November 15, 2021

Dear Toronto Crossing Guards, 

We are approaching you to provide information about the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) during an organizing drive started by your co-workers. Let’s start by letting you all know that your colleagues at A.S.P. Security who share the responsibility of Crossing Guards’ work in the City of Toronto, have voted in favour of becoming CUPE members.  They overwhelmingly voted in favour of the Union and will soon be sitting with their Employer to negotiate their first Collective Agreement.  Don’t be left behind.  Do right by yourselves and your colleagues at Carraway.  

Carraway has been trying to make you believe that they share your concerns about job security, health and safety, wages, benefits, and fairness in the workplace.  Do you really believe this to be true?  What has your Employer done to address any of these concerns?  

When CUPE first approached you to discuss unionizing, Carraway began an aggressive anti-union campaign using intimidation tactics to try and prevent you from signing union cards and building a strong voice together. Let’s remind you of the facts regarding CUPE, the organizing drive and your rights.

Is CUPE a business?

Employers tend to say that unions are businesses. It’s a lie, and they’re only saying it to make you believe that we work from a profit motive just like them. The reality is that the only one looking to make a profit is Carraway. CUPE is a non-profit Organization and is 100% member driven. If you join to be a CUPE member, you will decide on your bargaining priorities, your dues rates, and you will elect your leaders and bargaining committee members.   

Why did CUPE start an Organizing Campaign with Toronto Crossing Guards?

The Campaign was started by your co-workers, and they remain the heart of the campaign. They are supported by CUPE staff members, as well as other CUPE members who work as Member Organizers. Some crossing guards are approached by co-workers, and others will be approached by CUPE members from other bargaining units who care deeply about helping workers win a strong voice and fairness in their workplaces.

Carraway suggested that CUPE is pretending to be managers in order to get cards signed?

Another lie.  We are very truthful about who we are whenever we approach anyone to sign a card. If anyone ever does approach you about CUPE saying they’re a manager, please contact Daniela Scarpelli at dscarpelli@cupe.ca or 416-458-0588, as it is illegal for any Supervisors and/or Managers to try to convince, intimidate or coerce you to not support CUPE.  

What are my rights?

Your right to join a union is your legal right. In Ontario, it is illegal for your employer to seek to influence you by threats, intimidation, coercion or promises. You have a right to talk with co-workers or organizers about forming a local union.

If you are approached by a CUPE representative, we encourage you to take the information and card, and find a time to have a chat after work or on a break. If you choose to sign a card, we can arrange to have someone pick it up. dscarpelli@cupe.ca or 416-458-0588.  

What is a union card and why am I signing one?

A vote cannot happen until at least 40% of the total workers have signed cards. 

Will Carraway know if I sign a union card?

No. Your card is only ever seen by CUPE and the Ontario Labour Relations Board. Neither your card nor your name is ever provided to the employer. Thousands of workers go through this process every year to join CUPE. 

How do dues work?

Dues exist because there are costs to negotiating and defending your rights. In CUPE, dues are typically 1.5% of base wages. So there are no dues if you’re on an unpaid break, like when school breaks for summer. Dues vary from local to local in CUPE, because the local membership (i.e. you) decides on the local portion of their dues. 

Union dues are often recouped in the first year of your collective agreement and are also 100% tax-deductible. 

Can CUPE guarantee job security?

While most things need to be negotiated, joining CUPE does immediately give you some protection. Right now, your employer can fire you without cause and is only required to provide the week or two of severance included in the Employment Standards Act.Immediately upon becoming a CUPE bargaining unit, the law prohibits the employer from firing you without cause. And it gives you a strong union with an expert in-house legal team to support you if the employer violates your rights.

Other rights are negotiated, but collective agreements normally include a great deal of language around job security.

Sincerely,

Daniela Scarpelli

National Representative

Canadian Union of Public Employees

We have been made aware that your employer sent around a memo that contains some misleading information about unionizing and was clearly designed to scare you. It’s disappointing they chose this tactic instead of respecting your choice to democratically form a bargaining unit of your own in order to have a stronger voice for crossing guards. It’s also unfortunate that they saw this memo to be more important that informing you of school closures and how it is impacting your earnings.

