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Demand a fair contract for striking shelter workers in Napanee. Add your name today.

Support Striking Shelter Workers

The workers of Lennox & Addington Interval House, Napanee, have been on strike for over a month, yet management has left them out in the cold.

Interval House’s mission is to provide a safe place for our community’s most vulnerable: abused woman and their children.

Yet when asked to improve…

The workers of Lennox & Addington Interval House, Napanee, have been on strike for over a month, yet management has left them out in the cold.

Interval House’s mission is to provide a safe place for our community’s most vulnerable: abused woman and their children.

Yet when asked to improve the health and safety of working conditions, the members of Local 414 are ignored.

Enough is enough.

It’s time for management to get back to the table and show workers respect.

Because everyone needs to feel safe at Interval House. Including the people who work there.

The current collective agreement has been expired for more than a year and covers approximately 20 workers at LAIH. The unit voted 100% in favour of strike action. Workers are seeking the same or similar processes and benefits that sister agencies in neighbouring communities have, aiming to address issues of representation, disciplinary actions and job postings.

Add your voice here…click the link below

Add your Voice

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Statement on Jerry Dias

 

TORONTO–On January 26, 2022 Unifor National Secretary-Treasurer Lana Payne received a written complaint that, now former, Unifor National President Jerry Dias engaged in an alleged breach of the Unifor Constitution.

Following review of the complaint, Payne promptly initiated an independent external investigation. On January 29, 2022, Dias was notified of the investigation, which is ongoing.

On February 6, 2022, Dias went on medical leave and subsequently notified the National Executive Board of his immediate retirement on March 11, citing health issues.

In order to ensure the integrity of the ongoing investigation and to maintain confidentiality in accordance with the Unifor Constitution, specifics of the complaint will not be divulged at this time.

Every Unifor member is held to the same standard and afforded the same rights under our Constitution.

Unifor’s National Executive Board will meet on March 21, 2022 to discuss the matter. The union will have no further public comment prior to receipt of the investigative report, expected in the near future.

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International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Statement

 

There’s still much work to be done.

On March 21, Unifor acknowledges the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It’s not a celebration, though.

On that day in 1960, police officers in the township of Sharpeville, South Africa opened fire on a group of people peacefully protesting oppressive pass laws, killing 69. The anniversary of the massacre is remembered annually with a recommitment for society to end racism in all its forms.

“We are recommitting to our responsibility to eradicate racism in all its forms,” said Christine Maclin, Unifor’s Human Rights Director.

“Racism is still a reality for so many and the pandemic has propelled online hate, harassment, abuse and violence. We all need to eradicate racism, violence and harm collectively. It’s our shared responsibility to not just put finding solutions on victims’ shoulders.”

Racism divides the working class and Unifor is committed to building solidarity across our union and communities.

Unifor is also committed to making workplaces anti-racist. Since September 2020, we have bargained for over 100 Racial Justice Advocates in collective agreements.

These advocates liaise with employers, locals and the national union with its anti-racism work, addressing racial discrimination in workplaces and connecting to community organizations.

From June 12 to 17, 2022, we’re hosting our first Racial Justice Advocate training at Unifor’s Port Elgin Education Centre.

Our five Unifor Racial Justice Liaisons – Margaret Olal from Local 3000, Peycke Roan Local 975, Japna Sidhu-Brar from Local 4005, Cindy Ostapyk from Local 4002 and Marie-France Fleurantin with Local 62 – have tirelessly developed plans to share with our advocates.

These liaisons diligently worked from March to November 2021 with over 200 community organizations and local unions to create an “Anti-Racism Toolkit” that provides local leaders with the resources they need to help eradicate racism.

Unifor is also providing a questionnaire at this training session that allows members to anonymous share their stories and experiences with racism, in an effort to build an internal framework for fighting racism, which will guide Unifor leaders, activists and members to get involved and fight racism.

There is a misconception that racist laws and practices have been abolished in many countries. Most racist acts are never reported and too many individuals, communities, and societies suffer from the injustice and the stigma that racism brings, including the all- too-normal reality that racism never really feels like it has been addressed.

On March 21, Unifor is asking members to continually check their own bias, to call out racism and step in to make sure that we are all doing our part to eradicate racism.

Register your local Human Rights committees with the national Human Rights Department, support community actions that stand up to racism and make your workplace, society and Canada, a more inclusive place to be.

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

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Unifor statement on World Water Day

Since 1993, March 22 has been United Nations World Water Day. It is an annual observance to raise awareness of and take action on water-related issues, particularly the two billion people who live without access to safe water.

This year’s theme—groundwater—was chosen to make the invisible visible. Protecting groundwater from contamination is one of the key priorities for Indigenous communities across Canada. Direct action and conflict have been in the news as activists, struggling to be heard by government and private entities, adapted blockade tactics on various areas of key infrastructure, such as highways and rail lines.

Rather than including Indigenous communities in the decision-making process, infrastructure projects have moved forward that could irreversibly affect traditional ancestral territories, some governments have further criminalized dissent, such as the case with Alberta’s Bill 1.

Canada can and must do better.

Governments must live up to the constitutional commitments it has made with Indigenous, Inuit and Métis Peoples. Unifor supports the principles embedded in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) including the necessity of consultation and full socio-economic participation.

Recent court rulings are also turning Canada’s moral obligation to respect Indigenous Rights and Title into legal ones as well.

In Tsilhqot’in Nation v. British Columbia (2014), the Supreme Court recognized the Tsilhqot’in’s title claim to a 1,750 square kilometre tract of non-reserve territory. This is significant and means that Indigenous title to traditional territory encompasses the right to control all aspects of land utilisation, including resource development.

Both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities benefit from safe infrastructure that creates good jobs and generates royalties or dividends which serve to strengthen community services and improve the standard of living for working people.

Development projects must not be imposed on communities who oppose them. Unifor supports responsible development projects that add value to our vast, shared natural resources. The union calls on all governments and private interests to implement joint decision-making that authentically includes Indigenous communities and voices. These processes must abide by the free, prior, and informed consent of Indigenous communities in all areas affected by any such projects.

As University of Manitoba law professor Brenda Gunn said during a 2021 Unifor webinar, “Indigenous Peoples are Canada’s partners in confederation, a benefit not burden, nor a ‘risk’ to be managed… Indigenous Peoples are decision-makers, not simply one of a myriad of stakeholders, in decisions over their lands and territories.”

Download the statement from our website.