TORONTO- Unifor offers its congratulations to the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference upon reaching a tentative agreement with CN, ending an eight-day strike.
“This strike was about what matters most, ensuring that workers come home safely at the end of their shift,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Workers have a right to bargain collectively to defend our interests. I am proud to see that process respected not only by the parties involved, but also by the federal government.”
TORONTO—Unifor stood in solidarity with elected student leaders from the Canadian Federation of Students and the York Federation of Students at a media conference this morning to announce the successful legal challenge of the Doug Ford government’s Student Choice Initiative.
As Federated Co-op Limited (FCL) continues to demand concessions and digs in for a fight against its own workforce, Unifor is ramping up its campaign by taking the bold move of debuting a new television commercial during the broadcast of the Grey Cup this Sunday.
VANCOUVER—Unless progress can be made in contract talks between TransLink’s Coast Mountain Bus Company and Unifor, a three-day system-wide work stoppage will commence at Wednesday, November 27, 2019.
TORONTO - The union representing Canadian journalists and media workers is calling on the federal Parliament to act quickly to save local news in the wake of dramatic financial losses and over 120 layoffs at Torstar, Canada’s second largest news chain.
“This is a stunning number of layoffs,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. “The financial situation for local news is going from bad to worse. Less journalists means less news coverage.”
TORONTO - On World Toilet Day, November 19 2019, Unifor and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) are launching a Transport Workers’ Sanitation Charter, because toilet rights are human rights.
NEW WESTMINSTER—A failure by the employer to make new offers at the bargaining table will push Unifor into the next phase of job action, to be announced on Wednesday morning.
Following the announcement, dozens of Unifor members from Coast Mountain Bus Company will receive strike training.
Members of the media are welcome to take footage of the training and speak with designated Unifor representatives about escalated job action.
Negotiations between Unifor and Loblaw Companies Limited reached an impasse, as the company refused to revisit its aggressive plan to cut full-time jobs at Dominion stores.
TORONTO- Unifor condemns CN’s layoff speculation at a time of high revenue.
“What we have here is a massively profitable corporation causing anxiety through public layoff announcements that, if realized, could seriously threaten working conditions and health and safety of rail workers,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.
Members of Unifor Council 4000 and Local 100 have received layoff notices over the past two months that add up to the reduction of just over 200 jobs.
REGINA— After several weeks of voting in communities across Saskatchewan, Unifor members working at SaskTel, SaskEnergy, SaskPower, SaskWater, DirectWest, and SecureTek have ratified the new collective agreements.
“Unifor members took historic direct action to get a contract they deserve,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Solidarity was key to their success and they should be proud of what they accomplished together.”
SURREY—Translink’s refusal to deal with the key bargaining issues has resulted in the mutual agreement to discontinue contract talks that began again this morning, and a continuation of service disruption for passengers.
“Translink seems content to play games while tens of thousands of transit passengers’ lives are impacted daily,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “Transit workers want to sign a new contract, but Translink isn’t interested in anything remotely fair.”
REGINA—Nearly 800 workers at the Co-op Refinery are disappointed that mandatory mediation made little to no progress with the employer and they are still without a fair deal that doesn’t include concessions.
"We are disappointed Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) continues to come to the bargaining table demanding roll backs in our pensions and other concessions, despite the fact that this employer continues to rake in billions of dollars in profits,” said Kevin Bittman, President of Unifor Local 594, the union representing Co-op Refinery workers.
Steps toward a transfer of ministerial oversight of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission to the Ministry of Transportation is a positive change for residents in Northern Ontario, but the key component of Northlander rail line service remains missing.
VANCOUVER—Unifor will return to the bargaining table to negotiate in good faith with Coast Mountain Bus Company, but warns that more inaction from the employer will cause further transit disruptions by the end of the week.
Yesterday’s fall economic update solidified plans to maintain reckless funding cuts to public services and further gutting of legislation that protects workers’ rights through Bill 124.
