CUPE Local 500/City of Winnipeg - Bargaining Update #33 - Strike Date Set!
October 06, 2022 at 9:38 AM
Your CUPE Local 500 Bargaining Committee has set Tuesday, October 11 at 11:59 pm as the deadline for the City to offer an acceptable deal. Failing that, at 12:00 am on Wednesday, October 12, 5000 City of Winnipeg frontline workers represented by CUPE 500 will be on strike.
CUPE 500 has given the City ample time to come back to us with an acceptable deal, and instead they offer us longwinded ways to give frontline workers less than they deserve, leaving them further behind.
The City of Winnipeg is losing staff and has a recruitment crisis which is only going to get worse if workers are not feeling supported with real wage increases.
We regret that the employer has not taken action to work with us to avoid a strike.
We have given numerous opportunities for the Executive Policy Committee and Council to meet and discuss our proposals. Each time we gave the City the opportunity to make a decision, they failed to respond with an acceptable deal. Despite the numerous scandals and years of financial mismanagement at the political level, the City continues to try to put its financial problems on the backs of frontline CUPE 500 workers.
Winnipeggers deeply value the public services our members provide and they expect the strongest public services possible: that includes making sure you, the frontline workers, have the supports you need.
Unfortunately, the City has given us no other choice but to put them on notice that in seven days CUPE 500 will call a strike of Winnipeg’s municipal frontline workforce.
City Council still has time to work with us to prevent a strike, but the ball is in their court.
Picket Duty Sign-Up
CUPE 500 has a strike headquarters established. We have hundreds of picket captains trained, and thousands of CUPE 500 members have registered for the picket duty.
We encourage all City of Winnipeg CUPE 500 members who have not yet registered for picket duty to contact the Strike Headquarters by email at:
cupe500strike@gmail.com or you can visit the strike headquarters at 1500 Portage Avenue, Monday – Friday, between 9:30 am – 3:00 pm to register.
Members who still need to complete their strike pay form can do this online or you can contact the strike headquarters to receive a hard copy of the application.
The contact number for the Strike Headquarters is 204-221-6531.
Watch for more information
We will have more information to share with you in the coming days. Please keep an eye on your home email or workplace bulletin board for further updates. Please share this update with your co-workers. A reminder that you can access all of our bargaining updates on our website at cupe500.mb.ca
It is also important that we have your most recent contact information, including cell phone number and personal email. We do not use work contact information to reach you for union business. You can access all member forms here.
Now more than ever we need to stand united and support your bargaining committee. We are stronger together!
Thank you for your continued patience and solidarity throughout this process.
In solidarity,
Your Bargaining Committee,
Gord Delbridge, President, CUPE Local 500
Carmen Prefontaine, President, Civic Services Unit
Phil Dembicki, President, Community Services Unit
Nicholas McClurg, President, Public Works Unit/Local 500 SAO
Madelaine Dwyer, President, Water and Waste Unit
Rebecca Scott, Member at Large/Local 500 SAO
Jon Shalapata, Member at Large
Alex McClurg, CUPE National Staff Representative
Kevin Carswell, CUPE National Staff Representative
Dale Edmunds, CUPE National Staff Representative
Karen Byzuk, Local 500 Staff
