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As Unifor heads into its first round of Detroit Three auto talks since its founding, a key forum involving business, labour and academia will be held in Windsor next month looking at the state of the industry in Canada.
“It has been a long time coming that we get together in the fashion that we are on May 11,” said Local 444 President Dino Chiodo, the driving force behind getting the forum off the ground.
“The Policy and Solutions Forum brings together three driving forces in our region with academia, labour and the Chamber of Commerce. Together we all want to find a real solution to the growing issue of trade imbalance and how it affects manufacturing in this country.”
Chiodo said it is vital that labour and business show it can work together on matters of mutual interest. The May 11 forum grew out of Local 444’s Solidarity Conference in 2013 that saw more than 400 labour leaders meet in Windsor, along with members of the Chamber of Commerce.
The Forum is a first for the region, with each group involved having an equal say in how the event is organized. Cooperation at that level can only help future relations between organized labour, the chamber of commerce and the academic world in the future, Chiodo said.
The forum takes place at the Caboto Club in Windsor. Unifor National President Jerry Dias, Canadian Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Perrin Beatty, Ontario and federal auto czar Ray Tanguay and Ontario Minister of Economic Development, Employment and Infrastructure Brad Duguid and others will be keynote speakers. St. Clair College Vice-President of Academics Waseem Habash will also be there.
Sessions will focus on the state of the industry, trends and solutions.
