The Guardian - October 2016

The GuardianWindsor - EssexOCTOBER 2016 Volume 72 Issue 2

By CHRIS

TAYLOR,President,

Unifor Local 200

Bargaining on a Teeter Totter

TT o say that bargaining has beena challenge this year would bean understatement of epic pro-

portions. We all know that FordMotor Company can be a difficultcorporation to deal with and in Wind-sor in particular we know what is atstake. Our goal going into this roundwas to secure product and investmentfor our site. We are on the edge ofclosing another plant with the ensuingjob loss tied in at approximately 400members. We are starting to see downtime at Essex Engine and the realthreat of losing a shift is hanging overour heads with another loss of 160members.

Think about those numbers andwhat that means to you, your familiesand our community, You would needearly 1994 seniority to be at work atFord in Windsor. Drive down WalkerRoad and look at the site of the GMtransmission plant and think of whatis at stake here!

We once had 6,300 members, sixplants and considered ourselves asbeing on top of the world, it took onlynine years to reduce our site to threeplants and 1500 at work and the point

is that you never take what you havetoday for granted! Ford is extremelyprofitable and they know it and yet inCanada we are down to 1 assemblyplant, 2 parts depots, and 3 plants inWindsor all running at less than ca-pacity and with just as much availablefloor space as what we use to produceengines. This round of bargaining hasbeen about maintaining the Auto sec-tor in Canada and the first piece ofthat puzzle was achieved by the GMbargaining committees. There isn’t ananalyst in the industry that didn’t tellus that GM Oshawa would close andthere is nothing that can be done. “That ship has sailed” they said but

with a lot of work and determination

that plant now has a future and weshould all be giving our thanks to theGM bargaining committee and theNational for what they have accom-plished. Whether you chose to believeit or not, everyone is weakened whenwe lose another plant and securingOshawa and St. Catherines is securingour future as well!

Bargaining is a process of giveand take. It requires the solidarity ofall of the local committees to ensurethat we are successful and our pasthas proven this. In 2002 the Windsorsite was thriving with six plants and6300 members, St. Thomas wasrunning two shifts with 2600 mem-

Unifor Local 200 and 444 Presidents Chris Taylor and Dino Chiodo alongwith National President Jerry Dias, national representatives Peter Kennedy,Shane Wark, Bill Murnighan and Whitey MacDonald are seen addressingthe media at a press conference pertaining to Detroit Three bargaining.

. . . cont’d on next page

Chris Taylor. . . cont’d

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Nemak in 2010) and at the bargainingtable in 09 Ford announced the clo-sure of the St. Thomas plant.

The St. Thomas plant is of greatsignificance for more than just thefact that it was closed; this plant wasborn out of the Auto Pact and lost asa result of the trade agreements thatwe were and are still dealing withover and above the issues broughtforth by the companies that we dealwith.

Again in 2009 with the full supportof the entire bargaining committees ofall Ford locals we took the opportu-nity to put a closure agreement inplace for St. Thomas and secure theinvestment and future of Oakville byensuring the launch of the LincolnMKT along with a significant re-fresh of the Edge and the MKX andFord also committed a global plat-form for the OAC site. This round ofbargaining was heartbreaking whenwe watched the leadership for both St.Thomas and Windsor try to put theirbest foot forward when dealing withplant closures, but we all knew thatoutside of the issues that faced oursites, it was crucial that we ensure the


bers and in Oakville the company an-nounced the closure of the TruckPlant. The future of both assemblyplants was of concern and the bar-gaining committees of the day tookthe opportunity to ensure the future ofthe Oakville site and came away withcommitments to revitalize theOakville Site and set it up for a majorinvestment in 2006. The solidarity ofthe bargaining committees made thishappen and nobody went with theirown agenda ensuring a better futurefor all.

2005 bargaining presented an-other challenge for the Ford bargain-ing committees and that year saw thestart of the demise of the Windsor site.The closure of the Windsor Castingplant was announced and it did closein 2007. Essex Engine was to lose the3.9/4.2 and hoped to be awarded an-other product. St. Thomas was givenreprieve for the life of the agreementbut was not awarded new product and

in Oakville the company followedthrough with the commitment made in2002.

During the life of the 2005 agree-ment things changed, Ford mortgagedthe house to stay afloat and in Wind-sor we were told that Ford had an exitplan in place for our site with no fu-ture product commitments for eitherEssex, Windsor or the Annex.

In 2007 the Windsor bargainingcommittee was faced with the optionof do nothing or make sweepingchanges. This is where the 2007 COAcame into place on our site and withthat agreement we were able to con-vince the company to invest $700 mil-lion dollars for the 5.0L program.

Everyone wishes that we couldforget about 2008/09 but that is notthe case and again the bargainingcommittees were faced with extremechallenges, the industry was turnedupside down with the fallout of thehousing bubble and our worst fearsabout bankruptcy were brought tofruition at both GM and Chrysler.

In 2009 at Ford we were facedwith the closure of the Essex Alu-minum and the potential of closing ofWindsor Aluminum plant (changed to

INVEST IN CANADA!INVEST IN CANADA!

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Seen at the 2nd Constitutional Convention which was held in Ottawa aredelegates from Local 200 along with Jerry Dias. President of Unifor alongwith Bob Orr who was elected as Unifor's Secretary-Treasurer. Bob will bereplacing Peter Kennedy who has been a life time leader and we wish himwell into his retirement.

future of our Canadian Assemblyfootprint with the commitments toOakville.

We made it through the financialcrisis of 2008/09 but not withoutsome major sacrifices by all three bar-gaining councils and the locals ofthose councils. Coming out the darkyears we saw Ford start to turn largeprofits again in 2010, 2011 and 2012and heading into talks in 2012 wecommitted that we would defend anyfurther concessions and attempt to re-turn all laid-off members to the activeroles.

Ford led bargaining in 2012 andit wasn’t long before we were told thatthe company had major investmentsfor Oakville but no new engine pro-grams for the Windsor site. The bar-gaining committees were faced with acompany that was demanding that wefind a way to match the UAW two tiersystem and stay competitive into thefuture if we wanted investment. Ittook weeks of discussion, brainstorm-ing and determination but we found away to ensure that Oakville wouldbe successful in getting investmentthus allowing our laid-off members inWindsor the opportunity to transfer toOakville since there would be no op-portunities in Windsor for them to berecalled. The new Ten Year Wage Grow-in

came out of that round of bargainingwith the company recognizing thatthis new language put us in positionfor new investment now and into thefuture. The New Hire program alongwith some further concessions in theway of reducing long term care pre-miums allowed us to land the CD4.2platform for Oakville with a $700million dollar investment and alongwith some other insourcing actionsthis has led to the hiring of over 2200new members in Oakville. Thesewere tough decisions to make but

again the entire bargaining commit-tees from all Ford locals understoodwhat was at stake and stuck togetherto ensure that we maintained a futureat our last remaining assembly plantin Canada.

Now we are in 2016 bargainingand once again our futures are in jeop-ardy in Windsor. The 6.8L program isall that remains at Windsor EnginePlant and that product does not havea long shelf life left. At Essex we aredealing with reduced volumes of 5.0Lfor a lot of reasons but mainly be-cause of the introduction of smallerECOBOOST engines that have beenintroduced. The Ford Council alongwith the support of the Master andLocal bargaining committees at eachlocation came into bargaining sup-porting Local 200 by telling Ford thatthere will not be an agreement unlessthere is product and security for theWindsor Site.

Easy words to say but it will takethe same commitment, determination,solidarity and sacrifice that has beenshown in the past to achieve this forthe members in Windsor. The NewHire program in its entirety will playan integral role in ensuring a futurefor the Windsor site and it would beeasy to tell Ford that they have bil-

lions and we want everything backthat we have given up, but that justisn’t possible nor is it responsible forany site. The future of Ford in Canadadepends on the commitment of thebargaining committees to deliver anagreement that includes some gainsfor our members while cementing thefuture of Windsor, Oakville and ourdepots and the GM agreement did justthat for their members.

Our sisters and brothers inOakville have a future that was bornout of sacrifice and solidarity but thatfuture is only as good as the next col-lective agreement and we cannot beso short sighted as to think that we arebetter off on our own. Pattern Bar-gaining worked for all of us and in2002, it certainly worked for Fordwhen GM set pattern. The ChryslerWindsor Assembly plant wasawarded billions in investment inlarge part based on the New Hire pro-gram that the Ford bargaining com-mittee established as pattern in 2012.There is one saying that always ringstrue to me in bargaining and it is this“You may not always get what youwant but if you are truly doing yourjob as a leader, you will get what youneed”.

When you have a leadership role. . . cont’d on next page

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in bargaining you hold an awesomeamount of responsibility to yourmembers, their families and the com-munities we live and work in and withthat responsibility comes the opportu-nity to do it right or do it wrong andwe have lost enough plants, jobs, andfamilies over the past 20 years in ourindustry and this round of bargainingcannot be about getting it wrong andjeopardizing the future of Ford inCanada!

Solidarity is a two-way street andwe will need the solidarity of all ofour members and leadership to keepour jobs in Canada! Ford is a Globalcompany and our operations here areone bad move from being shut downand moved to other countries.

