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The power of activism grows from the heart. Sometimes it begins quietly, but it can crescendo into a roar.
That theme filtered through the main hall at the Palais des Congrès in Montreal during the second day of Unifor Canadian Council on Sept. 28.
“Today, I want to talk to you about hope, the quiet, unwavering force that resides in each of us,” said Atlantic Regional Director Jennifer Murray in her address.
“Hope isn’t only a wish or a dream. It’s actually a powerful belief in the possibility of a better tomorrow. It is the light that shines in our darkest moments, reminding us that we can rise above our challenges.”
Murray acknowledged “the lucky seven” – FFAW members who were found alive after their ship was reported missing in July and the solidarity of Unifor members from Quebec, Winnipeg and Ontario, and who, without hesitation, helped set up a legal picket line after Unifor called out CN Autoport’s use of scab labour.
“Our big Unifor family rallied together to show CN just how powerful Unifor is,” she said.
In a historic move earlier this month, the Nova Scotia government passed legislation bringing awareness and prevention of intimate partner violence, declaring it an epidemic. The legislation was passed the same day it was tabled.
“And looking back on this, although it took 20 minutes of tremendous courage, this win is because of many who for decades have been working to end domestic violence,” said Murray.
Hope can also begin at the local union level. The council opened with a report from Unifor National Secretary-Treasurer Len Poirier, who recognized locals who invited the union’s elected leadership to visit their union halls and workplaces.
“I have great respect for the workplace and local leadership as I remember this position well,” he said. “It can be the most rewarding and challenging role you undertake.”
Poirier took time to highlight the struggles within the telecommunications sector and championed the #ShameonBell campaign, “following the massive unnecessary chaos Bell imposed on our members.” Unifor didn’t hesitate to march in the streets of Ottawa to send a strong message to Bell that their callous treatment of laying off their workforce was unacceptable.
“They have once again framed their actions in the form of restructuring. What has been restructured is the massive amounts of wealth within the bank accounts of each of the CEO/Directors and Board of Directors,” he said.
“We did a great job exposing this corporate greed but need to expand our outreach. The Canadian public must understand that good telco jobs are important, they build and maintain the infrastructure that all Canadians and companies rely on.”
“You’re all making a difference, and I hope you’re as proud as I am,” Poirier added.
In his report, Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle spoke about all the gains in his area this past year.
He focused on the union’s efforts to fight conservative governments in the west – including Premier Danielle Smith in Alberta, who proposed taking Albertans out of the Canada Pension Plan and who announced sweeping policy changes that cruelly target trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse youth.
“She’s put a bullseye on our most vulnerable youth to score cheap points with ultra conservatives. It’s disgusting,” said McGarrigle.
McGarrigle said Unifor must create a strategy that helps members and locals push for better disaster relief and fire-prevention measures around vulnerable communities.
In Canada and elsewhere, a renewed sense of militancy among workers in the face of low wages and high inflation is inspiring others to demand better from their employers, and to hit picket lines, if necessary, as tens of thousands of Unifor members have shown over the past two years, he noted.
“You are that fire, bigger and brighter than ever before,” he said to delegates. “You are what Unifor is. You are what Unifor can become.”
Ontario Regional Director Samia Hashi said it’s been amazing to wake up every day and serve our union by hearing about the lives of working people.
“It’s in these conversations that we find inspiration,” she said. “And we discover new ways to build this movement bigger and stronger.”
Hashi said she will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the incredible and dedicated health care workers who are still fighting off privatization and worsening working conditions.
“Closures, short-staffing, and the horrors of U.S.-style health care,” she said. “Our work continues to send a powerful message to the [Doug] Ford government and anyone else trying to sell off our health care. We will not allow our public health care to be dismantled and sold off to the highest bidder.”
Hashi called out some of Canada’s worst bosses at Bell and Best Theratronics, and the Ford government for being “so out of touch” when it comes to rents and renovictions and the unhoused, but praised women at Unifor, who are smashing glass ceilings and walls.
“You are unstoppable powerhouses of our union that I am so proud to have as mentors, allies, and sisters in our push for change,” she said. “[Lana]: You’ve inspired a generation of union woman to find their voice and to lead and to be brave in our fight for a better world.”
Unifor National President Lana Payne and Poirier announced that $120,000 was raised by locals and members for striking workers at Stablex and Best Theratronics during the council and that the national union would match those donations, for a total of $240,000.
In the afternoon, delegates heard from a panel about how to mobilize members to the ballot box for upcoming elections across the country.
The council also honoured the lives of Unifor leaders Dave Moffat and Gary Parent, who spent their time bettering the lives of workers and creating a more just society in a moving presentation.
Dan Valante, Assistant to the National Officers, said Moffat, who held roles as president to Unifor Local 975 to Assistant to the National President, was a teacher and mentor in the labour movement, deeply interested in connection and in helping others make long-lasting connections.
“Brother Dave Moffat had the power to make every person feel as though they were the most important person,” he said.
“He was gifted with a quick wit and sharp instincts that both made him a keen negotiator and union leader, and a wonderful friend and brother.”
Parent spent more than 40 years as a labour leader in his hometown of Windsor, Ont. – 22 of those were served as the financial secretary at Unifor Local 444 and 25 years as the president of the Windsor and District Labour Council.
“For so many of us, Gary was our example of what it meant to be a trade unionist. He led with compassion, stuck to his ideals, and always lifted up the disadvantaged and all those in need,” said Local 444 President James Stewart.
“The community of Windsor, Unifor, and the entire labour movement will remember Gary Parent for his legacy of commitment, compassion, and community-building.”
Unifor Organizing Director Justin Gniposky welcomed two influential groups of new members who recently joined the union – the Canadian Association of Stand-Up Sketch and Improv Comedians and Walmart workers in Mississauga, Ont.
“We’ve fought for workplaces with as few as two workers, and for others with well over 800,” he said. “But the Unifor difference is that our team brings the same level of commitment and intensity and dedication to a campaign with one worker as we do to one with 1,000.”
Unifor now represents members of the Canadian Association of Stand-Up, Sketch and Improve Comedians, who recently joined the union as a Community Chapter.
Comedian Sandra Battaglini originally formed the association in 2016, following a mass exodus of Canadian comics moving to the U.S. for jobs in comedy.
“With no industry to support us and no arts funding to bolster us, we have no money to promote us. We remain in the shadows,” said Battaglini, the former president and head of lobbying of the CASSIC.
Clifford Myers, president of the association, said he was proud to stand with hard-working people who grind all week and come to their comedy shows to take the stress away, be with their community and laugh.
“We stand up for you, and today, we stand up with you,” he said. “There are times where I’ve been paid $1,000 for 20 minutes. I’ve also headlined for a bag of Cheetos and a middle finger. We’re looking at Canadian comedians because they’re worth a healthy and safe work environment, to be paid correctly, and we want them to have good groceries on their tables.”
The Walmart campaign, driven by Unifor’s Warehouse Workers Unite campaign and led by a determined group of workers in a Mississauga warehouse, made history by becoming the first to successfully organize a Walmart distribution center in Canada.
“It started with one phone call. In person meetings, Zoom meetings, the red team was created,” said Rodolfo Pilozo, a lead organizer of Walmart. “We assembled our team and made history in Canada.”
Unifor hopes this victory will set a precedence and the union will continue to target other Walmart locations across the country.
“Yes, they have made history, but they have inspired thousands of workers across the country to know what’s possible. To stand up to a corporate giant like Walmart and do what they have done,” Payne said.
“It takes a special kind of hope and determination to look at yourself and your colleagues and imagine how things could be different and better if you work together.”
