Your Union
Welcome to the official website of CUPE Local 718. We are the Inside Workers Union for the City of Richmond. The Canadian Union of Public Employees, or CUPE Local 718 was first chartered in 1953. We represent what is commonly known as the ‘Inside’ workers union.
Today, we represent almost fifteen hundred members located within Richmond City Hall and through out various public facilities within the Richmond area.
These public facilities include the Richmond Public Library, RAPS (Regional Animal Protection Society), RFWA (Richmond Fitness & Wellness Centre) all local Community Centres, Arts and Cultural Centre, Richmond City Hall, Minoru Aquatic Centre, Minoru Arena, Public Safety RCMP & Fire Rescue, Richmond Ice Centre, Watermania, Works Yard Administration, Works Yard Facilities Management, Works Yard Parks Design, Works Yard Recycling and Sanitation, and lastly, Works Yard Survey and Inspections.
Affiliations
By way of our charter, we are affiliated to the National Office of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Canada’s largest public sector union with more than seven hundred thousand members.
The National Union provides us with communication services, educational programs and job evaluation representative’s. In the event of a strike action, they would also provide strike pay.
By way of our affiliation with the National Union, we are also affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress. We are also affiliated to the Canadian Union of Public Employees, BC Division, with more than sixty five thousand members. They also provide communication services, educational programs and legislative representation. They too would also provide strike pay during a dispute.
Councils
We are also members of CUPE Metro District Council. They meet monthly and are a reliable source of information and of local events that take place each year, within the metro area.
They also provide fall and spring educational programs. It is through the Metro District Council that CUPE is active in municipal politics.
Holdings Society
As a trade union, we are by statute not permitted to own property. We formed the CUPE Local 718 ‘Holdings Society’ so that, we could at least own our office space. We were able to purchase the strata property of our current location in September of 2002.
All members of CUPE Local 718 are automatically members of our Holdings Society. The officers of the local are also officers of the Holdings Society.
The annual General Meeting for the Holdings Society is held during the annual General meeting of the Union. All issues that may arise for either will be addressed during the same meeting. Held just once a year, each April.
Meetings
The General Membership meetings take place in the months of: February, April, June, September and November. The April membership meeting is the Annual General Membership meeting. Notice of each membership meeting outlining the date and time ais provided to members in advance by email and is posted on this website under Events. Meetings typically take place by Zoom, and the Zoom invite is only provided to your personal email just before the meeting. Please advise the office if you are not receiving your Zoom invite, and your email contact will be updated.
The Annual General meeting occurs in April. All meetings normally commence at 7:00 p.m. Special meetings to deal with specific issues, outside of the normal agenda can be called by the President and the Executive Board of the Union.
Other Locals
There are two other CUPE Locals within the City of Richmond. Local 394 representing the ‘Outside’ workers union, located at the Richmond Works Yard and Local 716 representing School District No.38 workers union.
Together, we represent almost two thousand and two hundred hard working and committed CUPE members within the City of Richmond alone. While we are all CUPE Locals, each local is autonomous of one another and each local conducts their own unique, individual affairs.