There are many out there thatwould like nothing better than to seeus fail and end up on strike and be-lieve me when I tell you that at thispoint that would be an easy solutionbut we cannot allow the voices andopinions of a few destroy the futurefor all of us! Going out on strike is theeasy part, getting back to work is dif-ficult and the lasting effects of a strikewill not bode well for those that thinkthat a strike will somehow get usmore! One day you are at the Top(Windsor in 2002 with 6300 membersand six plants) and the next day youare at the bottom (Windsor today with1500 members and three plants). Noone is bigger than the members whodepend on us to do what is right andthey all deserve a future based onmaking good decisions, not based onegos and promises.

I want to thank our membersalong with the Guardian Board Localsthat have given us their 100% supportand to those in the membership thatthink they can divide us for their ownagendas, STOP messing with othersfutures and keep it to yourself!

Librarians needour support

The Essex librarians have been onstrike for an incredible amount oftime and we need to help send a mes-sage to the powers that be at munici-palities across this region that theyneed to get back to the bargainingtable and negotiate a fair contract forthese workers.

If you can call your town council-lor in your municipality and voice thisconcern it would help to go a longway in helping this happen.

Also, if you are out and happen tosee these striking workers picketing,stop in for a few minutes, let themknow you support them and givethem a boost.Trans PacificPartnership Agreement

Once again we have a Governmentthat continues to back peddle on com-mitments made in the past. Althoughthe Trudeau Government has donemany good things for labour since

coming into power; they are still stay-ing silent or opposed on some majorissues for the labour movement as awhole.

The Government has stated pub-licly many times that they support theTPP and think it will be valuable toCanadians even though the researchshows quite the opposite; it showsthat this agreement will benefit therich and powerful and the multi con-glomerate corporations but will nothelp Canadians in any way.

Our very Canadian identity is injeopardy with this agreement and wemust continue to oppose it at all cost.Congratulationsto CUPW

The Canadian Union of PostalWorkers were able to secure a goodcontract for their members and it wasratified overwhelmingly and I wish toexpress my congratulations on behalfof the Guardian Board for their com-mitment and their success.

Congratulations is in order as members from Local 200 competed in theUnited Way RAM Tough Truck Pull. Through a combined effort of 24 teamsand 360 participants they were able to raise $77,639 to help some of themost vulnerable members of our community.


Bargaining is not easyLOCAL 444

ByDINO CHIODO

UniforLocal 444 [email protected]

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AAt the time of this writingyour master bargainingcommittee is in negotia-

tions with FCA to secure a numberof the priorities that were expressedby the membership utilizing ourbargaining surveys put out inMarch.

Investment is a top priority inour union but also as referenced byour members in those surveys. Weknow that without future invest-ment in the Brampton AssemblyPlant and the Etobicoke CastingPlant they will have a very limitedlife span left. Without a new paintshop, Brampton will not be able tosecure a new product past thisagreement. This is a major prob-lem for all of us. Any reduction inthe footprint in Canada that FCAholds will further put our facility inthe spotlight as the only place pres-

sure can be applied.The Canadian operations are set

up for investment and we fully ex-pect to attain this top priority dur-ing bargaining. We will also befighting hard for improvements tothe new-hire program as well aswages and lump sum paymentsthroughout the contract.

The solidarity of the GM bar-gaining team as they went throughthe process in Toronto was secondto none. We as an FCA committeehave also become very close as wework every day to make things bet-ter for our members in the variousfacilities.

The GM Master Committeewas able to do some remarkablethings within their facilities. Justimagine, a plant that was scheduledfor closure in 2019 by every singleauto analyst in the country that

looked at it as well as the corpora-tion saying their was no product orfuture for the plant. This groupthen was able to secure $554 mil-lion dollars in investments as wellas payment improvements in the 10year grow-in grid that means youmake more at a faster rate thanwhat an eight year grid would lookmost likely to look like. They se-cured large lump sum bonuses andthe highest signing bonus ever inCanadian auto bargaining, possiblyin all contracts of any industry inCanada. The achievements theyhave been able to make are ground-breaking and will secure that facil-ity, those jobs and help thecommunities of Oshawa, St.Catharine's and Woodstock formany years to come.


Seen are delegates from Local 444 which was well represented at the 2nd ConstitutionalConvention which was held in Ottawa.

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RetiringMembersThe following members retired from theworkplaces. The Executive & Member-ship of 444 wish these members the very

best in their new life.This list of Retirees includes inactivemembers (S&A and EDB) of Fiat

Chrysler Automobiles (FCA)

April, 2016James Grass...............................FCAAllan Phillips......................IntegramTeresita M, Mallare ...............CasinoMay, 2016Isaac Klassen.............................FCAAngele M. Lafontaine ...............FCAAnne L. Mackenzie................CasinoAnna Policella .........Peterson SpringJudith Rivard ......................IntegramWilhelm Wiebe ..................IntegramJune, 2016Terry Burrell .............................FCAAngela Hartley ..........................FCARonald Meloche ........................FCASurjit Virk .................................FCASinclair Wickham......................FCA

July, 2016Larry Cheff.................Vickard Bros.Michele Joworski.....................TRWWilliam King...........Peterson SpringBrian Lucier ..............................FCAArthur Manchester...Peterson SpringDaniel Rose...............................FCAChhang Taing .....................IntegramPekka Tanninen.........................FCAAugust, 2016Ben Galiboso ......................IntegramDavid Cowgill ...........................FCAMarcel Dault .............................FCARichard Gagnier ........................FCALeonard Jones ..............A.W.C. FCASeptember, 2016Larry Cheff................................FCARoger Goulard...........................FCADalton MacDonald....................FCABruce Ducharme .......................FCADouglas Hand............................FCAScott Havercamp.......................FCARichard Horne...........................FCAAnnette MacDonald ..................FCA

ObituariesWe are sorry to report the passing of the following members since the last issue.

The Executive and Membership of Unifor Local 444 extend their heartfeltcondolences to the bereaved families.

Steve Hammer. . . . . . . . . . . RetiredGiovanni “John” Caruso . . . RetiredAntonions “Tom”Nohra. . . . RetiredWillard “Bill” Reardon . . . . RetiredTim McKeen . . . . . . . . . . . . . ActiveUgo Fortuna . . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredAlfred “Fred” Lachance. . . . RetiredPaul Lenahan . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredKeith Garvey . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredClaude Clement . . . . . . . . . . RetiredWalter “Wally” Gulko . . . . . RetiredMichael Allsop. . . . . . . . . . ChryslerEdward Bellemore . . . . . . . . RetiredLeslie Verber . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredAldo Perlin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredRonald Lalonde . . . . . . . . . . RetiredJan (John) Spitse . . . . . . . . . RetiredHoarst Ballethin . . . . . . . . . . RetiredHarold H. Miller . . . . . . . . . . RetireGary Newman . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredRudolph Solar . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredMichael Quimby . . . . . . . . . RetiredAlfred “Fred” Burton . . . . . . RetiredGary Versnick . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredMario Verselli . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredJack Gardiner . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredAbe Harder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredDave Blais . . . . . . . . . . . . . ChryslerRick Reaume . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredWayne Girardin . . . . . . . . . . RetiredWilliam Lankin . . . . . . . . . . RetiredLudino Carvalho . . . . . . . . . RetiredJoseph O’Quinn . . . . . . . . . . RetiredPietro “Peter”Pettinato. . . . . RetiredStanley Niec. . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredKen Mercer . . . . . . . . . . . . ChryslerLawrence Corlett . . . . . . . . . RetiredStewart Jinkerson. . . . . . . . . RetiredJames Simpson. . . . . . . . . . . RetiredPetar Fuduric . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredSamuvlo “Samuel” Kovacs . RetiredMyles McDougall . . . . . . . . RetiredThomas Windibank . . . . . . . RetiredJohn Urquhart . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredHenry Maden . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredRaymond Soulliere . . . . . . . Retired

Charles Zammit . . . . . . . . . . RetiredDaniel McGinlay . . . . . . . . ChryslerNick Stanciu. . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredGary Vollans . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredRobert Stevenson . . . . . . . . ChryslerDusan Dosen . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredDonald Chapski . . . . . . . . . . RetiredWilliam H. Moody. . . . . . . . RetiredVito Tassielli . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredJimmy Clark. . . . . . . . . . . . ChryslerDennis J. Tofflemire . . . . . . RetiredCamille Gagnier. . . . . . . . . . RetiredMarcel Brasseur . . . . . . . . . ChryslerSylvio Bezaire . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredRudolphe Carriere . . . . . . . . RetiredMorley Kimball . . . . . . . . . . RetiredJavk Oslovcan . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredJakob Pfeiffer. . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredAntonio Rossi . . . . . . . . . . . . retiredGeorge Steinhoff . . . . . . . . . RetiredPatrick Stewart. . . . . . . . . . . RetiredRichard Terron. . . . . . . . . . . RetiredRonald Martin . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredBenjamin Westfall . . . . . . . . RetiredWilliam Ouimette . . . . . . . . RetiredBorden White. . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredGregory Forbes . . . . . . . . . . RetiredJessica Meloche . . . . . . . . . . RetiredMikhael “Mike” Malkoun . . RetiredMichael “Mickey” Rankin . . RetiredCarlo Mannina . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredRichard Shearon. . . . . . . . . . RetiredLeslie Stevenson . . . . . . . . . RetiredDario Castellucci . . . . . . . . . RetireeRathasisouk Sayarath. . . . . . RetiredSavo Urukalo . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredJohn Shuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredChet Berkes . . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredGerald Garant. . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredGiovanni Angotti . . . . . . . . . RetiredLlija Gledic . . . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredTheresa Jamieson. . . . . . . . . RetiredJoseph B. Najem . . . . . . . . . RetiredNil Desmarais . . . . . . . . . . . RetiredJohn Souchereau . . . . . . . . . Retired

