By Herman Rosenfeld One would have hoped that Canada’s newest and largest private sector union – UNIFOR, made up of the former Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) unions – would have been out front in the growing movement against Enbridge’s Line 9 pipeline reversal. This key new organization of Canada’s working-class Continue readingStop Line 9 Should Be Labour’s Demand
Unifor
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
On September 1, comedian and shit-disturber Mary Walsh of “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” fame stormed the founding Unifor convention with a roast of labour leaders before turning her guns on Harper and Co.
In our final installment of the Unifor Interview Series with union leaders, staff, and rank-and-file members, we speak with Gary Engler, Vice-President of Unifor Local 2000, the Media Union of BC. Gary also recently penned two articles at Rabble.ca, “Thoughts on Labour Day” and “Unifor and the potential rebirth of militant union activism.” He recently Continue readingUnifor Interview Series: Gary Engler, Local 2000
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