One thing that is true is that it is illegal for your employer or anyone acting on their behalf to seek to sway your vote through threats, intimidation, coercion, or promises. If you observe actions that violate the rules by anyone, please let me or any of the CUPE Member Organizers that you have spoken to, know right away. Your employer could benefit from such illegal tactics because it might keep you from having a voice. CUPE has strong policies against such tactics because at the end of the day, a union is a group of people who have each other’s backs. You need to trust one another in order to have a good bargaining unit that can negotiate a strong collective agreement and protect crossing guards.

CUPE is a democratic union. You and your co-workers can form your own union local, elect your own local leadership and bargaining committee, and even set your own dues rate. Your elected bargaining committee works with your national staff representative to survey members in order to determine bargaining priorities. You can review and vote on the package they prepare to take to the bargaining table. Your elected members are always at the table with your CUPE National Staff Representative, and you vote on whether to accept any agreement reached at the bargaining table. Job action can only take place if you and your elected representatives decide it will, and if you decide it’s necessary, CUPE has a $95-million fund to support workers from day one.

Union Dues are typically about 1.5% of base wages and are fully tax-deductible. Dues are normally recouped through wage increases in the first year of a collective agreement and cannot be deducted until there is an agreement between your bargaining committee and the employer to do so. CUPE Dues are made up of two portions. There is a national portion that pays for your national staff representative and specialists including communications and research (both very important in bargaining), pay equity (very important in social services), health & safety, WSIB, equality, our team of Labour Lawyers, and more.

The national dues rate can only be changed by a vote of delegates to the national convention, and that hasn’t happened in more than 50 years. Local dues are set democratically by local members and pay for such things as the local portion of arbitration, meeting space if needed, and time for your elected local officials to work on your behalf.

Your employer is trying to scare you by talking about other fees, dues, or fines. None of those exist at CUPE. Simply put, it is an employer scare-mongering tactic. You can get more details by reading the CUPE Constitution (www.cupe.ca )

What can CUPE guarantee?

A union is not a business. It is a collective of workers. We are workers who have agreed to join forces in order to build a better life for our families and communities by having a stronger voice in our workplaces. Being a grassroots organization means there are rights and responsibilities for everyone, and we can guarantee there are opportunities for everyone to get involved.

We can guarantee excellent representation. We can guarantee your local access to our incredible education programs, which include about 100 courses and workshops on all aspects of stewarding, financial management, how to hold meetings, collective bargaining, bargaining equity and equality, and more.

We can guarantee you and your coworkers receive a fair and safe process for settling disputes between you/union and your employer. The law requires a grievance policy that can have a neutral third party make the final decision if the parties cannot agree. Your employer cannot refuse to include a grievance policy in the collective agreement.

We can guarantee just cause termination. Right now, your employer does not need a reason to fire you. Fighting your Employer without a Union is costly and timely. Your Employer knows this. After a successful vote, they can only terminate your employment with a valid cause, and we have an obligation by law to challenge an unjust termination as well as represent all our members.

We can guarantee they will not arbitrarily change your terms or conditions of work. The law prohibits them from doing so while we are all working together to negotiate a first collective agreement.

We can be confident that your wages and working conditions will only improve. We start our negotiations based on where you are now, and as a group that negotiates about 4000 collective agreements, we can say with confidence that we only move forward. Your employer will probably try to scare you by saying everything has to be negotiated, but that’s not exactly true.

We will also work towards getting successor rights notwithstanding which contractor ends up with the Toronto Crossing Guards contract in September/21. Because the City of Toronto ultimately controls who the successful sub-contractors are, and because CUPE has a longstanding relationship with the City of Toronto through other Collective Agreements, we have the ability to negotiate working stability on your behalf. This will be one of CUPE’s #1 goals!

Of course, there is so much more information that I can provide to you but for now it’s a lot of information for one email. I hope after having taken the time to read all of this and carefully consider it, we can count on your continued support and that you will also speak to any of your coworkers about the benefits of signing a CUPE card and supporting this important campaign.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I’m here to help.

And please remember that all of this is about you and your co-workers standing together for a better life. In CUPE, the members in a workplace are in charge. You truly are your union!

Sincerely,

Daniela Scarpelli

National Representative

Canadian Union of Public Employees