Unifor Local 1996-O

  • About Us
  • Organizing
  • Your Rights
  • Resources
  • News
  • Contact Us
  • Offers and Discounts
  • “Listen Up”
  • Gallery
  • 1996-O Branded Apparel
  • Member Information
  • Equity Committee

June 5, 2025 by 1996-O Executive

Unifor members at the Best Western Plus begin strike action

June 1, 2025

 

WINDSOR—Unifor Local 195 members working at the Best Western Plus in Windsor are on the picket line today in a push for fair wages and to fight back against concessionary demands from their employer.

“Unifor members at Best Western Plus deserve wages that reflect the value they bring to the hospitality sector and respect for the hard work they do every day,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “Instead of seeking to improve working conditions, the employer has demanded concessions. Our members won’t stand for it.”

Local 195 members walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. June 1. Unifor has called on the employer to return to the table with a serious offer that addresses wages and withdraws concessions.

“Hotel workers should not be asked to accept less while the hospitality industry continues to recover and grow,” said Unifor Ontario Regional Director Samia Hashi. “This strike is about protecting decent work and dignity for every worker who makes this hotel run.”

Unifor Local 195 represents nearly 40 workers in guest services, housekeeping, and maintenance at the hotel.

Filed Under: Uncategorised

June 5, 2025 by 1996-O Executive

Ontario Regional Director Samia Hashi appointed to Ontario Health Coalition board

June 4, 2025

 

Unifor Ontario Regional Director Samia Hashi has been appointed to the board of the Ontario Health Coalition, strengthening the union’s role in the fight to defend and expand public health care in the province.

Hashi’s appointment comes at a critical time for Ontario’s health care system, as the Ford government continues its push to privatize services like surgeries and diagnostics. Public hospitals are stretched beyond capacity, staffing shortages are worsening, and patients are paying the price—sometimes literally—as for-profit clinics expand.

“To save public health care, we need unions, community organizations, health workers, and everyday people fighting side by side. That’s what this moment demands,” said Unifor Ontario Regional Director Samia Hashi.

The Ontario Health Coalition is the province’s leading public health care advocacy group, with a long history of grassroots mobilization to protect and improve the public system. Its mandate includes resisting privatization, demanding adequate funding, and ensuring that health care remains universal, accessible, and not-for-profit.

In 2023, Unifor’s Ontario Regional Council launched a province-wide campaign titled Save Ontario Health Care, which mobilized thousands of members and allies in communities across Ontario. The campaign exposed how privatization has drained resources from public hospitals, increased wait times, and created dangerous inequities in access to care.

The campaign included town halls, workplace actions, and political advocacy—engaging members not only as workers in the health system, but as patients, caregivers, and voters.

Unifor has recently kicked off a National Health Care and Social Services Tour, where Hashi is among the Unifor leaders, including Health Care Director Kellee Janzen, and Assistant to the National Officers Kelly-Anne Orr, who are hitting the road to meet directly with frontline workers in hospitals, long-term care homes, and social service agencies.

The tour has been met with urgency and passion from Unifor members who are witnessing the collapse of critical services firsthand. Many are seeing patients turned away, staff pushed past the brink of burnout, and corporate staffing agencies profiting off a system in crisis.

“Health care should never be a source of profit,” said Hashi. “Every dollar siphoned into private pockets is a dollar not spent on care.”

The coalition includes more than 400 member organizations representing seniors, workers, patients, and community leaders. Together, they are demanding immediate action from all levels of government to end privatization and reinvest in a robust public system of care.

For more information on the Ontario Health Coalition, visit: www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca.

Filed Under: Uncategorised

June 5, 2025 by 1996-O Executive

LOCAL 1996-O EXECUTIVE ELECTIONS 2025

Sisters and Brothers,

The dates of the election are the following:

  • Mail out of ballots will commence from June 3rd to June 6 2025.
  • Return ballot envelopes must be deposited by way of Canada Post no later than June 18th 2025 EDT 2400hrs.
    (Note any return ballot envelopes postmarked after June 19th 2025 will not be accepted or counted.)
    Spoiled ballots are those that do not clearly indicate the person voted for/and or otherwise marked in any way, including if the return envelope has been written/marked on, or tampered with. (There is a detailed explanation insert with the mailed out ballots.)
  • In the event there is a disruption with Canada Post service during the return ballot election dates, the candidates and membership will be informed with detailed instructions and extensions to vote etc.
  • Seniority list provided May of 2025 will be used as a voters list
  • Member Address List: The Current home address list of 1996-O members was attained from BTS/Unifor1996-O in June 2025.
  • May 9th 2025 @ 0900hrs EDT is the deadline to inform the committee of an address discrepancy on file with the employer/Union. The committee must be informed via email Elections1996@gmail.com for the correction, there will be no exceptions.
  • Please note eligibility to vote is for members in good standing of 1996-O
  • The Election will take place on July 2nd 2025.

1996-O, Executive Election candidates as follows:

President – Lee Zommers – acclaimed                      

Vice President – Chris Glover – acclaimed

Treasurer

  • Brian Lowery
  • Ryan Beatty

Secretary

  • Lloyd Bishop
  • Edward Ward

 

In Solidarity,

Filed Under: Uncategorised

May 30, 2025 by 1996-O Executive

Recognize Injured Workers Day on June 1

On June 1 every year, Unifor members and leaders gather with injured workers and those who advocate for them outside provincial legislatures and government offices to mark Injured Workers Day.  We rally on this day to celebrate the gains made through united action, to raise current concerns – and to remind governments that injured workers cannot be ignored.

