Unifor is a general trade union in Canada and the largest private sector union in Canada. It was founded in 2013 as a merger of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions, and consists of 310,000 workers and associate members in industries ranging from manufacturing and media t
aviation
forestry and fishing. In January 2018, the union left 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 was ...

, Canada's national trade union centre, to become independent. The union elected Jerry Dias, a former union leader at de Havilland's facility in

Downsview Downsview is a neighbourhood in the north end of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located in the district of North York. The area takes its name from the Downs View farm established around 1842 near the present-day intersection of Keele Street and Wilso ...

, as its first president on August 31, 2013. He announced his retirement on March 12, 2022 due to health reasons.

Split from Canadian Labour Congress

On January 16, 2018, the National Executive Board of Unifor decided unanimously to discontinue affiliation with the

(CLC) and become independent. In a notice posted on their website, they stated their reasons for the split were due to CLC and its affiliates lack of action and will in addressing alleged aggressive and undemocratic tactics of US-based unions towards Canadian locals. The CLC accused Unifor of leaving the congress in order to engage in " raiding" (soliciting members of another union) following an announcement that

UNITE HERE UNITE HERE is a labor union in the United States and Canada with roughly 300,000 active members. The union's members work predominantly in the hotel, food service, laundry, warehouse, and casino gaming industries. The union was formed in 2004 b ...

Local 75 in Toronto would leave UNITE HERE and join Unifor. CAW, one of Unifor's predecessors, had previously been expelled from the CLC in 1998 due to accusations of raiding.

Local 1285

Unifor Local 1285 (previously Canadian Auto Workers Local 1285) is a merged local that represents automotive workers in Brampton, Canada. It is the biggest private sector union local in Brampton. Unifor appeared on the Canadian broadcast of Super Bowl LIII in February 2019 to air an advertisement opposing General Motors' decision to shut the Oshawa Car Assembly factory. Unifor received a letter from General Motors (GM) Canada two days before the game demanding that the commercial and an online advertisement boycotting Mexican-manufactured GM vehicles be discontinued, claiming they were designed intentionally and maliciously to mislead Canadian consumers and permanently tarnish GM's reputation with them. Despite these requests, the campaign ran as planned, with Unifor intended to continue airing it at subsequent significant events.

Saskatchewan Crown Corporations

Most of Saskatchewan’s Provincial Crown Corporations employ Unifor members. * Local 1-S represents workers at

SaskTel Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corporation, operating as SaskTel, is a Canadian crown-owned telecommunications firm based in the province of Saskatchewan. Owned by the provincial government, it provides wireline and wireless communicat ...

, Directwest, and SecurTek and is based in Regina. * Local 2-S represents workers at SaskTel and is based in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as ...

. * Local 649 represents workers at

SaskPower Saskatchewan Power Corporation, operating as SaskPower, is the principal electric utility in Saskatchewan, Canada. Established in 1929 by the provincial government, it serves more than 538,000 customers and manages over $11.8 billion in assets. ...

and SaskEnergy. * Local 820 represents workers at SaskWater and the Water Security Agency. On September 30, 2019, approximately 5,000 Unifor members from all of the above locals began a work-to-rule campaign after failing to negotiate new contracts with the provincial government. By October 4, the job action had escalated into a strike, as all of those workers walked off the job and began picketing, with the exception of those workers working essential roles such as 911 operators, power outage dispatchers, and natural gas leak responders.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Canada, Organized labour International Metalworkers' Federation International Transport Workers' Federation General unions Trade unions in Canada International Federation of Journalists Trade unions established in 2013 2013 establishments in Ontario Organizations based in Toronto