The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) is at the forefront of the fight against the privatization of public services and has been since our union was founded in 1963. The collective power of CUPE members is our best defence against privatization, and CUPE collective agreements are a powerful tool in that fight. When CUPE members organize to achieve, and strictly enforce, contract language that prevents or restricts our employers from contracting out work, we can protect public sector union jobs and public services. CUPE collective agreements are far more likely than other union contracts to have some type of protection against contracting out. CUPE locals regularly use their collective agreement language to stop privatization in its tracks.