When Unifor’s Independent Parts Supplier Council gathered for an online meeting on March 3, 2022 the mood was optimistic despite the number of significant challenges affecting workers in the industry.
Last week, the UACL team engaged in contract negotiations with Bell, covering a lot of ground. Unifor and the Company reached agreement on many housekeeping items.
Our primary focus remains securing a strong collective agreement that will protect jobs in our region for the next generation of telecom workers. In order to reach that goal, we will continue to mobilize in our workplaces and show a united front to the Company.
Health care workers represented by Unifor have launched a video appeal to Premier Doug Ford that shares the struggles they have faced during the pandemic, while being subjected to Ontario’s Bill 124.
“Despite all of the sacrifices that all workers in hospitals, non-profit long-term care homes, and ORNGE Air Ambulance paramedics have made throughout the pandemic, the Ontario government has refused to repeal Bill 124,” said Katha Fortier, Unifor’s lead health care negotiator. “This legislation is an insult to health care workers and has created a greater disparity in the system.”
OAKVILLE—Wage increases and job security are the highlights of the new collective agreement ratified today by Unifor Local 1256 members, ending their two-week strike at Oakville Transit.
“My congratulations to Oakville transit workers for standing up to the employer to win gains that will improve working conditions and benefits,” said Lana Payne, Unifor National Secretary-Treasurer.
Transit service in the region will resume on Friday, March 4, 2022.
OAKVILLE—Unifor Local 1256 members working at Oakville Transit will vote March 3, 2022 on ratification of a new collective agreement.
“It was important to these transit workers to stand up for a better deal than was being offered,” said Alice Kelly, President of Unifor Local 1256. “Their solidarity and resolve has resulted in a fair tentative agreement.”
Should the agreement be ratified, transit service in the region will resume on Friday, March 4.
Details of the agreement will be released following Thursday’s vote.
On March 1, Unifor began a countdown to the end of the month when the Ontario government must sign an agreement with the federal government to provide affordable, accessible, quality child care throughout the province, or forfeit the first year of funding.
TORONTO – Unifor welcomes today’s WestJet announcement of its purchase of Sunwing and Sunwing Vacations.
“Congratulations to WestJet and Sunwing for reaching a deal,” said Scott Doherty, the Executive Assistant to the Unifor’s National President. “With the federal government lifting travel restrictions and more Canadians travelling more for business and pleasure, we look forward to fostering good relationships between WestJet and Sunwing in their new capacity.”
TORONTO – Unifor is donating a total of $150,000 to the Red Cross to assist with its efforts to help the people of Ukraine following the Russian invasion.
“The people of Ukraine have shown incredible strength and determination in the face of this invasion,” said Unifor National Secretary-Treasurer Lana Payne. “The grace and resolve of the Ukrainian people have been an inspiration to the world, and we must respond to that. The world must come together and show solidarity and support.”
OAKVILLE—Negotiations between Unifor Local 1256 and Oakville Transit will resume Wednesday March 2, 2022, in the hope of ending ongoing strike action by transit operators and maintenance workers.
“Unifor welcomes a return to the bargaining table so that we can reach a fair deal for these frontline workers and get the buses back on the road for the riders,” said Alice Kelly, President of Unifor Local 1256.
Local 973 has ratified a new three-year contract with Coca-Cola in Brampton, Ont.
“The bargaining committee stayed focused on the members priority’s during these talks and were very pleased to bring back a tentative agreement that has increases across the board in wages, pension, health care improvements and many language improvements,” said Deb Tveit, Assistant to Unifor’s National President.
The three-year deal was ratified by members on Feb. 27 and 28, 2022 through Zoom meetings. The new agreement begins June 11, 2022 and expires June 13, 2025.
The newest unit to join Unifor, Local 673, is celebrating its first deal with group health and benefits insurance company, Benecaid, in Toronto, Ont.
“Congratulations to the members of Local 673 and the bargaining committee who was so determined to make reasonable gains and fought for an agreement that represented members’ values and priorities,” said Deb Tveit, the Assistant to Unifor’s National President. “
The three-year deal was ratified by 82% of members on Feb. 22, 2022. The new agreement expires on Feb. 28, 2025.
