This morning, CUPE launched an advertising campaign to denounce the inhumane practices of the Human Resources Department of the Université de Montréal, which unconscionably terminates employees on long-term sick leave.

At a time when Université de Montréal again this year made the Forbes list of the top 300 employers in Canada in 61st place, the president of CUPE Québec, Denis Bolduc, laments the fact that the university shows little concern that the employees affected will be at the mercy of insurance companies or pushed onto social assistance.

“This action by the Université de Montréal is totally inhumane, contravenes the collective agreement that was negotiated and is unbecoming of the reputation of this respected institution,” he added.

This three-pronged campaign (posters, newspapers and social media) directly calls out the rector of Université de Montréal, Guy Breton, and urges him to act to rectify the situation.

The advertising slogan reads, “There’s something inhumane going on with Human Resources at the Université de Montréal. What are you going to do about it, Mr. Rector?”

This campaign waged on behalf of the three CUPE unions at the Université de Montréal follows on the heels of a previous campaign by all of the employee unions at the university, denouncing the numerous attacks by the institution on the working conditions of its employees and its tolerance of management practices which have been deemed unacceptable and have, in many cases, contributed to an unhealthy working environment.