From June of 1960 until September of 2003 we were the Canadian Union of Operating Engineers and General Workers (CUOE). CUOE was formed in 1960 by a group of fiercely independent, dissatisfied Canadian workers who wanted nothing more to do with AMERICAN unions. In fact, CUOE was the first Union to sever from an International parent. The CUOE was a wholly Canadian Union governed on a "grass-roots" basis and they were a founding member of the CCU, Confederation of Canadian Unions, started around 1968.
 
In September of 2003 CUOE merged with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) and became CEP Local 2003. CEP Local 2003 is now one the largest CEP locals in Ontario and in Canada.  We are affiliated with the CLC (Canadian Labor Congress). CEP represents just about every type of worker, in almost every sector, from coast to coast. In fact we represent workers in over 27 different sectors. We have the experience you are looking for regardless of what type of job you currently do.

To give you an idea of our diversity, here are some examples.

Chances are when you purchase or rent a vehicle or fill it with gas that our members helped to provide it. When you go shopping the heating/air conditioning and security/guest services were quite possibly provided to you by our union members and the products were likely delivered on wooden pallets that our members built.

When you are at home enjoying some ice cream, our union members were likely involved in its creation.
When you visit a hospital or deliver some goods to a local shelter, our union members are likely involved.
When you drive to work chances are that our union members service the roads summer and winter.
When you read your newspaper in the morning, likely our union members were involved in the process either in printing or editorial or in a paper mill creating the product.
When you pick up the phone to make a call our union members have likely worked on systems that provide the service to you.
Even when you book your vacation or plane tickets, you may be dealing with our union members. These are just a few examples; the list is actually very, very long.

CEP was formed in 1992 through a merger of three large Unions, the Canadian Paperworkers Union (CPU, 69,000 members, Canada’s largest Union of  Paper Workers), the Communications and Electrical Workers of Canada (ECWU 35,000 members, Canada’s largest Union of Communication Workers) and the Energy and Chemical Workers Union (CWC 40,000 members, Canada’s largest Union of Energy and Chemical workers), since then we have been growing steadily organizing members in virtually every sector of the economy. We are now also Canada’s largest media Union. Currently CEP is 162,000 members strong. You can visit the following link [CEP history] for a more detailed look at how the CEP Union was formed.