February 8, 2021

TORONTO – Unifor is calling for enhanced safety precautions for school bus drivers as schools reopen across Ontario in the midst of a second wave of the pandemic that is still not under control and as more infectious new variants take hold.

“Keeping school bus drivers safe means keeping students safe. They are all crammed into the same confined space for the ride to school,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias.

“Much has been said about the risks in schools, and the measures taken to address that. We need to talk about the risks on buses, as well.”

While COVID-19 numbers are down from recent highs, they are still much higher than at the beginning of the school year. As well, new highly infectious variants of the virus are spreading.

“Many of our drivers come from high-risk groups, including seniors. Many others go home to large families,” said Debbie Montgomery, President of Unifor Local 4268, which represents school bus drivers across much of Ontario.

While Education Minister Stephen Lecce has talked about enhanced protocols in schools, no mention has been made about heightened measures on buses, Montgomery said.

“We clean the buses thoroughly, but that doesn’t protect us against someone getting on the bus and spreading the virus,” she said. “With these new variants spreading, more needs to be done.”

Montgomery said she would like to see school bus drivers declared priority workers for vaccination, for provincial restrictions to be lifted that prevent shields from being installed on buses, improved PPE and sanitizing equipment and contact tracing.

“We’d love to have shields or barriers, just like on public transit, but provincial law prevents any alterations being made to school buses. That includes shields, and that has to change,” Montgomery said.

Montgomery pointed out that several U.S. jurisdictions have installed shields in school buses for the safety of both drivers and students.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy, and is the only union in Ontario actively advocating for school bus driver safety. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future

February 2, 2021

TORONTO – Unifor is condemning a round of cuts being made to CTV newsrooms across much of Bell Media this week, saying the layoffs will cost the network many valued media workers just when their communities need them most.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, Canadians have seen how important a strong media sector is to their continued health and safety,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias.

“These cuts go against the assurances made by the broadcasters last summer to the CRTC to stand by local news.”

Last summer, Canada’s major broadcasters asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for relief from Canadian content rules, saying that local news gathering is sacred.

“Despite their commitment to save local news, they’re not protecting newsrooms,” Dias said.

The cuts announced so far include about 100 Unifor members in Toronto, plus more outside Toronto, affecting all station operations, including news gathering. Bell Media also laid off all staff in the newsroom of Montreal radio station CJAD.

“Our democracy, our right to be informed and to push back against the tide of false information relies on a strong media sector,” said Unifor Media Director Howard Law.

“Bell Media had said that news gathering is sacred, but that doesn’t appear to be the case when cuts are made in news gathering.”

Unifor continues to monitor the situation and to work with affected locals to assist our members.

Like so many industries, Canada’s aerospace sector is in trouble.

Most of the world’s aircraft fleets remain grounded amid tightening travel restrictions. This situation has begun to spill over into Canada’s aerospace industry, threatening to send aircraft manufacturing into a tailspin.

“It wasn’t long ago that 40 % of our aerospace members were laid off. The situation improved, but now we’re headed towards dangerous territory if the government doesn’t act,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “The introduction of new travel restrictions came without any new financial support for our aerospace and airline workers. That decision jeopardizes every aspect of Canada’s air travel infrastructure including advanced aerospace manufacturing.”

In response to the economic crisis, Unifor’s Aerospace Industry Council organized more than 100 meetings between union representatives and federal government Ministers, Members of Parliament from all parties, and senior staff to discuss the union’s proposal for a comprehensive recovery plan for the sector. The effort was Unifor’s single largest lobbying campaign to date.

“The response has been incredible. We’ve received overwhelming support from members of every political party and positive responses from key ministers in the federal government,” said Carmen Ledarney, Unifor’s Aerospace Director. “Even though this was a substantial undertaking for the union, our job isn’t over yet. We will continue to put pressure on the federal government until we see these recommendations fully implemented.”

An unprecedented decline in air travel brought on by pandemic-related travel restrictions has left empty order books for many of Canada’s major commercial aircraft manufacturers. The downturn is translating into fresh waves of layoffs hitting workplaces from British Columbia to Newfoundland and Labrador. Quebec has been particularly hard hit with significant layoffs expected at CAE, a manufacturer of flight and other simulator technologies as its ventilator manufacturing comes to an end, and Pratt and Whitney as the aircraft engine manufacturer reports a decline in long-term demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are deeply concerned about what’s happening to our industry. Layoffs are happening at an alarming rate in every region of the country,” said Alexandre Lamarre, Unifor Aerospace Industry Council President. “In Quebec, aerospace is part of our DNA. At CMC Electronics in Saint-Laurent, 20 per cent of our members were laid off, many just before Christmas. It’s devastating and more layoffs may be coming if nothing is done. We have to see real government intervention to protect these valuable jobs immediately.”

While the federal government continues to postpone direct financial relief for the industry, aircraft manufacturers have few options and workers face an increasingly uncertain future. In perhaps the most acute example, Unifor members at De Havilland Aircraft in Toronto, Ontario report that the plant can only sustain work until spring 2021.

“Each job this industry loses is a huge blow,” added Dias. “These are highly-skilled workers making the high-tech products that our economy desperately needs. We need a solution that protects every aerospace job possible.”

Following the lobbying effort, Unifor launched an email campaign to urge local Member of Parliament and federal government ministers to fully implement the union’s Aerospace recovery plan. Unifor members are encouraged to visit the site here and send a message today.