Government Interventions NeededLOCAL 444

By DAVE CASSIDYUnifor Local 444 Secretary Treasurer,

President of Windsor-Essex Skilled [email protected]


AA t the time of this writing I amreflecting on all the work andtraveling that has gone into

laying the ground work for our con-tract. I appreciate the work everyoneis doing and appreciate your patiencewith me as my efforts are needed inbargaining. We recently receivednews that we are next up at the tablesand I could not be more eager to sitdown and fight for our membership!There is something about the processof two sides sitting across from oneanother with a deadline in dialogproving why our membership de-serves more. It is tough work , it'shard to be away from my family butI do enjoy it. I go with old adage:Win by persuasion when possible.Beat them at the table when neces-sary.

And give 'em HELL generally. . .Dias Getting it Done

I want to acknowledge the greataccomplishment of Jerry Dias andthe GM bargaining unit in bringing

work back to Ontario. Canada lostmore than 53,000 automotive jobsfrom 2001 to 2014, (according to astudy by Ontario’s Automotive PolicyResearch) and what that bargainingteam executed was right on! Hopingto stay on that path as we continuebargaining

Better FootingThough the company has not

changed their ways, we are bargain-ing from much better ground than inprevious years. Not only does ourworkforce continue to get it done,our sales are strong, our dollar is lowand also the political climate is per-fect!

Liberal MessOur Advantage

Wynne and her Liberals are well,a mess! Currently 14 points behindthe PC party. That's huge! More in-teresting is the fact that when polledwith an unnamed new leader the Lib-

erals regain the polling advantage.Wynne needs to find new friends.The last thing Wynne and her Liberalparty needs is a dip in our economyor worse yet more jobs leaving .

The auto industry though shrink-ing has been a mainstay of theprovincial economy. Yet relies oncheap electricity, which we oncehad, but which we all know the Lib-erals have utterly ruined!!! Utterly!!For example power users in Torontopay 123 percent more than Chicagocustomers, 50 percent more thanNashville and 37 percent more thanDetroit.

Now we’re looking down thedouble barrel of a cap-and-trade sys-tem and a debt that’s closing in on$350 BILLION dollars. Needless to

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Unifor Local 444 officers are seen donating on behalf of the membership $5000.00to the 58 CUPE 2974 striking library workers.

say Wynne and her Liberals areNOW more than willing to play balland help auto manufacturing jobs . . .to save Ontario. . . and her bacon.

“The labour relationsatmosphere in Canadahas changed” Trudeau

At the Federal level, Trudeau isat the top of the polls. One poll sawthe Liberal Party at an astonishing70% with Trudeau at 65% andclimbing. A Prime Minister couldnot be in a better position the exactopposite of Wynne. Before Trudeauwas elected and fate chose us to beseat mates on a plane to OttawaTrudeau told me he would be afriend to labour . Easy to say before

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Local 444 Secretary-Treasurer Dave Cassidy who was on the Resolution Committee is seenaddressing the delegates at the National Unifor 2nd Constitutional Convention held in Ottawa.

Dave Cassidy. . . cont’d

you are elected yet just recently atour Unifor convention while sittingvery comfortable in polls, he againsaid to all of us who were in atten-dance he will be a friend to labour.Tax dollars to companies is often un-popular but unfortunately it's a mustif we are going to compete. Not dri-ven by fear of the polls (unlikeWynne), Trudeau has stepped up andoffered Federal help in our negotia-tions. So much different then theother guy who occupied 24 SussexDrive. FCA Bargaining Info

Before I sign off here and getback at it I just wanted to add:

The give and take that occurs atthe bargaining table requires negoti-ations to remain nimble and ready tomove on issues that weren't in playthe day before or even an hour be-fore.

Negotiations also keep bargain-

ing deals close so that rumours don'tspread in the work site (where super-visors also work) and sensitivestrategies remain protected to get thebest tentative agreement for ourmembers. You could imagine thechaos and loss of bargaining lever-age that could result with a rumourmill in high gear filled with stale in-formation because events change soquickly during the negotiationprocess .

In a divide and conquer dynamic...only the COMPANY wins.

You all know, I make a habit ofgetting info too you. During bargain-ing like the above text explains wehave to keep bargaining info closeuntil a tentative is achieved . Havefaith in your bargaining team this iswhat we do. I will post when I canand always remember our strength isin our SOLIDARITY .

President’s ReportLOCAL 195

ByGERRYFARNHAMPresident,Unifor Local 195

Greeting Sisters and Brothers:Recently GM and our Unifor

members have ratified a new 4-yearcollective agreement. As our NationalPresident Jerry Dias said - "The gainsmade in this Agreement are historicand more than what has beenachieved in the past ten years. Uniforhas shown what is possible whenworkers have a union, and a unitedbargaining committee to speak ontheir behalf."

"I am proud to say today that wehave secured a bright future, one thatincludes good full-time jobs with ben-efits and wage increases for futuregenerations, and a solid economicbase for our communities and all ourmembers," said the Unifor-GM Mas-ter Bargaining Committee Chair,Greg Moffat of Local 222.

The new Agreement with 4,000Unifor members in Oshawa, St.Catharines and Woodstock includes:• $554 million in investment inCanada that provides job securitywith new product for Oshawa as itbegins to produce cars and trucks,stability to St. Catharines as vol-ume is shifted to the plant and im-provements at the parts distributioncentre in Woodstock.

• Conversion of 700 temporary posi-tions to permanent full-time jobstatus including benefits, a pension,a signing bonus, a $1,000 lumpsum increase and wage progres-sion.

• General wage increases totaling 4%over the life of the contract and alump sum totaling $12,000 overfour years.

• A signing bonus of $6,000. • An improved new hire program thatprovides thousands of dollars ofnew money in income earnings.

Obviously anytime we hear invest-ment is coming to Canada it is goodnews for the parts sector as it givesthose companies the opportunity andability to bid and obtain new work.

Therefore on behalf of all ourmembers at both Local 195 and theentire Independent Parts and Suppli-ers sector, we want to congratulate theentire GM bargaining committees ona job well done! And we wish FCAand Ford similar success, moving for-ward.

On another note, on WednesdayAugust 24th a Tornado touched downboth in LaSalle, Ontario and here inWindsor, Ontario. Two of our facili-ties that we represent were affected bythis event, Syncreon Automotivewhere the far end wall blew out anddamage was done to the roof of thisfacility, we are very thankful that noone was injured at this site. As wellKautex Textron was hit extremelyhard blowing out two walls and rip-ping the roof off. There was a few in-juries however. It is my understanding

that they were minor in nature. Onceagain we are very thankful that therewas no serious injuries even deathsthat occurred throughout this ordeal.As well, the employer continued topay a full 40 hours to all workersthroughout this ordeal and has sinceachieved getting this facility up andrunning at full capacity.

• • •Below is a list of newly ratified

Collective Agreements since our lastGuardian Report:NICKLESONTOOL & DIE

Our members at Nickleson Tool& Die ratified a new 3-year agree-ment. Highlights include: numerouslanguage improvements, improvedrepresentation time, increase to theirsafety shoe allowance and shopcoats/aprons will be provided uponrequest, improvements to their healthand welfare benefits. COLA at thesum of .89 cents per hour was folded


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Local 195 FCA Fire and Security representatives Keith Lauzon, Joe Denardiand Mario Moceri are seen having dialogue with Local 444 President andFCA Master Bargaining Chairperson Dino Chiodo during the recent set ofnegotiations.

Gerry FarnhamReport . . . cont’d

into the base rates for all classifica-tions. The COLA will be capped at1% and folded into the base wages oneach anniversary date of the collectiveagreement August 2017, 2018 &2019. Increases to their mileage whenperforming work that they travel towith their vehicle and increase to theirmeals at such time. Increase to theirpension of an additional .10 cents ineach year of this agreement. Thisagreement will bring the wages overthe life of this agreement on the highend to $32.09 plus COLA of 3% andon the low end of $20.17 plus 3%COLA. Congratulations to the Bar-gaining Committee: Shaun Manning,Chairperson, Darren Roy, Commit-teeperson, John Toth, 1st Vice Presi-dent, Local 195 and Mike Renaud,Nat’l Staff Rep.TITAN TOOL

Our Members at Titan Tool rati-fied a new 3-year agreement by a 88%margin on Wednesday, July 27-16.Highlights of this agreement are: Nu-merous Language improvements, oneadditional holiday, a lower qualifier toachieve vacation, increases to Ortho,Vision, Life Insurance, AD&D, De-pendent Life Ins, Skilled Trade-Toolswill be replaced as necessary. Pensionincrease to 5%, a Retiree supplementof $500.00 each year, to 5 current re-tirees. An early Retirement incentiveprogram with two options will beavailable to those that qualify, As a re-sult of the CWIPP wind up and theoutstanding monies owed to thoseemployees effected, a $2,000.00 pay-out will take place on the last year ofthis agreement. Wage supplements of$700.00 in August-2016, $400.00-2017 and $400.00-2018. Wages at thisfacility equal $21.00 on the low endand $29.39 on the high end. PlusC.O.L.A. of $1.32. Congratulations tothe bargaining Committee which con-sisted of Randy St . P ie r re –Chai rperson , Pa t Hickey–ViceChair, Bassam Bashir – Rec Secre-tary. Mark Mallot–Skilled Trade Rep.

