Canadian Union of Public Employees Newfoundland and Labrador (CUPE NL) is deeply concerned by NL Health’s use of a fake promise for an extra paid leave day during a cybersecurity test when health care workers are already stretched thin and continuously denied their leave requests.

“While I understand that cybersecurity awareness is important, especially in a healthcare setting, targeting a benefit like paid time off is disgusting,” said CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador President Sherry Hillier. “These workers are tired, burned out, and desperate for time off. As the employer, NL Health knows that and chose to exploit that feeling anyway.”

Burnout is not a new issue in health care settings however, it has reached new heights during the CorCare roll out, which workers have reported as stressful, full of issues, and causing increased workloads.

“The phishing email specifically targeted the workers who put countless hours into the CorCare rollout. Vacation and leave were denied, family time was lost due to the overtime required. While NL Health’s apology was appreciated, I am still unsure how such a massive lapse in judgement occurred in the first place. How does anyone, in good conscience, design a cybersecurity test for their own employees while knowing how much they missed for this new system?” finished Hillier.

SAVE THE DATE: Eastern Human Rights Conference 2026  

Mark your calendars! The Eastern Human Rights Conference will take place October 27–29 in Moncton. 

 Join CUPE members from across the Atlantic and Maritimes regions to learn about human rights, collective action and building solidarity in our union and communities. 

The conference will offer three days of dynamic workshops, panels and interactive activities. This is an event you won’t want to miss! 

Registration details coming soon.

—

À VOS AGENDAS : Conférence sur les Droits de la personne 2026 

Retenez la date! La Conférence sur les Droits de la personne – région de l’Est aura lieu du 27 au 29 octobre 2026 à Moncton. 

Joignez-vous à des membres du SCFP des régions de l’Atlantique et des Maritimes pour en apprendre davantage sur les droits de la personne, l’action collective et le renforcement de la solidarité dans notre syndicat et nos communautés. 

 S’étalant sur trois jours, la conférence proposera des ateliers dynamiques, des panels de discussion et des activités interactives. C’est un événement à ne pas manquer! 

 De plus amples détails sur l’inscription seront bientôt disponibles. 

CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador says Budget 2025–2026 includes welcome investments in public services, but fails to address the key issue holding those services back: low wages.

“This budget funds projects—but it doesn’t fund the people needed to make those projects succeed,” said Stacey Lucas, Secretary-Treasurer, CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador and Regional Vice President. “Without fixing wages, this plan doesn’t work.”

The union says the province is investing in housing, long-term care, childcare, and post-secondary education—but ignoring the workforce crisis already limiting service delivery.

At Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, new funding to repair units and hire staff is positive, but existing vacancies remain unfilled due to non-competitive pay.

“You can’t expand services if you can’t recruit and retain workers,” said Lucas.

CUPE NL says this pattern is repeating across the public sector, where wages have effectively declined over the past decade. With most collective agreements up this year, the union warns that continued wage stagnation will deepen staffing shortages and undermine new investments.

In long-term care, the province’s plan to add beds raises the same concern.

“You can build new facilities, but without workers, those beds won’t be there for families who need them,” said Lucas.

The union also welcomed additional childcare spaces and supports for families but noted that demand continues to outpace supply—and that staffing pressures remain unresolved.

“Spaces don’t operate themselves,” said Lucas. “If wages don’t keep up, the system won’t either.”

CUPE NL is calling on the government to address the wage crisis as a central part of its plan to strengthen public services.

“If government is serious about delivering results, it needs to invest in the people who make those services possible,” said Lucas.

Delegates from across Newfoundland and Labrador will gather this week for the CUPE NL Convention, bringing together workers from across sectors to set priorities for the year ahead and strengthen the collective voice of public service workers in the province.

This year’s convention is being held during the “Year of Health and Safety,” with a strong focus on protecting workers on the job and ensuring that safe workplaces are treated as a fundamental right—not an afterthought.

Delegates will also take up key issues facing workers and communities across Newfoundland and Labrador, including:

• Strengthening public healthcare, with an urgent focus on recruitment and retention challenges that continue to strain the system and the workers who sustain it
• Advancing workers’ rights and fair wages, as the cost of living rises and workers demand respect at the bargaining table
• Promoting equity, inclusion, and anti-racism, to ensure that workplaces reflect the dignity and diversity of the communities they serve
• Building stronger communities through public services, recognizing that well-funded, accessible public services are essential to the province’s social and economic well-being

“Workers across this province are showing up every day in increasingly difficult conditions—and they’re doing it because they care about the people and communities they serve,” said Sherry Hillier, president of CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador. “This convention is about turning that commitment into action—setting clear priorities and building the strength we need to win safer workplaces, fair wages, and the public services our communities depend on.”

The convention will feature policy debates, workshops, and guest speakers, as well as opportunities for members to share their experiences from the front lines of public service work.

