Unifor Local 1996-O

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Watch how Unifor saved Oshawa GM

It’s not every day that a union gets to make history but that’s exactly what Unifor did. In November of 2018, when GM announced plans to shut down Oshawa, our union launched the most aggressive campaign in its history to keep the assembly line. After months of rallies, TV, newspaper, radio and billboard ads, we managed to maintain a footprint, and save a few hundred jobs. In bargaining this fall, the union, the company, and federal and provincial governments came together to create a plan to return truck assembly to Oshawa.

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Take Action: $15 Federal Minimum Wage

Jerry

Dear Unifor members, locals and all staff,

Today we are asking you to take action to urge the federal government to make good on its promise to introduce a federal minimum wage of at least $15 per hour in 2020.

A $15 federal minimum wage is critical to setting a foundation for decent work and fair pay. It will raise wages for tens of thousands of workers in the federal sector and provide momentum for minimum wage campaigns in provinces across the country.

We are asking you to do two things right now:

1)    Sign Unifor’s $15 minumum wage petition here:

2)    Join the phone zap in your region here:

In Solidarity,

Jerry Dias
Unifor National President

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Letter to PM Trudeau: The need for universal pharmacare is URGENT

November 24, 2020

The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada
The Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance
The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Health

Dear Prime Minister Trudeau, Minister Freeland and Minister Hajdu,

Following the September 23 Throne Speech, we once again commend you for your ongoing commitment to a universal national pharmacare program and your plans to “accelerate steps to achieve this system.”

Now, more than two months later, we believe it is time for you to demonstrate this commitment through concrete action. We are calling on you to clarify these commitments in the forthcoming fiscal update and through a line item in the 2021 Federal Budget.

Taking into account the recommendations from the final report of the previous Liberal government’s Advisory Council on the Implementation of National Pharmacare, and your government’s pledge to being guided by these recommendations, there is a responsibility to set into motion the actions necessary to provide universal access to essential medicines in the months ahead.

As per the timeline in the Advisory Council’s final report, a national formulary of essential medicines should come into force by January 1, 2022. Considering the growing and urgent need for universal pharmacare – with hundreds of thousands of people having lost access to employer-sponsored drug plans in recent months – we are calling on you to expedite this process, so that essential medicines can be made available on a universal basis by July 1, 2021.

In the midst of COVID-19, we cannot delay access to essential medicines any further. Hospitals are overwhelmed with patients across the country, and the risk of airborne transmission of the virus has been firmly established. To avoid unnecessary hospital visits that result from a lack of access to prescribed medications, we urgently need universal access to a list of essential medicines.

We recognize that pharmacare cannot move ahead without the participation of the provinces and territories. As was the case with Medicare, when jurisdictions see the benefits of the program, we are confident they will sign on. We are encouraged by your government’s Speech from the Throne commitment to work “…with provinces and territories willing to move forward without delay”. What is required now is a concrete plan, along with stable long-term funding to demonstrate to all provinces and territories that your government can be relied on as a partner in broadening access to vital medications to everyone in Canada.

It is incumbent upon your government to be truly guided by the Advisory Council’s final report and hence cover the incremental costs for implementing the program. If the provinces and territories are assured that any added costs will be assumed by the federal government in order to implement the program, and that substantial savings for its citizens, businesses and health care system will result, it will be very hard to resist its adoption.

We call on your government to dedicate $3.5 billion toward universal coverage for a list of essential medicines – as recommended by the Advisory Council’s final report – in the 2021 Federal Budget. We also call on your government to usher in this program by July 1 to speed up access for those in need.

On July 1, 1958, the Hospital Insurance and Diagnostic Services Act came into force, and on that day in 1968, the Medical Care Act came into force. Having a list of essential medicines accessible to all people in Canada by July 1, 2021, would begin the fulfillment of an essential yet missing piece of Medicare. And it would do so on the most fitting of days – marking 153 years since Confederation – for our country’s most cherished achievement.

We look forward to working with you to accelerate the implementation of a national, universal, public and single-payer pharmacare program.

Sincerely,

Linda Silas
President, Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions

Pauline Worsfold, RN
Chair, Canadian Health Coalition

Marie Clarke Walker
Secretary-Treasurer, Canadian Labour Congress

Jerry Dias
President, Unifor

Danyaal Raza
Chair, Canadian Doctors for Medicare

Anita Huberman
CEO, Surrey Board of Trade

Mike Parker
President, Health Sciences Association of Alberta

Doug Roth
CEO, Heart & Stroke

Mark Hancock
National President, Canadian Union of Public Employees

Sandra Azocar
Executive Director, Friends of Medicare

Bill Chedore
President, Congress of Union Retirees of Canada

Ken Neumann
National Director for Canada, United Steelworkers

Larry Brown
President, National Union of Public and General Employees

Tim Guest, RN
President, Canadian Nurses Association

Rick Smith
Executive Director, Broadbent Institute

Steve Morgan, PhD
Professor of health polciy at UBC and Founder of Pharmacare 2020

Bill VanGorder, Chief Policy Officer
Canadian Association of Retired Persons

Christina Warner and Ravi Joshi,
Co-Executive Directors, Council of Canadians

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Brutal lockout by Gate Gourmet as employer throws workers into the street

Montreal, November 18, 2020 – Employees of Gate Gourmet were shocked last week when their employer interrupted their lunch break to tell them to take their personal effects and vacate the premises, as they were being locked out.

“No final offer or warning was given by the employer,” said Unifor’s Quebec director Renaud Gagné. “We were waiting to hear back from them and now their only answer is a lockout. It makes no sense.”

Talks between the parties, which began in July, were not going well prior to the lockout. The employer was demanding several major concessions, including a five-year wage freeze, hiring only part-time and seasonal employees (no full-time), member payment of 40% of group insurance costs (currently paid entirely by the employer), reduced accessibility to insurance, a cut to shift premiums, abolition of the weekend premium, a cut in the employer’s contribution to RRSPs, fewer statutory holidays, withdrawal of vacation weeks and elimination of numerous articles in the collective agreement dealing with non-monetary issues.

The employer has tabled no fewer than 145 demands, all of which involve concessions. For its part, the union has not demanded any concessions.

“The simple fact is that the employer wants to abolish our collective agreement altogether. And despite our repeated requests, they have given us no explanation. We understand that the sector is struggling as a result of COVID-19. And in light of that, we were fully prepared to engage in serious discussions and do our part,” said. François Arseneault, president of Local 698.

“But this makes no sense. The employer is taking advantage of the crisis to roll back all our gains. They are even claiming that the workers are to blame for the situation, even though the lack of contracts is the result of a structural problem in the plant combined with the pandemic.”

Since Gate Gourmet bought the plant 10 years ago, workers have made a number of concessions in good faith, but this did not prevent the company from losing several contracts.

“At this time, no date has been set for talks, but we remain available to negotiate. The case is in conciliation and we will be asking the mediator to call the parties together. But in view of the employer’s attitude so far, we have doubts about their good faith. One thing is clear: we are determined to defend our members,” Gagné said.

The lockout has put workers with more than 30 years of service on the street. Gate Gourmet provides airline catering. The Dorval plant has laid off hundreds of Unifor members in recent years due to the loss of contracts and COVID-19. Only about 20 employees were still active at the time of the lockout, and most of them have more than 30 years of seniority.

A picket line has been set up in front of the plant at 1185 Rodolphe Pagé Street in Dorval.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector and represents 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. 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. Unifor represents close to 55,000 members and is affiliated with the province’s largest labour federation, the Quebec Federation of Labour (QFL).

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