CUPE Local 500

05/25/2026

Undercover and uniformed police officers are returning to Winnipeg Transit buses this weekend.

The Winnipeg Police Service, citing the success of the fall pilot project, announced Friday that regular patrols will resume monitoring activity on and around buses, stops and transit hubs.

“Everyone — riders, operators, and transit staff — deserves to feel safe. Violent and disruptive conduct will not be tolerated,” police said in a news release.

It described the initiative as one “rooted in prevention and protection.”

Police partnered with city officials in September to launch a targeted, 15-week crackdown on crime across the transit system.

The pilot, involving constables and the city’s community safety officers, was announced following a year of violent crime.

The number of annual incidents reported at transit locations, including on buses and in bus shelters, nearly tripled from 2019 to 2024. The record is now 325 events during a 12-month period.

Increasing police presence across public transit is a no-brainer in the current climate, said Gord Delbridge, a spokesperson for Workers for Downtown Public Safety.

Delbridge stopped short of calling the announcement “a win” for the coalition that represents upwards of 10,000 employees who regularly commute to the core.

“A win would be when we don’t need to have security and metal detectors at the library or police on the bus and that’s a long way away,” said the president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500.

The Amalgamated Transit Union is one of the eight founding unions, along with CUPE, that recently joined forces to lobby for policy changes to better protect bus drivers and other public-sector workers. Representatives from the coalition recently met with the mayor to outline their calls to action, one of which was bolstering security on buses.

“An employer has a responsibility to provide a safe workplace for their workers,” Delbridge added.

During the enhanced enforcement period in the fall, violent crime in and around buses fell 18 per cent.

Levels of property crime and criminal incidents in these settings also dropped between Sept. 17 and Dec. 31.

Mayor Scott Gillingham said he was “very pleased” to learn the police force is once again deploying extra resources to tackle problems on buses.

“Police resources are limited. We don’t have enough police to put everywhere — that’s why we’re taking a co-ordinated approach to public safety,” Gillingham said.

He noted that having more eyes on Winnipeg Transit helps reduce violence and recuperate fees.

The civil service estimates fare evasion costs the city about $7 million annually.

Police said a dozen suspects were arrested during the fall pilot. Fare evasion was enforced on 98 occasions over the three-month period.

WPS Supt. Brian Miln told reporters in the winter the results had exceeded his expectations.

Members of the newly formed rapid response unit, a flexible, 32-person team created to alleviate evolving pressures on front-line officers, will be among the new group of patrollers.

WPS did not release information about the estimated length or cost of the new initiative.

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05/19/2026

They get little recognition, but the work they do every summer is admired by thousands across Winnipeg.

As the overnight frost clears for the season, flower beds and pots across the city will be filled and refreshed. Behind the effort is a team of 40 gardeners, injecting splashes of purple, gold, yellow and red into the cityscape.

David Domke, the city’s manager of parks and open space, said like the gardens they tend to, the team of green thumbs is diverse.

Kelsey Heide, a gardener with the City of Winnipeg, pulls out weeds in flower beds along with a crew of city gardeners at Vimy Ridge Park Friday May 15. The city has started prepping flower beds across the city before spring planting begins.

“It’s really a mixture of experienced and inexperienced people. A lot of the time, we’ve got some pretty serious gardeners,” he said. “We get them all over the place really, but they all have one thing in common; and that’s a real love of plants.”

The gardeners tend and beautify more than 29,000 square metres of floral arrangements — more than three CFL football fields in flowers — and maintain over 1,600 flower pots.

“We look for things that are unique,” said Domke of the city’s flower selection, which is custom ordered from greenhouses.

He said the season actually begins as it ends. When the flowers are pulled for the year during the Thanksgiving weekend, gardeners start mapping out designs for the spring — with the floral plans laid out before they’re set in soil.

There’s also a science to the setup, Domke said, following a “thriller, chiller, spiller” approach to design eye-catching gardens. The thriller is usually a tall plant that protrudes upwards from the pot. The chiller is a medium-sized plant that fills the remaining space at the soil level. The spiller are plants that overflow from the pot.

Jordan Hoff, head gardener for Winnipeg South, deadheads and checks up on the boulevard plants at Roblin and Moray last summer.

