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Unifor National Secretary-Treasurer Len Poirier, Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle, and Prairie Regional Council (PRC) Chairperson Guy Desforges were in Winnipeg this week to meet with members and tour several of the industrial workplaces represented by Unifor.
Winnipeg has long been a Canadian manufacturing hub, and workers in the province know well the importance of Unifor’s Protect Canadian Jobs campaign.
The first workplace on the agenda was JELD-WEN, the renowned window and door manufacturer supplying Western Canada. Unifor Local 3003 represents 250 workers at the facility, including PRC Secretary-Treasurer Brent Boittiaux, who helped show the three the job site and the work involved. The leaders brought a message of solidarity as the unit will be heading into bargaining this fall.
“Local 3003 members help make JELD-WEN a true Canadian success story,” said Poirier. “We’re going to support the bargaining committee achieve a contract that continues to recognize the value of the workers on this shop floor.”
Following the tour by Local 3003 members, the leaders went across town to meet Local 2169 members for a tour of the Boeing aerospace manufacturing site where nearly 1,500 members make composite aircraft parts. The unit ratified a strong agreement over the summer, and members were excited to show Poirier, McGarrigle, and Desforges around the shop. Local 2169 representives also explained that the Boeing Canadian workforce is growing as the company’s success in Winnipeg has led to a hiring boom.
The following day, the leaders met with several Local 3003 executive committee members to see the New Flyer site where Unifor members make urban transit buses in a unique start-to-finish Canadian manufacturing process.
“New Flyer is a good example of the future of Canadian supply chains,” said McGarrigle. “Union-made in Canada and union-operated in the community. With coordination between workers, government, and industry, we can expand this model to other sectors and build here, for here.”
The Unifor leaders finished the tour by posing for a photo with a newly completed and painted B.C. Transit bus destined for Vancouver Island where it will be operated by members at Local 114 or 333-BC.
