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The lively debates and overwhelming support for striking and locked out workers that marked Canadian Council will only continue as delegates go back to their home locals and communities.
“We are going to continue to fight and to lead, because that’s who we are,” Unifor National President Jerry Dias said in his closing address.
“The next opportunity for all of us to get together will be very soon in Gander, Newfoundland, as we take on D-J Composites,” Dias said. “They may have been pushing us around so far, but get ready because we are coming.”
Unifor will bring to Gander the tactics developed at strikes at the Port Arthur Health Centre in Thunder Bay and the salt mine in Goderich, where mass mobilizations of Unifor activists stopped scabs from getting into the workplace and forced intransigent employers back to the bargaining table.
Workers at D-J Composites in Gander have been locked out for more than 600 days as the employer brings in scabs to do the work of Local 597 members.
Unifor’s fight to improve the lives of workers in Canada will extend far beyond our members, Dias said, noting that support for the union’s disaffiliation from the Canadian Labour Congress has already sparked a discussion about building a stronger labour movement.
“Yes we disaffiliated from the CLC, but we did not remove ourselves from the Canadian labour movement,” Dias said.
“True solidarity isn’t about where dues go. It’s about standing together.”
The final report of the Local Union Task Force outlined the great progress made in implementing the task force’s action items. Many of the action items have already been implemented while others are in progress.
“The task force was started to help locals serve members and to be even stronger in their workplaces and the community,” said Katha Fortier, Assistant to the National President.
Delegates got tips on building community partnership, holding inclusive meetings, services small bargaining units, engaging young workers, and more. A Unifor national app will be launched by Labour Day to help members and locals tap into national resources.
“The work continues in all our workplaces and communities,” said John Caluori, Assistant to the Quebec Director. “We are bringing more people into the fold.”
Delegates unanimously adopted a President’s Recommendation to dedicate resources to building Unifor into an even more activist union and to help locals better engage their members.
Delegates voted to adopt several resolutions, including supporting the Media Action Plan in support of local news, proper cleanup of nuclear waste, calling for a national transportation conference, and to include protections against sexual assault in the hospitality industry in collective agreements.
At a fundraising event Saturday evening, Unifor donated $80,000 Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre in Halifax, with much of the money raised through raffle ticket sales at Canadian Council.