Lyudmyla Perelygina, Chair
Cultural Workers Union of Ukraine
25, Shota Rustaveli Street, Office. 309
01019 Kiev, Ukraine
Dear Lyudmyla,
Colleagues and friends, on behalf of Unifor and Unifor’s Media Sector we write to extend our support, solidarity and deepest sympathies with our colleagues in the Cultural Workers Union of Ukraine and all journalists during these difficult times.
Our future is worth the fight. But so is our present day.
That’s a key message young workers took away from a Unifor webinar held Feb. 24, 2022, which encouraged union workers under 35 in Ontario to take action and make positive change with not only within workplaces, but in government.
“Young workers are fighting back,” said Naureen Rizvi, Unifor’s Ontario Regional Director during the Zoom meeting.
They are the ones sent into battle. Their neighborhoods in war zones are left in ruins. Families are devastated, even far from the frontlines, as sons, fathers, daughters and mothers are sent into battle, never to return. Or returning broken.
With the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, working people will pay that price once again.
Unifor condemns this invasion, and we express our deep concern that further escalation of military conflicts will bring the world to the brink of war with enormous humanitarian consequences.
The approximately 60 new members of Local 4003 – based in Vaughan, Ont. – who joined Unifor in April 2021, are getting ready to bargain their first contract with dairy company, Saputo Inc. in late March.
“We are ready to support our new members as they prepare to go to the table,” said Deb Tveit, Assistant to Unifor’s National President. “The bargaining team represents workers’ values and priorities and will negotiate the best collective agreement for the membership.”
Letter from Squamish Chamber of Commerce President Annabel Majendie to Unifor, B.C. Transit, and Pacific Western Transportation regarding the Local 114 transit workers' strike in the Sea to Sky corridor.
TORONTO–Unifor Local 4268 has reached a tentative agreement with First Student on behalf of school bus drivers in the eastern Greater Toronto Area and Durham Region.
“I congratulate the bargaining committee on reaching a tentative agreement for these essential workers who continued to provide service during the pandemic,” said Unifor Ontario Regional Director Naureen Rizvi.
February 23 is Pink Shirt Day, when we can all take a stand against bullying. We too often see communities, workplaces, and families being divided. Through these divides, some have permitted, and even encouraged, bullying behaviours in the name of their cause.
This is harmful, and no matter the reason, we should never harm each other. Tomorrow, lets all wear pink t-shirts and send a unified message that we are standing up against any form of bullying.
TORONTO –Premier Ford’s plan to use injured worker’s WSIB funds to cut cheques for business owners in the province is a misappropriation of funds.
“It’s disgraceful to give payouts to employers when so many injured workers and occupational disease victims and families are still denied claims or have seen benefits slashed,” said Naureen Rizvi, Unifor Ontario Regional Director. “This payout is a misuse of money that workers desperately need, and looks like an attempt to gain support just a few months before the provincial election.”
Unifor Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle explains why striking Sea to Sky transit workers went to Whistler Village to hold a community support rally during the height of ski season.
HALIFAX- Contract negotiations kicked off today for 1,700 members who work for Bell Aliant across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador.
“These proud Atlantic Canadian workers have had enough of Bell Aliant shipping their work out of the region or overseas,” said Chris MacDonald, Unifor Assistant to the National President. “In today’s opening day, they laid down a clear demand that Bell Aliant keep the work in Atlantic Canada where the profits are made.”
More than 60% of the world’s employed population - that is, 2 billion women, men and youth - earn their livelihoods in the informal economy.
Few workers choose the informal economy. Workers trapped in these exploitive conditions lack social protections and employment related benefits, and they are twice as likely as workers with regular employment to live in poverty. Women are disproportionately the labourers of the informal economy and the economic and social justice they deserve requires the removal of the barriers to decent and formal work.
After opening bargaining with VIA Rail in January 2022, Unifor Local 100 and Council 4000 met with the company during February 7 to 11.
As expected, the company has taken an aggressive bargaining posture and tabled multiple serious concessions. It has become increasingly clear that this will be no ordinary round of bargaining.
ST. JOHN'S - Unions representing fish harvesters on both coasts of Canada are speaking out today against Joyce Murray, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, for the single-minded method by which the portfolio is being managed. The Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW-Unifor) of Newfoundland and Labrador and the United Fishermen and Allied Workers Union (UFAWU-Unifor) of British Columbia are calling on Minister Murray to take into consideration the dire social and economic impacts her decisions are having on those whose livelihoods rely on the fishery.