Tony Ciampa–Financial Secretary,Unifor 195. Collette Hooson – Na-tional Staff Representative.PAPP PLASTICS

Our members at Papp Plastics rat-ified a new 3-year agreement on Sun-day, July 24th. Highlights include thefollowing: improvements in language,increase to vision care, paramedical,medical service and supplies, shiftpremium increases and increases of.50 cents in year one, .30 cents in yeartwo and .30 cents in year three of thisnew agreement, as well as $1.50 centincrease to the semi-skilled tradesworkers. Marta Nesin, Chairperson,Octavian Ioanesiu, Committeeperson,Manuela Lagura, Committeeperson,John Toth, 1st Vice President, Local195 and Mike Renaud, Nat’l StaffRep.COMFORT SUITES

Our members at Comfort SuitesDowntown ratified a new 3-yearagreement. Highlights include: nu-merous language improvements, af-ternoon shift and night shift increases,new uniforms in each year of thisagreement. Wage increases whichequal 10% over the life of this agree-ment, .50 cent increase immediatelyupon the ratification, .40 cents in Mayof 2017 and a .35 cent increase inMay of 2018, with an additional .25cents effective November 2018. Con-gratulations to the Bargaining Com-mittee of Jason Rainone, Chairperson,John Toth, 1st Vice President, Unifor195 and Mike Renaud, Staff Rep.

CANADIANENGINEERING

Our members at Canadian Engi-neering ratified a new 3-year agree-ment. Highlights of this agreementare: numerous language improve-ments, shift premium increases, traveland meal allowance increases, theemployer will cover all costs associ-ated with trade related courses.COLA of .87 cents rolled into thewages and COLA continues to run,vision increase, life insurance in-creases, pension increases, LTD in-

crease, wage increases of year one$1300.00, year two .25 cents per hourand year three .35 cents per hour.

UNIVERSITYOF WINDSORCAMPUS POLICE

Our Members at the University ofWindsor Campus Police ratified anew 3 year agreement on September20-2016 This was achieved by aroundthe clock negotiations and an exten-sion of approximately a half hourafter the strike deadline. The high-lights of this agreement calls for nu-merous language improvements,additional time giving for the Record-ing Secretary, shift premium in-creases, increases to physiotherapy,hearing test, increases to life insur-ance to $170,000.00 for active work-ers. Wage increases of 1.5% year one,1.25 in year 2 and 1.5 in year 3 of thisagreement. As well as special adjust-ments increases for Senior SpecialConstables. Congratulations to thebargaining committee of John Dekok- Chairperson, Mike Rapaich - Com-mitteeperson, Christine Fitzgerald –Committeeperson, Gerry Farnham-President Unifor 195 and Mina Sara-jcic-Staff Representative.EMRICK PLASTICS

Our members at Emrick Plasticsratified a new 3 year agreement onOctober 2-2016 this agreement alsocalls for numerous language improve-ments, new-8 hour shifts, a new holi-day-Family Day, improvements tobereavement leave, increase to P.E.L.,increases to tool allowances, specialadjustment of $1.00 per hour on thegrow in on wage schedule. New-Re-tirement incentive, Signing bonusesof $1000.00 year one, $750.00 year 2and $750.00 in year 3 of this agree-ment. Congratulations to the bargain-i n g c o m m i t t e e o f V i c k iWestworth-Chairperson, Judy Grant-Committeeperson, Kyle Chew-Com-mit teeperson , Tony Ciampa -Sec.-Treasurer, Unifor 195, GerryFarnham - President, Unifor 195 andMike Lovric - Staff Representative.

The Guardian –10

LOCAL 195

Investing in FutureGenerations of Retirees

ByTONY

CIAMPASecretary Treasurer

Unifor Local 195

II n my last Guardian report, Iwrote about the ORPP (OntarioRetirement Pension Plan) which

was to begin in 2017. Since that ar-ticle was published, the FederalGovernment engaged in discussionswith the provincial Finance Minis-ters around reforming the CPP. OnJune 21, 2016 a historic agreementto expand the CPP was reached. Asa result of this agreement, the On-tario government put the ORPP onhold and fully supported the agree-ment to expand the CPP.

In a communication released inJune, our president brother JerryDias welcomed the changes despitefalling short of Labour's goal to dou-ble CPP benefits. In the press releasehe stated “We would have preferredif the Finance Ministers had gonefurther, but this is still a significantgain. Higher benefits will result in atangible impact on the day-to-dayquality of life for future retirees."

Our Ontario Regional Director,Katha Fortier (now assistant to thepresident) in the press release recog-nized the key role of the Ontariogovernment. “The Ontario govern-ment deserves credit for making itclear they would go on their own ifneed be. I'm certain we would nothave a deal today without the lever-age provided by the ORPP, howevera stronger, universal, portable CPP isthe best outcome for the majority ofCanadians. "

Unifor members across Canadashould be proud of this historicalagreement. The campaign launchedby Unifor has led to the first benefitincrease in the plan’s 50 year history.

This is a testament of how, when wecome together, we can make a differ-ence. These changes will not benefitretirees today but is a legacy for fu-ture generations.

Why is this agreement impor-tant?• More than 60 % of working Cana-dians do not have a workplacepension plan.

• Most Canadians struggle to saveenough money for retirement.This is becoming more challeng-ing as hydro bills and the cost ofliving continue to increase and thenumber of well-paying jobs con-tinue to decrease.What changes are being pro-

posed?The following is an overview of

the changes that are part of this his-torical agreement:

The Guardian – 11

• CPP expansion will be phased inover seven years starting in 2019.

• Starting in 2019, mandatory con-tributions will be gradually in-creased.

• The changes will be fully imple-mented in 2025. At this time, it isestimated that Canadians will paybetween $9 and $42 more into theplan every two weeks.

• The maximum amount of incomesubject to CPP will increase by 14per cent, to $82,700.

• There will be a tax deduction onthe increased contributions by em-ployees.

• Future retirees will see their CPPbenefit increase from 1/4 of theiraverage annual income to 1/3. Do you want to know how the

proposed changes will impact yourpro jec ted CPP benef i t and

Proud members from Local 195 in this year’s Labour Day Parade recogniz-ing injured workers throughout all workplaces. An Injury to one is an injuryto all!


TONY CIAMPA. . . cont’d

contributions?Use the online calculator found

at http://www.cppenhancement.ca/to estimate the effect of the proposedchanges on your projected CPP con-tributions and benefits. This calcula-tor projects benefits under both theoriginal CPP rules and the proposedenhanced CPP rules.

Has the agreement been final-ized?

The changes to the CPP are notyet a done deal. In order for the Fed-eral government to table legislationin the House of Commons, it re-quires the signatures of a minimumof seven provinces representing atleast 2/3 of Canada's population.

In June, all provinces agreed tothe deal in principle and set July15th, 2016 as the deadline for ratifi-cation. As of today, B.C and Quebechave not yet ratified the deal. B.Chas expressed that they need moretime to seek public feedback. Ourpresident, brother Jerry Dias sent aletter to the Finance Minister of B.Curging the government to ratify thedeal. In the letter, brother Dias states“Expanding the CPP is an importantinvestment for the hard-workingpeople in Canada. It’s time to pro-vide more for the future. Actiontaken today to enhance the CPP willensure an adequate and secure retire-ment income for British Columbiansand millions of Canadians”. TheFederal Government hopes to intro-duce legislation later this fall.

Let’s continue to pressure thegovernment to move forward onthese changes. Our activism will re-sult in more adequate retirement in-come for future generations ofretirees.

As the fall approaches and 2016comes to an end, our Local will beThe Guardian – 12

reaching the 80th anniversary of theCharter that led to the birth of ourLocal. Early in 1936, the UnitedAuto Workers Union in Canadabegan its campaign to organize autoworkers in our community in whatwas then known as Kelsey Wheel.

On December 11, 1936, the firstCharter was signed which contained

the names of the first 16 members ofLocal 195. We are proud of thesemembers for all the risks that theytook, the sacrifices they made andtheir vision. I would like to take thisopportunity to thank all of our mem-bers, past and present for your con-tributions to the labour movementand particularly our Local. Youmake our union strong!

Unifor Local 195 Secretary-Treasurer Tony Ciampa along with Local 195delegates are seen at the National Unifor 2nd Constitutional Convention.

