CUPE Local 79

Local 79’s delegates are on the floor at CUPE Ontario Convention this week. At our April membership meeting, candidates running for the top Executive positions came to speak directly to members and then voted on who to endorse. Those votes are what our delegates are carrying into the convention today.

Our membership endorsed Yolanda McClean for President, Krista Laing for Secretary-Treasurer, Michael Hurley for 1st Vice-President, Juanita Forde for 3rd Vice-President, and Marty Larocque for 4th Vice-President.

This is how it should work: the members decide, and the delegates follow those wishes. Letting the membership hear directly from candidates and then binding delegates to the result is a straightforward way to make our local more democratic.

May Day celebrates workers who refused to accept that their labour meant nothing — and that fight is as alive in Toronto as it’s ever been. This May Day, we celebrate what solidarity looks like when it’s real: CUPE Local 79 members showing up for their neighbours, their communities, and each other — in shelters, clinics, long-term care, and on the street when it counts.

Happy International Workers’ Day to every member, ally, and community partner who’s been in the room, on the street, and in the fight with us!

Today, members of CUPE Local 79 joined the Toronto and York Region Labour Council at Larry Sefton Park to mark the National Day of Mourning — honouring workers killed, injured, or made ill on the job.

TYRLC President Andria Babbington took a moment to acknowledge our fellow member from Recreation who died at work. Her words carried our message that no worker should ever be working alone.

We carry the memory of our fellow member with us.