Jobs and the Economy

Citing the urgency to stop U.S.

Lic. Alfredo Domínguez Marrufo
Director General

Mta. Margarita Darlene Rojas Olvera
Coordinadora General de Registro de Contratos Colectivos

Mto. Yamil Villalba Villarreal   
Director de constancia de representatividad

Centro Federal de Conciliación y Registro Laboral

Greetings,

All Unifor wants this season is for the federal government to cooperate and get the important things done. Why not start with the commitments you have in common?   

That’s Unifor’s message to Prime Minister Trudeau, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and all MPs and Senators, hand-delivered as a feature in this quarter’s iPolitics print magazine. 

Workers in Canada need a reliable, stable government to deliver on the shared goals that were set out in the 2021 federal election.

OTTAWA – Unifor is kicking off a weeklong federal lobby to communicate urgent repairs needed to fix Canada’s broken Employment Insurance (EI) system.

“There is no time to waste when it comes to fixing EI. Workers across the country are running out of benefits and running into barriers with a program that seems more determined to punish them instead of help them,” said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President.

Unifor members from the media sector have been meeting online with Members of Parliament, including Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez, pushing the need for big tech firms to pay their fair share to support local news. 

“Journalism is vital to the functioning of our democracy, and yet the entire sector is in crisis as big tech firms claim 90% of digital ad dollars,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias, who led the delegation meeting with Rodriguez.

“There has been a lot of talk, but now is the time for action.”

Three Labour Action Centres in Ontario will continue providing support for laid off workers until 2022 after Unifor successfully pushed the Ontario government to extend their operations.

Originally published in The Hill Times

The past 20 months have been devastating for Canada’s aerospace workers.

Analysts agree that even though air traffic is slowly filling the skies again, the aerospace industry isn’t in the clear yet. Not by a long shot.

The first vehicle rolled off the newly reopened General Motors assembly line in Oshawa at an event on November 8. The Chevy Silverado drove off the line following an address by Unifor National President Jerry Dias.

“Today is an incredibly important day for all of you, your families, and the community of Oshawa,” Dias told hundreds of workers who participated in the event. “It is so incredible to see so many of you who maintained your recall rights and those of you that are brand new to the operations—we want to welcome you to the Unifor family.”
 

By: Angelo DiCaro, Unifor Director of Research

Ontario’s recent decision to raise the provincial wage floor to $15 (including for servers) caught many by surprise. The governing Progressive Conservatives campaigned to scrap this exact pay hike when they ran for government back in 2018. Nonetheless, the 65-cent increase is welcome news and – once again – sparks a conversation on the need for living wages across the country.