“At a time when public services are under pressure, this convention is about more than internal business—it’s about sending a clear message,” said Hillier. “Investing in workers is investing in communities. You can’t have strong public services without the people who deliver them.”

Women in Leadership Development (WILD) is a feminist leadership and skills-building union education program designed for Indigenous, Black, and racialized women and non-binary members of CUPE.

Break barriers and dive into leadership in our union and our communities.

This regionally-based program takes place over the course of a year, and includes:

• An online orientation session
• Two in-person weeklong sessions
• A mix of in-person and online learning sessions
• (1-2 days)
• One-on-one and group mentorship
• Development of an innovative leadership project
• Lifetime connections!

Apply Today! Applications due March 27th!

Download the CUPE WILD Promotional Flyer to share with someone who should apply!

CUPE NL invites all locals to join them at the Delta Hotel in St. John’s on April 22 to April 24 for their 52^nd annual convention.

Registration will be held on Tuesday, April 21^st from 4:00 to 6 p.m. at the Delta Hotel. Locals are requested to make their own reservations, but a block of rooms, named “CUPE,” will be held for delegates at a rate of $149.00 plus taxes per night.

To send delegates, locals must have their per capita to CUPE National and CUPE NL up to and including March 2026.

For more information, please see the full Convention Call available for download here.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is deeply concerned about the decision by Memorial University Newfoundland (MUN) to address the university’s budget issues by closing campuses and facilities and cutting jobs, and the lack of transparency around the impacts of that decision.

While the announcement from MUN says there will be no immediate layoffs associated with this decision, CUPE has been told that positions will be eliminated.

“The university needs to be transparent with workers, with students, with the people of this province, about how these changes are going to impact the MUN community,” said Bill Kavanagh, CUPE 1615 President.

“Publicly stating that there will be no layoffs but confirming quietly that positions will be eliminated undercuts any critical response to the university’s decision-making. This move will eliminate jobs held by CUPE 1615 members, along with the valuable service they provide.”

CUPE 1615 represents administrative, instructional, and technical support staff at the St. John’s, Signal Hill, Grenfell, and Labrador campuses, and almost 40 CUPE 1615 members’ jobs were impacted when the Writing Centre, Harris Centre and the Office of Public Engagement were suddenly closed in July 2025, following the announcement that MUN has a $20M budget deficit.

“This decision is being framed as ‘real estate divestment’ when it is clearly a reduction of services,” said Sherry Hillier, CUPE Newfoundland & Labrador President. “At the same time, we’ve seen that closing campuses, reducing services, and cutting jobs has not helped MUN’s financial situation.”

Over the past 15 years, similar moves have reduced the membership of CUPE 1615 from nearly 1,500 workers to under 700. Notably, public funding to MUN has also been reduced by half since 2013.

“These budget constraint measures by the university are clearly a result of the provincial government decreasing funding to MUN,” continued Kavanagh.

Instead of cutting jobs, reducing services, and shortchanging students, there is a clear solution to MUN’s financial issues: Restore public funding to the province’s only public university.

“The answer is clear: our public university needs public funding,” continued Hillier. “Ordering a tuition freeze and not restoring funding is irresponsible at best, and at worst, a complete abandonment of the people of this province.”

CUPE is calling for intervention by the provincial government and an increase in funding to MUN, to ensure MUN remains a hub for accessible, world-class postsecondary education.

CUPE Newfoundland & Labrador represents 6,000 public workers across the province, including hundreds of workers at MUN in locals 1615, 3336, and 4554.

Parents and workers in Newfoundland and Labrador have benefited tremendously from investments in early learning and child care since the introduction of the program in 2021. Newfoundland and Labrador parents are now paying less than a third of what they were in 2021, making it much easier for families to get by and provide for the needs of their kids.

Working families need Newfoundland and Labrador to be a strong advocate for the continued success and expansion of the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care program. CUPE NL remains ready and willing to work with government to ensure the program lives up to its original objectives.

As Education and Early Childhood Development Minister Paul Dinn heads into meetings this week with his federal and provincial counterparts from across the country, CUPE NL’s 6,600 members are calling on the Minister and Tony Wakeham’s PC government to:

• Triple provincial funding for early learning and child care to an annual investment of $130 million over the next five years to create more regulated child care spaces.
• Significantly increase wages for child care workers. The provincial wage grid should be bargained with workers and their unions, not unilaterally imposed.
• Ensure that Early Childhood Educators have pension benefits so that they can retire with dignity.
• Maintain restrictions on for-profit expansion and continue to incentivize for-profit operators to become non-profits.
• Allow the provincial government first right of refusal before the selling of any for-profit child care centre.
• Make further use of public assets like schools and universities to house new child care services.
  
  Sherry Hillier,
  President
  CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador
  :so/cope491