Lessons from the CUPE Ontario Conference
A message from Victoria Mousseau
At OSSTF, we know that the challenges facing education workers do not exist in isolation. Whether it is the fight for fair compensation, manageable workloads, safe workplaces, strong benefits, or respect on the job, workers across Ontario are confronting many of the same issues.
We are pleased to share reflections from Victoria Mousseau, a delegate from CUPE Local 1295 who recently attended the CUPE Ontario Conference. Her experience highlighted a powerful truth: when workers come together across sectors and workplaces, our collective voice becomes stronger.
The conference brought together union members from education, post-secondary institutions, healthcare, social services, and other sectors from across the province. Delegates discussed common challenges, shared strategies, and reaffirmed their commitment to advocating for workers’ rights, workplace protections, and stronger public services. The overwhelming message was one of solidarity—an understanding that meaningful progress is achieved when unions support one another and work toward shared goals.
As trade unionists, we recognize that our strength comes not only from advocating for our own members but also from standing alongside our labour partners. Organizations such as CUPE, along with unions across Ontario, play a critical role in advancing fairness, equity, and dignity for workers. By supporting one another’s struggles and successes, we build a stronger labour movement capable of creating positive change in our workplaces, our communities, and our province.
Victoria’s report serves as an important reminder that solidarity is more than a slogan—it is the foundation of effective collective action. We encourage all members to read her reflections and consider the value of collaboration across unions as we continue to advocate for the rights and well-being of all workers.
A message from Victoria Mousseau:
Dear membership,
First off, I want to thank you all for voting to allow us to send two delegates to this years CUPE Ontario conference, in Toronto. I cannot stress enough how valuable an experience this was. The problems that we are facing here at Brock, day in and day out, are not our fight alone, and this conference showed me that. Our fight for fair wages, for reasonable workloads, for comprehensive benefits and even for basic respect from our employer is not something we are up against by ourselves.
These are issues being face by our CUPE Siblings across the province. And everyone has had enough. The passion and energy that I witnessed at the conference this past week was engaging, it was motivating. And most of all, it was unanimous. Across every sector: University, Healthcare, Social Services, and Education there was agreement and solidarity like I have not seen before.
And it was not just workplace issues that were touched on during the week either. The gathered delegates were able to not only agree on but pass many resolutions during this past week. In debates that had more agreement than not, we discussed the importance of lobbying and campaigning for fair and reasonable workloads and staffing levels, the importance of workplace safety policies, and the unquestionable right to support and protection in our workplaces. We voted to push for legislation against and the regulation of AI use in our jobs to better protect not only ourselves, but those who were provide our services for.
We heard from speakers Avi Lewis: the leader of the federal NDP, and Marit Stiles: the leader of the provincial NDP, as well as the executives and membership of CUPE Ontario. They pushed the importance of a unionized labour force in this province. They stood up for the rights of workers everywhere and spoke to the power that we have, power to make a real and positive change. And not just in our own workplaces, but in our communities and in our government.
You may not realize, so I will tell you now: Unionism is political at its core. It is activism. It is fighting for a better world for us and for our futures. It is standing up against corrupt employers, against unjust policies and changes, and it is defending those of us who do not know how to defend themselves. There are attacks coming at labour unions from many fronts; from the government, from employers, and even from members who are frustrated and fed up with the struggles.
I hear those frustrations, and I understand them. And I am renewed in my desire to overcome them. To fight and stand up and be heard.This week’s conference imparted to me the importance of not only making your own voice heard, but in hearing the voices of others just as strongly. Because when we listen to one another, not only do we learn, but we connect. And in that connection, we are stronger, more unified, and better able to stand up for ourselves and our rights as workers.
It is my hope that I am able to bring the energy I felt this past week back here to you all. To be an example of bold and unabashed pride in this union, in my fellow workers and in myself. Because YOU are this union.
And I believe in 1295 to step up and be heard. And I believe that we can be strong and united in our cause. If this week has showed me anything, it is that strength in solidarity is not just a saying. Not just an empty slogan, but a fundamental truth of Unions, and I believe in that truth, and in you all to make it the reality of this Local.Thank you.
Victoria Mousseau