CUPE 2626 is the union that represents most students who work at uOttawa – literally thousands of Teaching or Research Assistants, Markers, Tutors, Lab Monitors, Demonstrators, Proctors, Lifeguards, Head Guards, Swim Instructors, Community Advisors, Team Leads, Mentors, Mentor Team Leads and Peer Supports. Unions are associations of workers who promote social justice. They work primarily to ameliorate the quality of life and job conditions of their members. Successes achieved by one union can impact working conditions in all sectors of the economy. Union officers understand that people must work together to solve problems, and unions are a mechanism for doing so.

To be unionized means that CUPE 2626 works to ensure you, as an Employee, are treated fairly and provided a safe and healthy working environment. CUPE 2626 negotiates with uOttawa to produce a document called Collective Agreement. Our Collective Agreement is an integral part of our members’ individual employment contracts. It outlines – among other things – the rights, benefits and work conditions of student workers at uOttawa.

If you work as a Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant, Lab Monitor, Exam Proctor, Corrector, Tutor, Demonstrator, Lifeguard or Resident Life worker, then you are a unionized member of CUPE 2626, and are thus entitled to the rights and benefits defined in your respective Collective Agreement. You retain your membership up to 12 months after the end of your last contract.

You can participate in your union by attending and voting at your local General Assemblies or by running for election as an officer or a departmental steward. Please contact us if you wish to support or become more involved with CUPE 2626.