Claude Généreux

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Claude Généreux was elected national secretary-treasurer of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) in the fall of 2001.

Claude was 18 years old when he participated in his first strike against the Montreal daily newspaper La Presse. It was 1974 and the workers were fighting for a five-day work week.

In 1980, he got a job at a Montreal psychiatric hospital where he joined CUPE Local 313. He quickly became a union activist, fighting for better health and safety policies and other rights for workers. He was elected local president in 1991.

In 1993, Claude was elected president of CUPE Quebec and became one of five vice-presidents on CUPE’s National Executive Board. In Quebec, he led the provincial bargaining council for the health and social services sectors. In 2000, he led a two-week job action by 27 health care locals that won workers improved protections against work overload.