MEDIA RELEASE

“CUPE 1281 is Fighting Back Against the Ford PSE Agenda”

For Immediate Release

January 27th, 2019

The Executive of CUPE Local 1281 joins the chorus of  post-secondary students and workers on post-secondary education campuses to condemn the attacks from the Ford Government announced on January 17th. University and college students in Ontario now face a precarious and defunded future pursuing their education.

Meanwhile, our members, many of whom are employed by students’ unions or other student run organizations on university campuses, are forced to consider whether or not their workplaces will survive the new Ford Government mandate to make their student levies optional. CUPE Local 1281 sees this announcement as a blatant attack on students’ rights, important services for equity seeking student groups, and our members’ jobs. Moreover, this new directive by the Ford Government is but one part of a wider undermining of the social safety net of the Province, adding to already under attack areas ranging from social assistance to health care.

Our Local will fight back and do all that we can to support students’ right to organize and ensure post-secondary education in Ontario is not pushed out of reach or made unsafe for marginalized students or those coming from low-income backgrounds.

To our fellow organizers across the Province, we call for unity and diversity in action against the direct and consistent offensives of the Ford regime. Together, we will win.

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For more information, contact:
Naila Lalji, CUPE Local 1281 President
president@cupe1281.ca
Tel: 416-551-0057