November 5, 2019 HALIFAX – Unifor is reminding Irving Shipbuilding, Inc. that creating and maintaining Canadian jobs is a key component of the Canadian Shipbuilding Strategy and should remain the top priority.
TORONTO - Unifor strongly condemns the arrest and detention of 57 members of labour and civil society organizations in the Philippines.
“I call upon the Filipino government to immediately drop the trumped-up charges against Anne Krueger and all detained labour organizers. The sudden, widespread arrest of nearly 60 activists is a reprehensible fear tactic, clearly aimed at suppressing a growing movement for workers’ rights,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.
VANCOUVER—Coast Mountain Bus Company’s refusal to make any significant offers over the last 48 hours have forced Unifor Locals 111 and 2200 negotiators to call off talks.
“We have not had a serious offer from the company since we served strike notice,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “In other words, the company feels very comfortable with system-wide job action.”
VANCOUVER—As negotiations continue, transit workers have announced that, should a tentative agreement not be reached by 8 a.m. on Friday, November 1, strike action will begin with a uniform ban by transit operators and an overtime ban by maintenance workers.
Following months of difficult negotiations, Unifor finally secured Closure Agreements with Inteva Products, Lear Corporation Whitby, Auto Warehousing Canada (AWC), and Robinson Solutions.
VANCOUVER—The failure of Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) to meaningfully address workers’ concerns about working conditions, wages, and benefits during this round of negotiations has led Unifor Local 111 and 2200 to serve 72-hour notice of job action.
“It’s not hard to understand what is happening here. The company is showing little respect for the difficult working conditions that our members must face every day,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.
Unifor is renewing its call for new product allocation at the Oakville Assembly Plant following today’s restructuring announcement by Ford Motor Company.
MONTREAL- Unifor’s VIA Rail locals open bargaining in Montreal as contracts near expiration for more than 2,000 members. “Unifor members are looking forward to delivering the highest quality service for passengers today, and through the next generation of rail infrastructure,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “These bargaining teams are experienced, and ready to represent workers in the fight for a fair contract.” Unifor represents maintenance workers, on-board service personnel, chefs, sales agents and customer service staff at VIA Rail.
EDMONTON—Premier Jason Kenney’s cuts to provincial services are totally unwarranted and will only deepen the issues with Alberta’s economy, says Unifor.
“Austerity has been widely discredited but that won’t stop Jason Kenney from his old habits,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “He cannot cut his way to prosperity.”
VICTORIA—Unifor applauds the leadership of the John Horgan government for introducing a bill to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
“The UNDRIP is important to reconciliation and helps build a legal framework to let Indigenous communities thrive,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.
October 20, 2019 TORONTO –The election of a Liberal minority government, with the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois holding the balance of power gives workers a strong voice in Parliament. “This election was always about workers and big questions. How can we create good paying jobs, provide vital services including healthcare, and confront climate change as a country? Canadian voters delivered an answer on how today- we’ll do it together,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. Unifor actively opposed the Conservative election agenda with a successful campaign to Stop Scheer.
REGINA—As the province-wide service disruption enters its third week, Unifor has offered to go to binding arbitration on outstanding monetary issues with employers.
“Unifor members want to return to serving the people of Saskatchewan, but they won’t do it without a fair contract or a commitment from the Crowns to arbitration,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “If the Crowns agree to this reasonable offer, nearly 5,000 Crown workers could be back at work tomorrow.”
REGINA—After a day of dialogue with Crown employers, Unifor National President Jerry Dias will hold a media availability to provide an update on Crown sector bargaining.
WHAT: Crowns sector bargaining update WHO: Unifor National President Jerry Dias and other local union leaders WHEN: October 18 at 5 p.m. WHERE: SaskPower headquarters, 2025 Victoria Avenue, Regina
TORONTO—Today labour activists from across Ontario occupied Doug Ford’s office to demand action from the provincial government to prevent workplace death and injuries at Fiera Foods.
“Desperate times call for extreme measures and the situation at Fiera Foods is certainly desperate,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. “We are calling on the Doug Ford government to protect precarious workers like those at Fiera Foods and we won’t take silence as an answer.”
