SOLIDARITY & GROWTH

It has always been my goal as your president to build AUPE’s internal strength and solidarity amongst our membership. This has been the passion that drives me every day. We’ve all put so much effort into achieving this, and although the work is never fully done, it is now our lifeblood that keeps us strong and vibrant. This is crucial to overcoming the many challenges we are constantly confronted with.

I want to recognize and thank the countless leaders and activists throughout our membership for embracing the call to action to build our union’s strength and solidarity. I know it hasn’t been easy, and the work continues; but by all of us pulling together for explicit outcomes such as winning in bargaining, we will all have raised AUPE to a new level it has never reached. Those that come after us will look back on the time we’re in now as a new high mark that they themselves can proudly build upon in the future.

And as much as we have built our internal strength and solidarity, we have also grown as a union. When I first became your president in 2009 we stood at 75,000 members. Today, I’m pleased to say we are consistently over 100,000 strong.

Most of this growth has been through organizing and welcoming unorganized workers into our vast AUPE family. This level of growth is unprecedented in Alberta and is an achievement we can all take pride in during my time as your president.

Workers seek to join a union that stands strong, fights hard, and mobilizes and supports its members. This is what AUPE is recognized for and why it continues to consistently attract new members. It is a clear sign of a healthy, vibrant, forward-moving union.

This growth needs to continue, and the attraction of AUPE as a union of choice for unorganized workers must be maintained and strengthened into the future.