The city spends more than $220,000 on annuals, Domke said. While floral beds and flower pots are carefully planned today, that hasn’t always been the case. About 20 years ago, it was general labourers who handled floral efforts, leaving a lot to be desired.

“The floral displays we had were kind of basic,” said Domke. “As soon as we got this position — and it’s been a lot of years since then — of the gardeners, there’s just been a complete acceleration.”

The Free Press requested to speak with one of the city’s gardeners, but Domke said they would rather be deep in the soil than in the spotlight.

Located streetside, Domke said there are 12 to 18 instances annually where the flower pots get smashed by motorists, but said the effort is widely well respected, as vandalism is rare.

The work has not gone unnoticed by other Manitoba gardeners.

Boulevard plants at Roblin and Moray. The city is switching out old concrete planters for newer models, like these, that include water reservoirs at the bottom.

“When you stop and think about the vastness and the landscape of the city of Winnipeg and imagine it’s only 40 people who are doing all of that. Wow,” said Mike Mailman, owner of seed library Mailman Pharms. “They must have an impeccable plan.”

Mailman said the relationship that forms between gardeners and the plants they care for goes right to the roots, but it’s not always the green thumb behind it who gets the recognition.

“It’s a thankless job, quite frankly, for a lot of these people,” he said. “They themselves don’t get any of the credit for the hard work they do, and make no mistake, it is not an easy job to take care of a garden.”

The planting is expected to begin later this month.

To keep the thousands of square metres of floral displays green, three 1,000-gallon tanker trucks water over the summer, Monday to Friday, and on weekends if it is especially hot.

If any residents see a flower pot or bed in rough shape, they’re asked to contact 311.

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Morgan Modjeski
Morgan Modjeski

05/16/2026

Mel Myers was for over three decades Manitoba’s most prominent union-side labour lawyer, and one of Canada’s very best.

His recent passing provides the opportunity to celebrate the career of this outstanding worker’s advocate.

Myers LLP today operates under the principles he established; the labour section of the firm represents unions only. Each spring, the Mel Myers labour conference, established in 2002, offers quality labour law education to hundreds of union leaders.

Myers was an impact player at the centre of many leading local and national labour cases. In short, he helped shape Canadian labour law as we know it today.

He began his legal career as a Crown attorney, Manitoba’s first Jewish lawyer to hold the designation. His three years in the courtroom taught him to think on his feet.

He entered private practice at age 28. The Israelite Press in a feature story referred to him as sounding like a “social reformer … interested in moral issues.”

His mentors in his early years in private practice were lawyers Leon Mitchel and Roy MacGregor. He also worked closely with elected labour leaders, including Manitoba Federation of Labour presidents Len Stephens and Dick Martin. He quickly developed a passion for labour, and his practice grew as most unions sought his assistance in the early 1970s.

In 1985, the Supreme Court of Canada agreed with Myers that mandatory retirement at 65 years constituted age discrimination, a violation of Manitoba’s human rights legislation.

In 1987, the Supreme Court of Canada overruled the Manitoba Court of Appeal in the Met Stores case, establishing that provisions such as first contract legislation cannot be set aside through an injunction while employers litigate the constitutionality of the provision. Myers prepared the affidavit of former MFL president Martin, which defended the legitimacy of Manitoba’s first contract legislation.

The Charter era impacted all avenues of the legal profession including the labour relations community. In 1989, together with prominent Toronto-based labour lawyer, Jeffrey Sack, Myers co-founded the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers. Today, over 500 union-side lawyers gather annually to consider trends and to discuss strategy in the ever-evolving field of labour law.

Myers and Sack were instrumental in convincing the 3.5-million-member Canadian Labour Congress to co-ordinate Charter challenges. Instead of 55 CLC affiliate unions each filing their own constitutional arguments, labour would strive to pool its resources and speak with one voice. This was sound advice that enabled the movement to achieve many groundbreaking precedents, establishing Charter protected labour rights.

In May 2006 I was privileged to introduce Mel Myers as the first labour-side recipient of the University of Toronto, Bora Laskin Labour Lawyer of the Year award. I spoke that evening of Myers, saying he was both a “brilliant legal mind and a person who never forgot his roots, a man who respected the dignity of labour.”