At the Constitutional Convention held in Ottawa, an emotional Emile Nabbout sup-ported by Sister Nichole Simpson from Accucaps Industries addresses the conven-tion floor about his workplace. There’s 200 workers at Kautex, an auto parts plantwhere the roof was torn off by the recent twister and was concerned if the plant wasgoing to be closed. We are pleased to announce the plant is up and running.

LOCAL 2458

ByBRUCEDICKIEPresident

Unifor Local 2458

Gordie Howe InternationalBridge

TT oday’s subject matter isone I believe to be of theutmost importance to

every resident of this region. Ithink it should be important toall in Ontario and indeed na-tionwide. It is something thatwill have a tremendous eco-nomic impact on this region andCanada’s economy as a whole.

That something is the newbridge crossing for the DetroitRiver. The Gordie Howe Inter-national Bridge is or was to becompleted by 2020. That nowlooks very doubtful. It has beencalled the most important infra-structure project in Canada.The Harper Conservative gov-ernment pushed for a newbridge for years and theTrudeau Liberals agreed, pledg-ing to complete the job, yet hereit is stuck in neutral.Canada and the U.S. have the

largest bilateral trade agreementin the world. It is valued at$600 billion a year. Over $500million a day crosses betweenDetroit and Windsor over theAmbassador Bridge. It is by farthe busiest border crossing inNorth America.The Herb Gray Parkway was

constructed at a cost of $1.4 bil-lion to facilitate getting trucktraffic from the 401 to the newbridge free of traffic lights andcongestion. It was designed toget the trucks off of Huron Linewhere there are about 18 trafficlights between the end of the401 and the AmbassadorBridge. The west end of Wind-sor has been divided by thatmess of traffic for more yearsthan most of us can remember.

DRIC, The Detroit River In-ternational Crossing project wasestablished in 2004. It was an

international project that in-volved multiple levels of gov-ernment on both sides of theborder. We had the federal,provincial and municipal gov-ernments at the table. The U.S.had the same. There was agree-ment across the board that it hadto be done. Everyone was allin. A study done for DRIC atthe time showed that 150,000jobs in the region and $13 bil-lion U.S. in annual productiondepended on the Detroit Wind-sor Crossing.

The Ambassador Bridgeopened in 1929, which makes it87 years old, roughly the sameage as its billionaire owner,Manual “Mat ty” Maroun.Matty, seemingly through nomore motivation than greed andhis own personal interests, hasbeen fighting this project fromthe outset. He has no concernfor the cities of Detroit or Wind-sor, no concern for the neigh-bourhoods that are destroyed,just a concern about keeping amonopoly that he never shouldhave had in the first place.

Matty has been able to influ-ence some American politicaldecisions on the bridge, but for-tunately he doesn’t have thatkind of influence here (at leastwe hope that’s true). He haslaunched 24 legal actionsagainst this project and he haslost them all. He has beenthrown in jail along with the

The Guardian – 13


Retired National Director of Health Care Ken Brown addresses the audienceat the recent National Constitutional Convention congratulating newlyelected Bob Orr as Unifor National Secretary-Treasurer.

BRUCE DICKIE. . . cont’d

President of his Bridge Com-pany for defying a court orderyet he continues to hinder thisproject.

Dwight Duncan is the in-terim chair of the Windsor De-troit Bridge Authority. It is theAuthority’s mission to get thebridge built. Since Duncan hasbeen appointed, he has backedoff of the 2020 completion dateand has been talking aboutCanada buying the AmbassadorBridge from Maroun. Thatdoesn’t sound like a guy who isfocused on getting the newbridge built.

We have spent too muchtime and money and effort onthis project not to complete it.It is too important to the econ-omy not to complete it. If Dun-can can’t do it then getsomebody who will?

I certainly don’t believe weshould be dealing with MattyMaroun but if it will be quickerand less expensive to buy himout rather than fight him, so beit, buy the damn thing. The an-cient Ambassador Bridge is inneed of so much work and theconstant traffic delaying repairswon’t change a thing.

It’s time to form a coalitionwith citizen groups in Detroitand Michigan and raise holyhell with the political establish-ment to get the new bridge builtNOW.

As I said at the outset, Iwrote about this because I thinkit is of vital importance, becauseI believe we need a call to ac-tion to put some feet to the fireand frankly because our eco-nomic livelihoods depend on it.

Unifor Local 2458 Secretary-Treasurer Tullio Diponti along with ShellySmith are seen at the podium nominating Bob Orr for Unifor's

National Secretary-Treasurer.

Seen are members from Unifor Local 2458 who attended the recentNational Unifor 2nd Constitutional Convention.

First Vice-President Mike Kisch along with his wife Annie are seen atParliament Hill in a rally to recognize the National Day of Reconciliationfor Aboriginal persons during the recent 2nd Constitutional Convention.

The Guardian – 14

ExtendicareBargaining Update

ByTULLIODIPONTI

Secretary TreasurerUnifor Local 2458

LOCAL 2458

TThe following bargainingupdate was sent to ourmembers at Extendicare

this week and expresses thefrustration of the entire nursinghome sector in this 2016 roundof negotiations. Workers haveseen very meager wage en-hancements; totalling only2.8% over the last four years.Despite this, their workloadcontinues to increase and theyare exposed to some sort ofworkplace violence on an al-most daily basis. Unifor nurs-ing home workers areconfident we can count on thesupport of our entire member-ship as we work towards a fairsettlement.

The Unifor Master Bar-gaining Committee is continu-ing its work to achieve a faircollective agreement on yourbehalf. On September 8, 2016,bargaining representatives at-tended Conciliation hearingswith Extendicare overseen byOntario Ministry of LabourMediator Diane Parson. At thattime, Extendicare offered anew monetary figure; one thatthe union did not feel wouldsatisfy the membership. Subse-quently, a teleconference washeld with the Local Presidentsfor Extendicare units whounanimously rejected the em-ployer's offer.

"We simply were not goingto bring a substandard offer toour members," said Unifor As-sistant to the President KathaFortier. "We're committed toachieving a fair pay increase,that's been very clear from thebeginning and it should becrystal clear to Extendicarenow."Following the rejection of theoffer the bargaining committeefiled a "no board" request,meaning the committee doesnot believe further negotiationwill lead to a new tentativeagreement.

Options going forward in-clude taking the unresolved is-sues to binding arbitration. OnSeptember 23, SEIU will enterarbitration with a large numberof nursing homes in its centralgroup. As this arbitration maybe precedent setting, our unionand CUPE have extended re-search support to SEIU. Yourbargaining committee willcarefully follow these proceed-ings as we determine our nextaction.

"This has been a longprocess but we will keep work-ing until we achieve ourgoals," said Unifor Health CareDirector Corey Vermey. "Nowis the time for us to standshoulder to shoulder as we seethis through the final stages."

To recap what has hap-pened, members are remindedof the following:• negotiations for a new col-lective agreement began onJune 21

• non-economic issues wereagreed upon shortly aftertalks began

• to date no agreement onwages could be reached,leading to the failed concili-ation process

During this period, anawareness campaign waslaunched and we asked themembership to continue toproudly wear the lanyards andwristbands distributed to carrythe message that we are unitedin our demand for a safe, re-spectful workplace, improvedconditions and fair wages.Dignity 4 Residents -

Fairness for care givers!

The Guardian – 15

BySCOTT

RICHARDSONChairperson

• UNIFOR NATIONAL TEXASHOLD’EM TOURNAMENTSunday, November 13, 2016Deadline: November 4, 2016Local 200/444 Hall

• UNIFOR REGIONALBOWLING TOURNAMENTJanuary, 2017Applications availableNovember 15th

Check our Website atwww.uniforsworc.ca

and/or “UNIFOR SWORC” on Facebook for

applications, future tournaments andPast Tournament Results

SWORC

UpcomingEvents

E-mail:[email protected]

The Guardian – 16

The members of SouthWestern Ontario Recreation Council are from variousWindsor & Essex-Kent County Locals representing their respective members.They volunteer and work within this Council to ensure Unifor sponsored tour-naments run effectively so that our members can benefit from them. AllSWORC members volunteer their own time to attend monthly meetings andevents.

Our website www.uniforsworc.ca is a useful tool to download tournamentapplications and to check the results of past tournaments. You may also contactyour Recreation Chairperson and/or the tournament director through our web-site. Therefore, if you don’t see any postings of tournaments in your workplace,you will see it on our website. Join our group on Facebook at “UNIFORSWORC” for more information.

We encourage all Unifor members to participate and join in our friendlycompetitions.

