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Delegates to Canadian Council have overwhelmingly voted to reaffirm Unifor’s disaffiliation from the Canadian Labour Congress, and to use the move to help build a labour movement that respects the wishes of workers.
“Workers are not the chattels of their union. Workers must have the right to choose their own union,” said Assistant to the National President Chris MacDonald.
The National Executive Board voted in January to disaffiliate from the CLC in a dispute over the Congress’s failure to prevent attacks on workers from their U.S.-based unions.
The CLC’s own rules - meant to ensure workers have democratic rights, and that Canadian members of U.S. unions maintain their autonomy - are not being followed or respected, allowing U.S.-based unions to trample on the rights of workers in Canada.
The vote to reaffirm the disaffiliation decision came after a debate among delegates.
Carly Sonier of Local 1101 spoke in favour of the resolution, recalling the fight her local had with an international union before it joined the CAW, a founding union of Unifor.
“We need to stand behind this decision and support it in solidarity,” she said.
Others who spoke out against disaffiliation, said members should have been consulted before the decision was made.
Lis Pimentel, with Unifor Local 7575 which disaffiliated from the American UNITE HERE union, spoke in favour of the resolution, saying her old local was unfairly placed in trusteeship after demanding more autonomy for Canadian workers.
“I am proud of our members and everyone here for taking such a strong stand,” she said.
Others said they supported disaffiliation, even though it made life difficult for some members who no longer can attend local labour council meetings.
In his opening address to Canadian Council, Unifor National President Jerry Dias said the decision to disaffiliate was not easy.
“There isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t think about the fall-out that many of our activists and local leaders have felt,” Dias said.
“But if this disaffiliation can set things right, once and for all, then sisters and brothers we’d have made a lasting difference. And we’ll be a stronger movement for it. ”
Dias said Unifor needed to speak out in the face of locals being silenced.
“When the labour movement believes that they have the right to place locals in trusteeship to quell dissent, we have a problem. The cost of solidarity cannot be silence.”
The union also voted to seek a fair and meaningful resolution to the dispute.
