Canadian Union of Educational Workers : The Canadian Union of Educational Workers (CUEW) was a trade union which represented over 6000 Teaching Assistants, Research Assistants, Markers, Lab Demonstrators, and Sessional Lecturers at the University of Toronto, Ryerson Polytechnic, York University, McMaster University, Lakehead University, and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). The union maintained several levels of governance: National Executive Office, National, and Local. The National Executive Office was responsible for a number of services, including: organizing, servicing locals, research, education, publications, and support.
The CUEW had its origins in 1973 when a small number of Graduate Assistants at Victoria University organized to form Local 1 of the Graduate Assistants' Association. Buoyed by the success of this first effort, Teaching Assistants at the University of Toronto organised as well and were certified as the bargaining agent for Teaching Assistants throughout the University of Toronto in June of 1975. This new unit became Local 2 of the GAA. As Victoria University was soon thereafter absorbed by the University of Toronto, Local 1 was amalgamated with Local 2. The years from 1975 to 1980 saw the organisation of Locals at York, Ryerson, Lakehead, McMaster, and OISE with Sessional Lecturers and Research Assistants being brought into the Union. In order to reflect this change in the composition of the Union, the National Convention of the GAA decided at their 1980 meeting to change the name from the Union of the Graduate Assistants' Association to the Canadian Union of Educational Workers, with various Locals either adopting the new name, retaining the Graduate Assistants' Association as their Local name, or adopting a Local title which seemed more appropriate, as with the Union of Ryerson Instructors. Other Locals were organized later, including the University of Manitoba, Trent University, and the University of Ottawa.
The union was interested in provincial and national legislation and politics, especially as they affected the union and their members. Some of the lobbying initiatives taken by the CUEW included: unemployment, free trade, wage settlements, health and safety act, and the wage gap, among others. The CUEW actively lobbied in conjunction with other unions and organizations which sought to improve and preserve the status of the labour movement. The union sought to fight and confront issues from introduced legislation, such as the Social Contract Act and the Public Sector Reduced Work Week and Compensation Management Act.
In 1994, the CUEW signed a merger with Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), and became a part of Canada's largest union, dissolving the independently operating union.
