By Herman Rosenfeld With great sadness, I learned of the death of Bob White. In 1978, he became the leader of the Canadian section of the UAW about a year and half after I started working on the line at GM. Little did I know what an amazing leader and pioneer in working class history Continue readingRemembering Bob White
CAW
By Marion Pollack The Salvation Army’s mission statement identifies respect as a core value, which includes a commitment to promote the dignity of all persons. According to its website, the Salvation Army helps one person at a time, believing that each person is infinitely valuable and equally worthy. Yet often, the Salvation Army’s organizational values Continue readingRespect begins at work: a short labour history of the Salvation Army
Final Offer is a documentary film examining the 1984 contract negotiations between the United Auto Workers Union (UAW) and GM. Ultimately, it provided a historical record of the birth of the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) as Bob White, then head of the Canadian sector of the UAW, led his membership out of the International Continue readingWeekend Video: Final Offer
By the Vancouver Ecosocialist Group, March 26, 2014 Chrysler Corporation announced last month that it plans to invest $3.5 billion to retool its assembly plants in Windsor and Brampton, Ontario and produce new lines of vehicles. But it set two big conditions—that the federal and Ontario governments provide $700 million in subsidies, and that the Continue readingEnd Chrysler subsidies: New transport vision needed
Labor Notes, a network of rank-and-file members, local union leaders, and labor activists in the United States, is hosting a three day conference from April 4 – 6 in Chicago, Illinois. The conference will have over a hundred panels on various issues facing the labour movement, as well as skill building and educationals for union activists. There Continue readingLabor Notes Conference, April 4 to 6 – Canuck Callout
by Lindsay Hinshelwood On Sept. 19, 2013, it was announced that another $135 million of taxpayers’ money will be invested at the Ford Motor Company of Canada’s Oakville Assembly Complex (OAC). Jerry Dias, newly elected Unifor national president, claimed at an Oakville news conference, “We won this investment. We earned this investment. We absolutely fought Continue readingAuto Industry Hit and Run
We continue our Unifor Interview Series with Dave Coles, former president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union (CEP), and now a member of Unifor. Before being elected CEP president in 2006, he served six years as the Western Regional Vice President of the CEP. He was involved in the merger talks between CAW and Continue readingUnifor Interview Series: Dave Coles, former CEP president
In our third installment of the Unifor Interview Series with union leaders, staff, and rank-and-file members, we speak with Roxanne Dubois about Unifor’s Community Chapters. Roxane is a staff member of the CEP and now Unifor, and is a former chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students. She presented a discussion paper on community chapters Continue readingUnifor Interview Series: Roxanne Dubois on Community Chapters
We continue our weeklong series of interviews with Unifor union leaders, staff, and rank-and-file members. Today we speak with Lindsay Hinshelwood, an assembly line worker at Ford Oakville and a member of Unifor Local 707, formerly of the Canadian Autoworkers. [audio:https://www.rankandfile.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/LHfinal.mp3|titles=Lindsay Hinshelwood interview] Lindsay is a rank-and-file Unifor member who ran from the floor for Continue readingUnifor Interview Series: Lindsay Hinshelwood, Local 707
Over the next week, Rankandfile.ca will be publishing a series of interviews with Unifor union leaders, staff, and rank-and-file members. We kick off our series with Bruce Allen, an outspoken member of the CAW/Unifor. [audio:https://www.rankandfile.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/bruce-allen-final.mp3|titles=Bruce Allen interview] (listen on YouTube) Bruce is Vice-President of the former CAW Local 199 (now Unifor) representing St. Catharines General Continue readingUnifor Interview Series: Bruce Allen, Local 199
The merger of the Canadian Autoworkers (CAW) and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union (CEP) into a single union called Unifor is taking place August 31-September 1 in Toronto. Unifor will consist of over 300,000 members, creating the largest private sector union in Canada. The convention will be webcast live and a schedule can be Continue readingThe Unifor Convention: A short primer
by Dan Bouchard Recording Secretary of CUPE 2544 This week I began my holidays. The previous week I had assembled a long “honey-do” list of items that I had planned to take care of. Amongst the top of them: staining the deck, sealing the driveway and tending to the garden beds. Alas, this has not Continue readingCoke and polar bears and profits