FISHING TOURNAMENT Another successful fishing tour-

nament organized by Mal McIntoshand his volunteers. The weather wasabsolutely beautiful for the AnnualBud Jimmerfield Memorial FishingDerby held on May 22, 2016. A totalof 110 entries were received andapproximately 40 fish were mea-sured. All those attended enjoyedgreat food, refreshments and swap-ping fish stories. Final results are asfollows:Special Prize Winners:Perch1st Jim Walker, Loc. 195 13. 1/2”2nd Rob Dotto, Loc. 444 13. 1/4”3rd Debbie Dotto, Loc. 444 12. 1/2”Pickerel1st Brenden Gignac, Loc. 444 30. 1/8”2nd Peter Gignac, Loc. 444 28”3rd Len Pillon, Loc. 89 26. 7/8”

We hope to see you all, onceagain, on the May long weekendnext year.REGIONAL GOLFTOURNAMENT

On May 29, we held our Re-gional Golf Tournament. Congratu-lations to the low rounds of the day,

on the women’s side, Patty Marcusof Local 200 shot 86 and on themen’s side, Jordan Davison of Local444 shot a 68. The following quali-fied for the National tournament tobe held on August 13 in Windsor:Women’s FliteGross - 1. Patty Marcus, Local 200

2. Heather Brunelle, Loc 200Net - 1. Michelle Lapointe, Loc. 444

2. Karon Brennenstuhl, Loc. 1498Men’s A FliteGross - 1. Jordan Davison, Loc. 444

2. Marvin Wilson, Loc. 444Net - 1. Curtis Campbell, Loc. 594

2. John Maurina, Local 1973Men’s B FliteGross - 1. Jeff Stewardson, Loc. 1001

2. Wray Pollock, Loc. 127Net - 1. Gerry Bump, Loc. 1959

2. Mike Brown, Loc. 200 Men’s C FliteGross - 1. Roman Zakrajsek, Loc. 222

2. Vince Bavetta, Local 1973Ne - 1. Jim Cousineau, Local 1959

2. Dan Derenoski, Local 1959Men’s D FliteGross - 1. Jeff Brundage, Local 200

2. Cory Sammon, Local 127 Net - 1. Ted Gagnon, Local 444

2. Danny Derose, Loc, 1959

UNIFOR NATIONAL GOLFTOURNAMENT

The Unifor National Golf Tour-nament began on August 13th withgreat potential and high hopes formassive drives and championshipputs. Unfortunately mother naturaltook control and cast down severalbursts of showers and storms. Playwas suspended several times andeventually the decision was madeto call off the event. In the end,everyone had a great meal, goodtimes and good cheer. Everyone re-ceived a prize for participating.Thanks to all the volunteers andgolfers who made the best of thesituation.

LOCAL 240

Changes at the LocalBy

JIMANGUSPresident,

Unifor Local 240

away which she has promised to al-ways take. This overdue and more thanwell deserved appointment was one ofTheresa’s dreams and something sheworked very diligently for. Our losshere at 240 is many workplaces gain inthe GTA. On behalf of the executiveand membership of our Local Union, Ithank Theresa for her mentorship, hersupport that she always has been sogenerous in giving to me. We havebeen through many battles togetherand I’ll always have her example toguide me going forward. Good Luckand Much Love my President. You aremissed.

As you might be noticing, thetheme recently at Local 240 is change.Our executive committee vacancieswere filled just this week, Congratula-tions to our newly elected 1st VicePresident, Sister Jodi Nesbitt,Trustees:, Sisters, Stacey Ferguson, Jo-layne Janisse and Tena Attwater-MacLean and Guide, Sister TammyDunford, our recently appointed 2nd

Vice President, Sister Julie Kotsis-Wilder and our newly acclaimedRecording Secretary Sister PaulaBastien Stedman. Our Executive boardis now compete and ready to meet theneeds of our members. I look forwardto working closely with all of them aswe enter a very busy period of bargain-ing on the horizon.

May I offer my sincere thanks toall our candidates who stood up andwere counted in this election and forunderstanding the process and thelearning we all went through as aLocal Union and will ultimately bene-fit from. It is not easy to come to thedecision to stand for election and weappreciate and salute that commit-ment.

The learning just mentioned willcome from our dedicated ElectionsCommittee, a truly professional, orga-nized, thoughtful and thorough groupof sisters who packed three weeks of

The Guardian – 17

Greetings,This is my very first report for The

Guardian. Some of you may know meas the Vice-President of this GreatLocal Union. Well, that has changedsignificantly, and there is a bit of astory.

To sum up, our terrific, much lovedand respected President has left thebuilding. Theresa Farao was appointedas a Unifor National Representative ef-fective Sunday, July 24th, which Imust say left some very big shoes tofill. I want to congratulate Theresa onthis wonderful development. It hasbeen her commitment to workers ,equity, inclusiveness, human rightsand the members of our Local Unionalong with so many other things that Iknow she did in our community andbeyond that checked all the boxes forUnifor and she answered the call.

Sadly the call came from Torontowhere Theresa now finds herself basedout of. Too far for my comfort level,but as close as a phone call or email

Proud Unifor members from Local 240 are seen marching in the Labour Day Parade


[email protected]@gmail.com

LOCAL 240. . . cont’d

work into as many days. We all owethem our gratitude for a job well doneand they will be a very valuable re-source to future committees and to ourLocal Union in providing an excellenttemplate for elections to come. Thanksto Sister Courtney Rup, Chairpersonand her committee, Sisters: MonicaAnzolin, Brooke Bondy, ShelleyGouin and Trish Longson.

To a d d i t i o n a l v o l u n t e e r s ,scrutineers and activists who helpedcampaign, carried ballot boxes, stayedvery late to observe counts andprocess, a vote of thanks as well. Toemployers who allowed us to poll ourmembers on their premises, we thankyou too.

Finally, to our members and re-tirees who participated in the democ-ratic process and voted, attendednominations meetings, had thoughtfuldiscussion and rendered a decision,thank you for your solidarity and con-tinued support. We will all do our bestto make all members and workplacesfeel included as part of this great LocalUnion. This Local Union is about youand you are your Local Union.

We recently ratified CollectiveAgreements at Freeds of Windsor andour newest unit Harmony In Action.

FREEDS OF WINDSORCongratulations to Sister Karren

Burdge, Chairperson and her commit-tee Brothers Ian Craigmyle and BrianBobbie on a new three year agreementratified by 83 percent of the members.The committee’s dedication resulted inan agreement being achieved in justthree days. Special thanks to TheresaFarao for her participation and leader-ship in this last negotiation before herappointment and National Representa-

tive Colette Hooson for her guidanceand support.

Some improvements were: LongOverdue Wage Increases and Pay Eq-uity Resolutions, Improvements in Be-r e a v emen t , S e n i o r i t y, Un i o nRepresentation and Recognition andCoverage. Sick Pay and the addition ofPEL to the new agreement.HARMONY IN ACTION

Congratulations to Sisters: TonyaHennin, Chairperson and BargainingCommittee Members, Sister DeniseBaxter and Sister Sara Chenier. Thisall new First Agreement was ratifiedby 100% of the Bargaining Unit. Thiswas a long struggle with a very toughset of many meetings with the Execu-tive Director and Board of Directors ofthis Non-Profit day facility for Devel-opmentally and Physically Challengedclients. Many thanks to Regional Di-rector, Brother Jack Robinson, assistedby Sister Jodi Nesbitt and past Presi-dent, Sister Theresa Farao.

The collective agreement achievedwill serve the members well and reme-died some issues that precipitated theorganizing of the bargaining unit in-cluding the restoration of Paid SickTime. In addition, wage increases werealso bargained along with a host ofthings that will allow the membershipsome leverage in dealing with the em-

The Guardian – 18

ployer. The newly elected committeeof Sisters Tonya, Sara and Denise arealso working to make their workplacebetter in conjunction with our LocalUnion. The progress has been slow,but they are a fearless group who willwin the day.

BARGAINING SEASONWe will move ahead into additional

bargaining rounds with The WindsorStar, Canadian Salt, Hudson’s Bay andGreen Shield in the months ahead aswell as Ford where our Local Unionrepresents salaried workers. As I writethis, Ford awaits their turn in engagingthe employer in the Detroit Three bar-gaining now under way. The Fordgroup under the leadership of BrotherMark Radvanyi will take part in thechallenge our Union faces to enhanceand preserve the historic Ford footprintin Windsor/Essex and indeed Canada.All this bargaining will be challenging,but I am confident our solidarity andhard work will carry us through toachieve our goal to protect our mem-bers.

In closing, I look forward to lead-ing the dedicated members of UniforLocal 240 through the challenges thatwill face us in the upcoming year andanticipate another milestone anniver-sary we will celebrate in 2017.

Seen joining in on the rally to recognize the National Day of Reconciliationfor Aboriginals which was held in Ottawa are Retired National CAW Presi-dent Ken Lewenza, Sisters Paula Bastien Stedman, Jodi Nesbitt and AngelaDivitaris

The Guardian – 19

LOCAL 240

CCongratulations to the 2016Len Campbell BursaryAward recipient Brayden

Houle. Brayden is the son of GreenShield Canada member KathieHoule. He is a student that goesabove and beyond to help others inneed. Over the years he has helpedwith numerous community organiza-tions and regional and internationalevents including the UnemployedHelp Centre, Downtown Mission,Ontario Summer Games and the In-ternational Children’s Games. Bray-den has just started his first year atthe University of Windsor in thenursing program and we wish himall the best in his studies.Labour Day

We had a great turn-out at theLabour Day parade. It was great tosee everyone come out and walk insolidarity and strength to celebrate

the contributions that working peo-ple have made in our community aswell as the struggles we continue toface.Supporting our LibraryWorkers – CUPE Local 2974

Our library workers have now

ByANGELA DIVITARISSecretary Treasurer

Unifor Local 240

Len Campbell Bursary AwardRecipient: Brayden Houle

Angela Divitaris, Jim Angus, Len Campbell, BraydenHoule, recipient of the Len Campbell Bursary Award,

Kathie Houle and Jodi Nesbitt. Unifor Local 240 members getting ready to march.

been on the picket lines for over 90days. Local 240 has been out walk-ing the picket line, at town councilmeetings and standing by their sideduring their Solidarity Rally. Pleasejoin them on the picket line to showyour support.