This day of recognition for injured workers and their families started on June 1, 1983, when more than 3,000 injured workers converged on the steps of the Ontario legislature to demand a voice for injured workers in committee meetings being held to make major changes to the Ontario workers’ compensation system.

This year, thanks to the persistent efforts of all injured worker advocates, Ontario has officially recognized and now proclaims June 1 as Injured Workers Day.

Join us in Toronto

What:            Join injured workers in Toronto as we rally & deliver our demands for 2025

When:           Sunday, June 1, 2025, 11:00am – 1:00pm

Where:         Legislative Assembly of Ontario – 1 Queens Park, Toronto, ON M7A 1A2

Why fight for injured workers?

Workplace injuries profoundly affect workers, their families and their communities. Injured Workers Day serves as an opportunity for governments to recognize the individuals who have been injured at work or who have suffered injuries as a result of their workplace conditions. This is a day to bring awareness to issues of workplace injury, the plight of injured workers, and to demonstrate a commitment to workplace injury prevention and remediation.

We invite you to create, support or join any action in your area related to this important cause and to demand injured workers receive compensation that is fair, transparent, and without half-measures.

Filed Under: Uncategorised

May 30, 2025 by 1996-O Executive

Hudson’s Bay workers rally to demand justice as company terminates thousands and denies severance payouts

May 27, 2025

 

TORONTO/WINDSOR—Unifor members who work at Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) rallied in Windsor and Toronto to call for urgent insolvency reform and accountability from HBC executives who continue to deny workers’ severance as liquidation nears completion.

The rallies, led by Unifor Locals 40 and 240 which represent nearly 600 HBC workers, brought attention to the devastating impact of HBC’s collapse on its workforce and the broader implications for thousands of Canadian workers caught in corporate bankruptcies.

“Unifor is calling on HBC to honour its legal responsibilities to workers and urges federal legislators to overhaul Canada’s insolvency laws to put workers first,” Unifor Ontario Regional Director Samia Hashi told HBC members at the Toronto rally. “It’s an absolute disgrace that executives are walking away with $3 million dollars in bonuses while our members—some with decades of service—are being denied the severance and benefits they’ve negotiated, earned, and rightfully deserve.”

Many Unifor members are owed tens of thousands of dollars in severance, benefits, and unpaid wages. Some workers with 20 or 30 years of service are now facing unemployment with no compensation as they await the full termination of the workforce so they can apply for the Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP), which caps at approximately $8,844.

“The WEPP cap leaves workers with significant financial loss while HBC executives and secured creditors like banks and landlords walk away with payouts,” said Unifor Local 40 President Dwayne Gunness. “It’s an injustice to all Canadian workers who are caught in the middle when companies fail and collapse—the laws must be changed to make workers priority one.”

HBC moved to cut workers’ commissions during the liquidation process but reversed course after the union filed a grievance that claimed that the move violated legally binding collective agreements.

While holding HBC accountable, Unifor is also calling on the federal government to address the systemic gaps in Canada’s bankruptcy and insolvency laws. Under current legislation, workers are treated as “unsecured creditors” and often placed at the bottom of the compensation hierarchy—behind banks, landlords, and other investors.

Unifor is urging Parliament to implement the following reforms: raise the cap on the Wage Earner Protection Program (WEPP), broaden eligibility and improve access to WEPP for all affected workers, strengthen super-priority status for workers’ claims in bankruptcy proceedings, hold corporate directors personally liable for unpaid compensation, and to establish trust-held or federally guaranteed funds to ensure workers are fully compensated in the event of corporate failure.

“This is about setting a precedent for how workers are treated in corporate failures moving forward—what HBC is doing to its workforce should be outlawed, and we’ll continue fighting to ensure that workers are paid every penny they’re owed,” says Unifor Local 240 President Jodi Nesbitt.

Filed Under: Uncategorised

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 320
  • Next Page »

Search

More News

  • Bell Canada urges federal government to overturn CRTC decision stalling critical investment
  • Canada’s Wonderland Member Appreciation Day
  • Unifor members ratify new deal with DHL Express Canada, ending labour dispute
  • Canada Lands Company locks out CN Tower workers ahead of Canada Day
  • BTS Ontario – Ongoing Payroll issues

Stay up to date!

Get timely updates from Local 1996-O in your inbox.

Follow us on Twitter

My Tweets
LOCAL MEETINGS

More Local News

  • Bell Canada urges federal government to overturn CRTC decision stalling critical investment

Unifor 1996-O

Unifor 1996-O
Follow @unifor1996wire

Local News in Your Inbox

Sign up for the latest from Local 1996-O in your inbox!

  • About Us
  • Organizing
  • Your Rights
  • Resources
  • News
  • Contact Us
  • Offers and Discounts
  • “Listen Up”
  • Gallery
  • 1996-O Branded Apparel
  • Member Information
  • Equity Committee
© 2025 Unifor 1996-O. All rights reserved.
Back to top