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The first two days of the 60th convention of the Ontario Federation of Labour were a reminder of the success that workers can achieve when active and united!
Convention opened with an Indigenous greeting and ceremony in downtown Toronto with close to 1000 delegates in attendance. The packed room heard from OFL President Chris Buckley, Unifor 222 member, about the successes and victories achieved in just two years. Buckley opened his report by thanking activists but also issued a challenge for an activist future, “we must power on to bring forward the needs of working people, we need to continue to rise and fight for our rights.”
Buckley spoke about the hard work that the OFL leadership team, including Patty Coates as Secretary-Treasurer and Ahmad Gaied as Executive Vice-President, had undertaken since 2015 to rebuild a strong Federation.
The Federation has been able to defend the rights of working people, challenge racism, sexism, Islamophobia and anti-Black racism, execute strong campaigns and re-open the doors of the house of labour. The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have re-affiliated. Delegates provided a standing ovation to the announcement that the Ontario Nurses Association (ONA) will also re-affiliate in January of 2018. Gaied reminded workers that, together, “we must ensure that the future shines brighter for all young workers and students in this country.”
In presenting the Secretary-Treasurer report, Coates spoke about the renewed financial stability and the reasons why the OFL leadership maintained both an internal and external focus in the work. She said, "A Federation that is transparent in our processes and policies, and accountable to our members, is critical if we are to power on our movement."
Delegates heard from several keynote speakers including Andrea Horwath, Leader of the Ontario NDP and Jagmeet Singh, newly elected Leader of Canada’s NDP. Both speakers were met with standing applause and extended their thanks to labour and the OFL for its strong leadership that is making a difference in Ontario. Singh called on trade unionist to keep pushing, “we need to dream bigger, think bigger for change.”
To chart the next two years, the OFL put forward an Action Plan that will continue to be discussed and debated over the week.
With the provincial election on the horizon Buckley reminded the packed room, “Great gains can be whipped away if they are not entrenched and this is why we must continue to Power ON!”
Going forward the OFL is in good hands as the FedForward team won their re-election bid with a strong mandate for a second term.
Visit Facebook.com/UniforCanada/photos to see images from convention. Read daily updates on the OFL Convention at ofl.ca/convention2017/
