The moment that changed Jean Lehune’s life forever

By Celia Shea, communications staff

“I will be a walking billboard for the union,” says Jean Lehune, who is still ecstatic about the way the Alberta Labour Board resolved the 2020 dispute between AUPE and her employer, CBI, one of Canada’s largest homecare companies. Not only did the hearings end just in time for Christmas, but the process gave her hope for the New Year. It was a “gift into the season” that shifted her views on solidarity and inspired her to get more involved in the union.  

Fighting for justice will do that, and it’s a good thing because the work is never done. But it does start somewhere, and for Lehune, the battle began when she and her four CBI co-workers decided to challenge the for-profit Goliath through the grievance process.  

Lehune and her coworkers said the company wasn’t giving them the respect they deserved, despite the risks they shouldered by working through the pandemic. Together, they resolved to oppose the bully and contacted their union representatives for support.  

Their decision would soon launch four of the women into the world of arbitrators, hearings and testimonials, which were all new to Lehune. Before 2020, she says the closest she’d been to a legal proceeding was “reading the books of John Grisham,” but the complaint process was nothing like an entertaining court drama. Instead, it was confusing and unpredictable, and when it went public, it was nerve-wracking.    

“I said, ‘Oh great, now I have my name out there… now I’m blacklisted!’” says Lehune. But as the situation progressed, and her AUPE representatives met her with empathy and prompt communication, it stoked a feeling in her that was stronger than fear – a hunger for justice. She may have been apprehensive about AUPE using her grievance to substantiate its complaint, but in the end, she decided, “I have to fight this because I can just feel it: it’s not right.” 

Lehune’s conscience steered her in the right direction. Today she and her coworkers are benefiting from their bravery, which even pushed Lehune to join the CBI negotiating team as an alternate at the bargaining table, where she can continue to amplify the voices of her fellow members. 

This position is a big step for her. The healthcare aide (HCA), who has been providing emotional and physical support to vulnerable Albertans for years, never considered herself a fighter, let alone a unionist. AUPE Vice-President Bobby-Joe Borodey has seen how everyone needs to come into their union identity at their own time, in their own way.   

“Becoming an activist is a journey,” she says, and it will look different for everyone. Still, the story normally starts with a small action that opens the door for more participation. Borodey’s gateway to solidarity was becoming a steward. 

“That’s when it was like rubber hit the road ….I actually have a specific role to play here and people are counting on me to help them. They are going through something that is very impactful and very significant, and I need to step up, and I need to do this job to the best of my ability because people are counting on me.” 

Borodey’s comment on responsibility hints at its powerful partner: union pride. Some will feel it when they participate in their first Convention and sing “Solidarity Forever!” Others, when they stand on a picket line in -20-degree weather, and many more, when they march through the streets of their community and hear a fiery AUPE speech echo off the downtown buildings, mirroring the anger they’ve been feeling. Lehune felt it when she challenged her employer.  

But the CBI hearings weren’t her first taste of solidarity, having experienced seven years of AUPE membership and having witnessed the union in action before. Back in 2014, about two years after she moved to Edmonton from Fairview, she was working her second job at one of the capital city’s five Shepherd’s Care continuing-care homes when a member-organized rally broke out.   

Partway through the day, when General Support Services (GSS) staff were protesting the sell-off of their jobs, which the not-for-profit was threatening to sub-contract, Lehune heard noises outside and realized, “One-by-one, somebody would go out carrying [AUPE] placards.” Curious about the movement, she went out during her lunchbreak and saw her co-workers rallying. “They started chanting: ‘Shepherd’s Care, you don’t care!’” she says, “So I picked up one of those placards, and I said ‘Okay, I’ve got to join in here’…I enjoyed it!”

In that moment, AUPE came to life for Lehune, but she still felt like an outsider looking in – a tourist passing through the union world. She chanted for a while then went inside. Lehune admits she didn’t want to get caught on camera and seen on TV.  

“After [the rally], I had no real involvement with the union,” she says. “I was just happy with the girls,” meaning her coworkers. 

Ironically, Lehune’s natural comradery makes her a better organizer than she thinks. Back in 2015, when CBI caregivers were petitioning to join AUPE, Jean encouraged her coworkers to vote YES for union representation. Borodey believes one-to-one worksite conversations, like Lehune’s, are the building blocks of all AUPE activities. 

At CBI, rank-and-file conversations certainly fueled the success of AUPE’s certification drive. Home care is a notoriously difficult industry to organize because employees are scattered across locations and working out of their cars. As a result, they must leverage their small, pre-existing personal networkers if they want to mobilize.   

Jean took advantage of her personal ties because while she may not have known all the protections AUPE offered, she knew her coworkers would regret not getting their union. Five years later, Jean is nurturing the seeds of solidarity she planted back then.   

Not everyone’s unionism emerges at the same time. It’s never too early to join the labour movement, but it’s also never too late. A cicada can lie dormant for over a decade, but when it hatches, it’s song will be heard for miles– it's effect on the surrounding environment felt for years. The same can be said of workers in the labour movement.   

Jean ultimately found her union call when she found her self-confidence, and that’s what the CBI hearings of 2020 nurtured in her. Today, she doesn’t plan on shelving her megaphone anytime soon. She wants to share her power with her fellow members, so they can all work together to build a fairer workplace.