In terms of community service, he served as the first chairperson of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission; president of the YMHA; and as a board member of the University of Winnipeg Board of Regents, Rainbow Stage and the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada.

In the mid-1990s, he represented the NDP at the Monnin Inquiry into the Interlake vote-rigging scandal that enveloped the Conservative government of Gary Filmon. In 2001, he was appointed chair of Manitoba Public Insurances, Automobile Injury Compensation Appeal Commission, providing drivers an appeal outlet in the no-fault era.

His greatest gift to workers was his belief in the trade union movement. He did not believe that the Manitoba Labour Board or the grievance-arbitration system ought to be the sole purview of lawyers. There was a role for legal counsel, but so too there was a role for union representatives and lay practitioners — and he taught many of us the skills needed to navigate these legal waters.

He was a labour historian and great supporter of the movement as a whole. He circulated awards and articles and hosted dinners with prominent practitioners, all in support of developing a generation of union representatives.

The standard cover page for arbitration awards lists the parties to the dispute and the counsel for each party. The words, “Mel Myers for the union” appear on hundreds of such awards.

He was indeed a friend to all workers, as well as our staunchest advocate.

Paul Moist is a retired labour leader and currently serves as president of the Manitoba Federation of Union Retirees.

05/15/2026

On May 15, 1919, more than 30,000 workers in Winnipeg took a stand for fairness, dignity, and workers’ rights in what became the historic Winnipeg General Strike.

Their fight for fair wages, safer workplaces, and collective bargaining helped shape the labour movement in Canada and reminds us that progress is built through solidarity.

107 years later, we honour the workers who stood together and the legacy they left for future generations. ✊

05/13/2026

THE LOCAL 500 LES BUTTERWORTH SCHOLARSHIP AND BURSARY PROGRAM is inviting applications for its 2026 scholarship and bursary awards.

DEADLINE TO APPLY IS Monday, June 19, 2026.

This year the fund is offering:

One scholarship of $2,500
Three bursaries of $1,500 each.

The scholarship will be awarded on the basis of academic achievement and the bursaries on the basis of good academic standing with consideration of financial need. The awards are available for use in an accredited post secondary school, college or university in Manitoba for the 2026-2027 academic year.

Awards can only be used at Canadian schools outside Manitoba when the course of studies is not offered in Manitoba. Funds will be paid directly to the school, college or university that the student is attending.

For more information on eligibility and to apply, visit our website: https://cupe500.mb.ca/for-members/education/les-butterworth-scholarship

05/11/2026

05/09/2026

05/05/2026

CUPE Manitoba recognizes May 5th - the National Day of Awareness for MMIWG2S+ (missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit peoples).

We encourage members and Locals on this important day to learn about the ways that they can implement the calls for justice from the National Inquiry (See link below).

May 5th marks a National Day of Awareness growing out of the REDress project, inspired by the work of Jaime Black, Métis artist, on Treaty 1 Territory.



Learn more and read the calls for justice here:https://www.nwac.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Web-MMIWG-calls-to-justice..new_.pdf
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Apprenez-en plus ici:https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/MMIWG_Final_Report_Vol_1b_French-FINAL.pdf

05/04/2026

Today on International Firefighters’ Day, CUPE 500 recognizes and thanks all firefighters for the work they do protecting our communities, often in the most challenging and dangerous circumstances.

We extend our appreciation to the members of the United Fire Fighters of Winnipeg, IAFF L867 for their dedication, professionalism, and service to the people of Winnipeg.

Firefighters are there when our community needs them most—responding to emergencies, protecting lives and property, and keeping our city safe.

CUPE 500 stands in solidarity with firefighters today and every day. ❤️🚒

12/09/2025

CUPE 500 President Gord Delbridge presented at the Executive Policy Committee today in support of in-house composting pickup.

"It's important that we have some public service being delivered in-house because when you become beholden to only one sector, then we start seeing things like those costs increase" said Delbridge, "and I think Winnipeggers would agree, when theyre looking at the water and waste bills that theyre getting in now."