International

President Shawn Fain
United Auto Workers (UAW)

Brother Fain and members of the United Auto Workers (UAW),

As Canada’s largest private sector union, representing 315,000 members across Canada, we write to express our solidarity with the UAW and your members on strike at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. 

It is never an easy decision for working people to take strike action in the pursuit of a fair collective agreement. The withdrawal of labour is the cornerstone of free and fair collective bargaining.

The Honourable Randy Boissonnault, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages

Dear Minister Boissonnault,

The Honourable Marco Mendicino, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Public Safety

Dear Minister Mendicino,

On behalf of our 315,000 members across Canada, Unifor would like to express our deep concerns regarding the deaths of eight migrants, including two children under 3 years of age, discovered in the St. Lawrence River near Akwesasne, Quebec on March 30th, 2023.

April 24 marks the ten-year anniversary of the tragic Rana Plaza disaster in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The disaster exposed the dangerous and difficult working conditions that garment workers are forced to endure in the name of fast fashion.

For Gavin McGarrigle, the Good Friday Agreement hits too close to home.

The Unifor Western Regional Director spoke of his earliest memories as a six-year-old crossing the border between Ireland and Britain frequently with his family before emigrating to Canada in 1981. During those crossings, he recalls the chaos and violence.

“I can remember standing on the side of the road in front of a massive guard tower while our family’s car was ripped apart by British soldiers on patrol,” he said.

Unifor National President Lana Payne brought a message of solidarity, union building and worker power in a keynote address at the United Auto Workers (UAW) Special Bargaining Convention, held in Detroit March 27-29, 2023.

“Our unions are about building worker power. They have always been about building worker power,” Payne told UAW delegates. “We are experiencing a special moment across the working class in North America. And that if we organize enough to seize it, we can profoundly change the future for working people in both our countries".

In a keynote address to delegates at the United Auto Workers Special Bargaining Convention, Unifor National President Lana Payne speaks on the need to plan for the transition to a green future to ensure that workers are not left behind, workers bearing the cost of interest rate hikes and inflation, and the unique moment of opportunity for working people to change the future.