About 13,000 teaching and research assistants,
     part-time instructors and sessional instructors in
     Canadian universities are now members of the Canadian
     Union of Public Employees.
          Previously they belonged to the Canadian Union
     of Educational Workers, which merged with CUPE on
     January 1 following a November vote by members.
          About two years, says Derek Blackadder, CUEW's
     national executive assistant, the union realized that
     with government funding cuts to universities and loss
     of jobs CUEW needed "to have access to greater
     resources".
          Since most CUEW members are part-time or
     contract workers, the union couldn't generate enough
     expertise or money to defend members' positions,
     Blackadder says.
          "CUPE was considered to be the best orga
     nization" to represent the union membership, he adds.
     "CUPE isn't dominated by one group and it represents
     a variety of public employees," including about
     35,000 people in the university sector - including
     janitors, technicians and clerical staff at many
     institutions.
          "It's a good fit. Eighty-one per cent of CUEW
     members voted in favour of joining CUPE," he adds.
          "CUEW members will be joining in a common cause
     with public sector workers across the country," says
     CUEW national chair Vanessa Kelly. "Governments
     intend to slash public services and jobs from day
     care to unviersites. An attack of this scale demands
     a united response."
          CUEW members are in Ontario, Nova Scotia,
     Manitoba and Alberta, with 8,500 of the 13,000
     members coming from eight Ontario universities -
     Toronto, York, Ryerson, Lakehead, McMaster, Ontario
     Institute for Studies in Education, Trent and Guelph.
          CUEW's merger with CUPE followed on the heels of
     another major merger between CUPE and the 39,000-
     member Hospital Employees Union in British Columbia.
     Late last year, CUPE grew by 50,000 members; it now
     has 460,000 member about 40,000 in the university
     sector.
          "This merger will mean even stronger opposition
     to human resources minister Lloyd Axworthy's social
     security review proposal to slash post-secondary
     education funding," says CUPE national president Judy
     Darcy.