s structure by proposing amendments to the constitution, by-laws and policy.

  • Establish a work plan that strengthens caucuses’ role in member engagement, education, organizing and advocacy.

Build and share member expertise on equity issues

• • Develop centres of member expertise, potentially housed within equity caucuses, on issues such as parental leave, accommodations and other workplace rights.

  • Create specific programs within the empowered stewards model for equity-denied members, particularly around anti-racism.

Embed equity in union education and resources

• • Ensure collective agreement education, steward training and knowledge products address equity-related rights and workplace issues.

Strengthen our capacity to organize around equity

• • Support networks of members organizing around shared equity issues.

  • Defend members from racism wherever it occurs.

Make participation more inclusive

• • Ensure on-boarding, local activities and other union structures are accessible and responsive to diverse member experiences.