Share
Delegates to Unifor’s Canadian Council pledged to dedicate the union’s second year to defeating the Stephen Harper Conservative government in the 2015 federal election.
“If we are going to defeat Harper, we will need the efforts of every one of our members,” Unifor Director of Member Mobilization Roland Kiehne told the Council.
“The Rights at Work campaign will not be over until we defeat Harper,” Kiehne said.
The Rights at Work campaign to educate members on threats to worker rights across Canada was launched last spring and was a key part of Unifor’s efforts to defeat Tim Hudak’s Conservatives in the June election in Ontario.
Kiehne said materials from the campaign will continue to be distributed to members as the union prepares for the federal election. He said efforts will be focused on several key ridings.
Delegates adopted a policy paper, Politics for Workers: Unifor’s Political Project, laying out Unifor’s political strategy with other progressive groups in the next federal election, and beyond.
“The short-term goal is defeating Stephen Harper,” said Jenny Ahn, Assistant to the President. “The long-term goal is changing the political conversation to be talking about progressive ideas.”
Unifor Atlantic Regional Director Lana Payne unveiled a Local Union Task Force to be a central part of union’s strategy for mobilizing members, both in the federal election and beyond.
“The ability of Unifor to fulfill its ambitions relies on the strength of our local unions,” Payne said.
There will be a Presidents’ Conference in early 2015 to get the task force underway.
Unifor National President Jerry Dias said he has heard from Conservative MPs who are worried that Unifor will work to defeat them, just as Hudak was defeated.
“We are going to change the politics of this country because working class people have had enough,” Dias said.
Motivating members to be politically active requires talking to them about the issues that matter most to them, delegate Carlos Moreira said.
“We learned as a local a long time ago that you have to listen to the members,” said Moreira, a bus driver in Vancouver and second vice-president of Local 111.
“You listen to them, they listen to you – and through the conversation, you mobilize the membership,”
