The Chinese & Southeast Asian Legal Clinic (CSALC) has voted to join the Society of United Professionals. The new bargaining unit includes all employees as well as lawyers.
Society of United Professionals - the union of choice for Ontario's professional workers. (CNW Group/Society of United Professionals)
"I'm pleased to welcome the first legal clinic into our union," said Scott Travers, President of the Society of United Professionals. "We're happy to have the CSALC employees join the growing number of legal professionals in our membership."
CSALC became aware of the Society of United Professionals through the union's campaign to represent Legal Aid Ontario lawyers. The success of that campaign motivated the legal clinic to consider unionization for themselves.
"We approached the Society of United Professionals and choose them because of the union's reputation in the legal community and the level of support we received during our organizing effort," said Jenny Quan, Community Legal Worker. "We're excited to be union members and looking forward to our bargaining relationship with our employer with United Professionals standing with us."
The Society of United Professionals is looking for new opportunities to represent new groups of workers. Interested employees can contact United Professional's organizer Michelle LeBlanc, leblancm@thesociety.ca, to discuss making their working life better.
CSALC is a community based legal clinic funded by Legal Aid Ontario which provides free legal services to low income, non-English speaking clients from the Chinese, Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian communities in Toronto.
The Society of United Professionals (formerly The Society of Energy Professionals) is a growing union of 8,000 professionals in Ontario, including engineers, scientists, supervisors and lawyers. A democratic organization, members of the Society of United Professionals vote on everything from the union's constitution and dues increases to collective agreements and policies. Membership in the Society is voluntary.