Angela Divitaris. . . cont’d

Children’s ChristmasParty – SAVE THE DATE

The Children’s Christmas partywill be on Sunday, November 20that the Serbian Centre. Details andsign-up information will be posted inyour workplaces in October.

Retirees Christmas Banquet -SAVE THE DATE

We will be having our annualretirees Christmas banquet on Fri-day, December 9th at 12:00 pm. Thebanquet will be at the GiovanniCaboto Club. Invitations will bemailed out in early November withticket information.

LOCAL 1959

ByBILL WARK

President,Unifor Local 1959

Greetings,The next couple of months for the

membership and committees ofLocal 1959. Quarry bargaining isfirst up for the members and bargain-ing committee in the upcomingweeks. The membership held theiramendment meeting in Septemberand identified some concerns fortheir membership moving forward.The bargaining committee is sched-uled to meet later in September tocorrelate their demands and preparefor the upcoming round of bargain-ing. Labour relations here have cer-tainly evolved since the sitesacquisition by Walker Industries.There is one grievance slated for ar-bitration at this workplace.

Precision Plastics continues toremain steady even in the times ofDetroit Three bargaining. There hasbeen some new presses moved intothe plant. The plant has recently hadsome of it's members retire, so onbehalf of the membership and exec-utive of the Local, I'd like to con-gratulate them on their service andwish the retirees all the best in theirnew careers as a retirees.

Preparations continue for K+SWindsor Salt bargaining beginningin January of 2017 at both facilities.Both sites are gathering employeedemands and concerns regardingtheir respective sites in preparationof the upcoming bargaining. TheWindsor facility has a new commit-tee working on their behalf and aredoing a very good job respectingtheir membership and working ontheir behalf. Both sites have seen achange in top management positions,and in conjunction to these changesboth bargaining committees continue

Busy Times AheadFor Local 1959

to work to represent their respectivememberships. Production has re-mained steady at the Fine Salt Facil-ity and the Ojibway mine preparesfor safety max production and sometech updates for the new machineryacquisition.

Virtually everyone knows some-one or has a direct connection to arelative or neighbour affected by thecurrent round of Detroit Three bar-gaining, I remain confident that theleadership teams for all the commit-tees can negotiate collective agree-ments tha t wi l l sa t i s fy thememberships needs and secure thenecessary product allocation thatwill continue to see Canada as amajor player in the global automo-tive sector.

Shifting the focus a bit, ourLocal is being a lead sponsor for theupcoming years United Way cam-paign. Remember the many facets ofthe United Way affects our commu-nity in a positive way through manyservices. Whether it be peer mentor-ing, creating sustainable foodsources, through various counselingservices or making life easier for oursenior population, the United Wayhelps. Unifor traditionally plays avery large role in the success of thecampaign. Whatever your gift, be itfinancial or volunteering, your part,our part, doesn't go unnoticed andhelps better Windsor Essex Countyin many ways. Together we can allhelp the United Way make a positiveimpact in bettering our communitytogether.

The Guardian – 20

LOCAL 1941

President’s Report Autoliv

Plant population is currently at174 with 3 members on layoff due tothe Coating Department not switch-ing from 8 hour shifts to continental.A new coating line will be added tothe operations at this facility begin-ning October 1st, 2016, the eta forfull production is April 1st, 2017.There is a lot of activity in the facil-ity of relocating equipment. On Sep-tember 29th and October 1st therewill be an open house, and are re-questing donations to go to theHospice of Chatham-Kent. Congra-tulations to Kathy Ritchie on her re-tirement.

AccurcastPlant population is currently 127

with no layoffs. This unit recentlyratified a new 3 year agreementwhich saw language improvementsto the grievance procedure and over-time. Over the life of the agreementthey will receive a 5% increase inwages, special increases were ob-tained for skilled trades and newhires, and increases to their pensioncontribution. Also included in thisagreement was strengthened EFAPand Women’s advocate language.Congratulations to Steve Millyard(Chairperson), Paul Fraleigh ( Com-mitteeperson), Pat Stuart (Commit-teeperson), and Jason Johnson(Skilled Trades), job well done.

Hudson ManorThis retirement home has 28

members. Recently they ratified anew collective agreement at 100%.

Included were increases included 4%over 3 years, improved uniform al-lowance, increased vacation, and theaddition of a drug card. There con-tinues to be three outstanding griev-ances, one of which is slated forarbitration. I would like to congratu-late Edna Larsh (Chairperson), Jan-ice Guy (Committeeperson), and JenDrummond (Committeeperson), –you have provided great representa-tion for your members.Mahle

This unit has recently hired 11new members, bringing the plantpopulation to 192. Business remainsbusy resulting in mandatory Satur-days and voluntary Sundays. Therecontinues to be a lot of activity in theinstallation of new assembly linesand injection molding machines.Elections are slated for October 4th,

2016 for all in-plant positions, Iwould like to wish all candidates thebest. The current Collective agree-ment expires August 2017. Congrat-ulations to Tom Toma on yourretirement.

Tilbury Manor NursingHome

This long term care home cur-rently has 80 members with no lay-offs, with full census. Ministry ofHealth has been in doing their annualinspection. The workplace commit-tee was successful in retaining one oftheir full time lines. There is one out-standing grievance that has to dealwith the job posting procedure andnot awarding to the most senior ap-plicant. Best wishes to Lynn Beau-soleil on your retirement.

By BOB ASHTON


The Guardian – 21

President Bob Ashton looks at the podium as National President JerryDias address the delegates at the recent convention held in Ottawa.

Bargaining is in full swing withthe Detroit Three and at the mo-ment, Unifor has a tentative

agreement with GM that will go beforetheir membership shortly. During thisset of negotiations, the consistent mes-sage that has been set before the De-troit Three is that product commitmentand investment are top priorities. Theunion has identified a need of productand investment from each company tohelp keep the automotive producingfootprint from disappearing in Canada.The details of the GM tentative agree-ment have not been released yet, but itappears that National President JerryDias and the GM Master Bargainingteams has been successful in protect-ing their facilities. The deal includesinvestments and product commitmentsat GM’s Oshawa, Ontario, assemblyplant and new production volume atthe St. Catharines, Ontario, engine andtransmission plant. Also, approxi-mately 700 temporary workers at GMwould be given full-time status underthe deal. The investments fulfill a keygoal, particularly at Oshawa, where novehicles were slated to be made be-yond 2019. For something of a first,the St. Catherines portion of increasedproduction volume is based on takingengine production currently in Mexicoand bringing it back to Canada.

What an achievement it is to beable to say that it is possible to takeproduct from Mexico and bring it backto Canada! For the longest time,whenever product was moved or out-sourced to Mexico, it was never ex-pected to come back. The low labourwages, plentiful free trade deals andinvestment incentives from the Mexi-can government were too great of a

LOCAL 1498

President’s ReportBy STEVE MORASH

President, Unifor Local 1498

benefit to give up. Sure there were thecosts of doing business, like the per-ception of low quality and that you hadto send out Human Resource managersin pickup trucks to round up enoughworkers to fill in gaps to keep produc-tion running. But the benefits out-weighed the downside of it all, right?

Perhaps at one time, but not anylonger.

During the recent GM negotia-tions, there was an article by BrentSnavely of the Detroit Free Press re-porting that the Canadian Federal gov-ernment was looking to change theterms of the Automotive InnovationFund program. It currently offers au-tomakers low interest loans to supportinvestments in Canada. The problemis that no automotive company wasusing this fund. But now the govern-ment is considering changing the termsfrom being a loans program to a grantprogram. This is exactly what Mexico

The Guardian – 22

is doing to attract investment, it givesmoney to companies to setup shop,provide labour and cut through all thered tape. If by changing the programand helping out with reducing the redtape, the Canadian government canhelp create some headways in attract-ing investment to this country and be-come a competitor in attractinginvestment. Some people don’t thinkthat governments should get into pro-grams like that; they believe compa-nies should want to invest in a countryon their own without assistance.

But the world doesn’t run that wayanymore. Our government has to playa role in attracting business – not onlyautomotive, but other sectors as well.A well designed investment programto attract company’s investment andfair trade policy are fundamental to thehealth of the Canadian economy. Theworkers of this country need thischange to keep this glimmer of hopeof bringing back work from Mexico,to keep good paying jobs here in thiscountry, for the future of our kids andtheir kids.

If the Liberal government actslike the Harper government and sits ontheir hands on the sideline, they’ll bewatching this country wither on thevine while other countries flourish andprosper.

