Sharlene Henry

Sharlene Henry is a proud Black woman of Caribbean descent, who was elected to Unifor’s National Executive Board in Sept. 2025. Her ancestry is from Dominica and Jamaica. She was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and raised in Toronto. She is proud to call the community of Weston in Toronto her home and has lived in the community for all her adult life. 

Henry is a proud member of Unifor Local 1285 in Brampton, Ont. and has worked as an auto worker at the Brampton Stellantis assembly plant since 2017. Getting involved in Unifor has changed her life in many ways. She is the chair of the Local 1285 Black, Indigenous, and Workers of Colour committee, a workplace trainer at Brampton assembly plant, and a Discussion Leader with the Women in Skilled Trades and Technology Awareness Program. 

As a community activist, Henry has worked tirelessly to be a voice for the voiceless in Weston. Currently, she is co-chair of the York-South Weston Tenant Union, a grassroots organization that advocates for tenant rights and education. In June 2023, she and 200 neighbours went on a rent strike. Those strike actions that year and in 2024 quickly became the largest rent strikes in the history of Toronto. 

As the mother of three children, Henry has been an involved parent voice on many committees with the Toronto District School Board. She is the current parent co-chair of the TDSB French Student Achievement Advisory Committee and current chairperson and co-chair of her kids' School Advisory Committee at the elementary and middle school levels. 

Henry strongly believes in education. The Unifor Paid Education program has played a big part in her being the activist she is today. Taking the PEL courses launched her into advocacy and lit a fire that remains with her now. With the wealth of knowledge members receive when taking PEL courses, Henry propelled that wisdom to help her home community thrive.

She is a strong voice and champion for equity for Black and racialized workers.