Neil Reimer (July 3, 1921 – March 29, 2011) was an activist, trade unionist and politician in Canada. Reimer attended the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

, but left in 1942 at the age of 19 to work at the Consumers Co-operative Refinery in

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 census, Regina had a city population ...

. There he joined a

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...

union organizing drive. In 1950, he became an organizer for the CIO's Oil Workers International Union and was sent to

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

to organize workers in that province's booming

petrochemical industry The petrochemical industry is concerned with the production and trade of petrochemicals. A major part is constituted by the plastics (polymer) industry. It directly interfaces with the petroleum industry, especially the downstream sector. Comp ...

.Horse sense & organizing", by Neil Reimer as told to Lorraine Endicott, ''Our Times'', February–March 2005 In 1951, Reimer became the Canadian director of the OWIU (which subsequently became the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Union) and served as the national director of the union and its successors until he retired in 1982. Under his stewardship, the union grew from fewer than 1,000 members to more than 20,000 by 1961. In 1981 the union gained independence from its American parent to become the Energy and Chemical Workers Union and, in 1992, merged with two other unions to become the

Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, abbreviated CEP in English and SCEP in French, was a largely private sector labour union with 150,000 members, active from 1992 to 2013. It was created in 1992 through the merger of three ...

. Reimer was elected as a vice-president of the

Canadian Congress of Labour The Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL) was founded in 1940 and merged with Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (TLC) to form the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) in 1956. Founding In 1939, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) supporters we ...

in the 1950s and remained on the executive of it and its successor, the

Canadian Labour Congress The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC (french: Congrès du travail du Canada, link=no or ) is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated. History Formation The CLC wa ...

, until 1974. Reimer became president of the newly founded

New Democratic Party of Alberta The Alberta New Democratic Party (french: Nouveau Parti démocratique de l'Alberta), commonly shortened to Alberta's NDP, is a social-democratic political party in Alberta, Canada. It is the provincial Alberta affiliate of the federal New Democr ...

in 1962 and was elected its first leader in 1963. The NDP's predecessor, the Alberta CCF, had lost its remaining two seats in the 1959 provincial election and received only 4% of the vote. Under Reimer's leadership the NDP's share of the popular vote rose to 9% in the 1963 election and to nearly 16% in the 1967 election, but did not win any seats. Reimer resigned as NDP leader in 1968. Reimer remained Canadian director of the OCAW throughout the 1960s and 1970s and became national director of the Energy and Chemical Workers Union when it was formed from the OCAW in 1981. He retired from the union's leadership in 1984. He then served as the president and later as secretary treasurer of the Alberta Council on Aging.Lauren MacGillivray, "Cash crunch takes toll on seniors", ''Calgary Herald'', November 3, 2001 His daughter, Janice Rhea Reimer, served as mayor of

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anc ...

from 1989 to 1995.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reimer, Neil 1921 births 2011 deaths Alberta CCF/NDP leaders Trade unionists from Alberta Canadian Labour Congress people University of Saskatchewan alumni Congress of Industrial Organizations people