Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada

Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada

Abbreviation	CEP
Merged into	Unifor
Formation	1992 (1992)
Dissolved	2013 (2013)
Merger of	Canadian Paperworkers Union Communications and Electrical Workers of Canada Energy and Chemical Workers Union
Type	Trade union
Headquarters	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Location	Canada
Membership	110,000[1]
Affiliations	Canadian Labour Congress ICEM International Federation of Journalists

Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, abbreviated CEP in English and SCEP in French, was a largely private-sector labour union with 150,000 members, active from 1992 to 2013.^[1] It was created in 1992 through the merger of three unions: the Canadian Paperworkers Union, the Communications and Electrical Workers of Canada, and the Energy and Chemical Workers Union.^{[citation needed]} See below for some other unions that were merged into the CEP. CEP/SCEP was affiliated to the Canadian Labour Congress.

The communications portion of CEP consisted of workers from telecommunications (principally Bell Canada), private TV stations, newspapers, commercial print and new media (such as Internet and web design). The large media component of communications (about 20,000 members) joined CEP in 1994 when members of the Canadian wing of NABET joined as well as newspaper members from the Canadian division of the Communications Workers of America (CWA).^{[citation needed]} In 2005 nearly all Canadian members of the American-based Graphic Communications International Union (GCIU) representing newspaper press operators and commercial print workers joined CEP, though GCIU members in Quebec joined Teamsters Canada. These mergers have made CEP the largest media union in Canada. In 2007, Bell Canada clerical and sales employees that belonged to the Canadian Telecommunications Employees Association (CTEA) voted to merge with the CEP, uniting all Bell Canada unionized employees under one union.^[2]

The energy portion of CEP consisted mainly of Canadian workers in the oil, gas and chemical sectors, while the paperworkers portion of CEP consisted of pulp and paper workers in the Maritimes, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia.

Membership is in flux as the pulp and paper industry in Canada declines and moves offshore. That industry has seen several plant closures affecting thousands of pulp and paper workers across Canada. A Canada Industrial Relations Board–imposed vote at the public broadcaster Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in 2003 lost 1,800 technicians and camera operators from CEP to the CBC journalists' union Canadian Media Guild (affiliated with the CWA), whose members outnumbered the CEP members at the English-language section of CBC.

However, the 2005 GCIU merger as well as subsequent mergers with the Atlantic Telecommunications Workers Union and forestry workers in Quebec kept pace with membership declines in other areas.

CEP was an affiliate of the International Federation of Journalists.

The CEP voted in October 2012 to merge with the Canadian Auto Workers.^[3] The new merged union, Unifor, held its founding convention in 2013.