The Directors are:Local 195–Gerry Farnham, Tony CiampaLocal 200–Chris Taylor, Dan CassadyLocal 240–Jim Angus, Angela DivitarisLocal 444–Dino Chiodo, Dave CassidyLocal 1498–Steve Morash, Charmaine TurtonLocal 1941–Bob Ashton, Dean MitchellLocal 1959–Bill Wark, Clovis CôtéLocal 2027–Steve Taylor, Darryl McLeanLocal 2458–Bruce Dickie,Tullio DiPonti

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LOCAL 2027

CC urrently at Local 2027 wehave no one on layoff and wehave an afternoon shift in

many departments. The afternoonshift started up again on August 15th2016 after a brief (6 week) afternoonshift that ran back in May-June2016. This is in preparation for theChristmas rush as well as keeping upwith orders. It seems like we are get-ting closer to running an afternoonshift on a steadier basis.

New member orientation wentvery well. We have had all newmembers that got their seniority gothru the orientation, except 3 so far.We have seen awesome participationfrom our new members. We have anew Youth Committee Representa-tive (Luc Limoges), Health andSafety Rep. (Jason Verbeem),Human Rights Rep. (Ted Groen),Women Committee Rep. (Terrie Far-rand) which are all new members,and also a Worker with DisabilityRep. (Steve Moon) and the secondHealth and Safety Rep. (WayneDresser). Thanks to all of you fortaking the time and making an effortto help your fellow union brothers

and sisters here at work and the peo-ple in our community!!

The hiring spree continues atHiram walker, but not in a goodway! The company continues to hirewhat they refer to as temps, whichmeans that they are hiring employeeswith no intention of allowing themto get seniority even though we havea lot of work for them. The companyhas hired 57 people this year alone,10 of which have gotten seniority.The others have worked anywherefrom a couple days to 85 days andthen let go and replaced with anothergroup with the same result.

We have had a total of 132 peo-ple hired since 2014, 24 of whichhave gotten seniority and we havehad a total of 32 retirements in thesame time frame. We feel the com-pany is abusing our probationary pe-riod to accomplish this shamefulway of treating people living in ourcommunity.

On behalf of these workers weheld a small protest at this year’slabour day parade, thanks to all themembers for their participation.

President’s ReportBy

STEVETAYLOR,


The Guardian – 23

• The Bay• Sears• Freeds of Windsor• Windsor Star• CAA (Canadian Automobile

Association• Hiram Walker (Spirits)• Diageo (Seagram’s Crown

Royal)• Motor City Chrysler (Only fully

unionized dealership in Windsor)

• Radisson• Provincial Chrysler (Service)• Caesars Windsor• FCA Canada• Ford• General Motors• Motor City Credit Union• Performance Ford Service• Travelodge Hotel• Veteran Cab• Jamieson Laboratories

(Vitamins in stores)• Tilbury Cement• Windsor Salt• Beach Grove Golf and

Country Club• Comfort Suites• Green Shield Canada

Shop Wisely – ShopUnion – Shop Unifor

We would like to take this op-portunity to thank the member-ship and their families forpatronizing the facilities weserve and buying the productswe build. Buying Unifor union-ized products re-inforces ourcommitment to our commu-nity. Thank you!

Rob Sabourin, Steve Taylor and Gaby Ghazali

Windsor AreaOffice Update

WINDSOR AREAOFFICE UPDATE

It has been approximately ninemonths since John Biekx, memberof Local 444 and Shelley Smith,member of Local 2458 have been

utilized as member organizers working under the direc-tion of Aaron Neaves, National Area Organizer in our of-fice. In this short period of time, they have organized ninenew workplaces in the Windsor and Chatham area to-talling over 600 new Unifor members. These memberswork in Auto plants, Health Care, Gaming, and Retail.This is a great example of the diversity in our Union.

Great work by Aaron, John and Shelley and congrat-ulations and welcome to these 600 new members in join-ing our Union and obtaining a voice in their perspectiveworkplaces. The organizing department is having on-going discussions at numerous other workplaces who areinterested in becoming organized and joining Unifor.

I want to congratulate the Hiatus House on their 40thAnniversary on behalf of the Windsor Area Office andUnifor in our community National Representative, Co-lette Hooson from our office accepted an award on behalfof our office recognizing Unifor for its long standing con-tributions to this organization. MAKE IT FAIR CAMPAIGN

Unifor has been participating in the “Make it FairCampaign” which is being led by the Ontario Federationof Labour (OFL). The Ontario Government is currentlyreviewing our Provinces Labour Laws. This campaign isour opportunity to Make it Fair for millions of workersacross Ontario. It’s a campaign for decent work, safeworking conditions, decent hours, vacation entitlements,access to unions, precarious work, to end discriminationin a $15.00 minimum wage and much more, and to raiseawareness about the terrible impact this trade deal willhave on all Canadians. At the time at writing this articlea rally is planned by the Ontario Federation of Labour(OFL) for October 1st at Queen’s Park in Toronto. Therally will be well attended by Unifor members in ourcommunity and is an opportunity to let our Ontario Gov-ernment know we are committed to the “fight for $15.00and fairness”. TPP TRANS PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP

Unifor is also continuing to be vocal on the repercus-

ByJACK ROBINSON

Unifor Canada Windsor Area Director

The Guardian – 24

Unifor participants at CUPE Local 2974 Essex CountyLibrary Workers picket line, in Leamington. Pictured-above are; Area Director Jack Robinson, Jodi Nesbitt,Chris Buckley, President of the OFL, Angela Divitarisand Paula Bastien-Stedman.

MP Tracey Ramsey was a Guest Speaker at our Con-stitutional Convention held in Ottawa, in August. Pic-tured-above are; Jack Robinson, Jodi Nesbitt, TraceyRamsey, Angela Divitaris and Paula Bastien-Stedman.

The Windsor Essex County BSO (Behavioural Sup-ports Ontario) is the Lead Team providing support pro-grams to Long Care Homes and our Pictured-above areour Unifor members on this team; Kelly Schiefer, JackRobinson, Stefanie Laraime, and Isabell Taylor.

sions to working Canadians if this trade deal goes through.The campaign “Imagining a fair trade future” is an on-goingcampaign allowing our voice to be heard. We are watchingUnited States very closely, if the U.S. does not approve sucha trade deal it will end the deal, however we are continuingto be prepared with this campaign if the U.S. does partici-pate and the trade deal moves forward.

By MARKBARTLETT

President,Windsor Regional

EnvironmentCouncil

Unifor Windsor Regional Environmental Council

Windsor Essex Community RightTo Know (WECRTK)

Remington Park WhiteFlags Campaign StudyResults

A sample of the white flags placedin the Remington Park neighbourhoodand analyzed for particulate by the Uni-versity of Windsor show particles re-lated to industry, auto and train traffic.The World Health Organization basedInternational Agency for Research onCancer (IARC) declared particulate aClass 1 human carcinogen in 2013. Par-ticles 10 micrograms or smaller can beinhaled into the lungs and cause cancer.The results of our WECRTK studyshow that 41% of the particles analyzedwere below this size.

Windsor Essex CountyHealth Unit (WECHU) Rem-ington Park Cancer ClusterStudy

The major concern of residents andthe WECRTK in this area is exposure toair pollution.

The WECHU stated that “Air pollu-tion from nearby industry, motor vehicletraffic, and rail transportation were con-cerns shared.” The WECHU releasedtheir study results at a town hall meetingon Sept. 8. One of the conclusions ofthe report was “tobacco smoke was theonly lung cancer carcinogen that all 12people were exposed to in this study.Other risk factors were present, but notconsistent among all people. The HealthUnit will continue to monitor lung can-cer rates in Remington Park and willcontinue to work with our partner agen-cies to inform our community on howto lessen their risk of developing can-cer.”

The media reported that many resi-The Guardian –25

dents were upset and angry that, onceagain, their lifestyle was being blamefor their illness. Many asked why othercancers weren’t studied.

I strongly believe we should de-mand that a more comprehensive studyof the effects of pollution on residentsof Remington Park and all of Windsorshould be funded and undertaken by ourgovernment.

I think the WECHU did the bestthey could with the resources allocatedbut I agree with Ward 7 Councilor IrekKusmierczyk who said air quality con-cerns were a problem for all of Windsorand called Remington Park the “canaryin the coal mine”. He asked if a morethorough report could be compiled toprovide “the gold standard of study re-sults.”

Medical Officer Dr. Gary Kirk saida longer term study could potentially

provide better results. “I think we’reconvinced, it was the best work wecould have done,” he said. “A more lon-gitudinal report would require signifi-cant resources and allocation of energiesand funding to make something like thatwork.”

The WECHU also acknowledgedthat they did not measure residentialradon levels (radon is the 2nd leadingcause of lung cancer after smoking) andthat “Job-related exposure may be rele-vant for 11 people (92%) and that “fivepeople had hobbies that could increasetheir risk of lung cancer.Ojibway National ParkCampaign Ribbon CuttingCeremony on World SnakeDay

Artwork and information on display at Ojibway Park for World Snake Day.


The Ojibway Prairie complex andGreater Park System has been desig-nated an IMPARA (Important Amphib-ian And Reptile Area) by the CanadianHerpetological Society (CHS). On July16, Unifor WREC and Local 444 part-

nered with the CHS to launch a discus-sion on connecting the greater parkhabitat by improving or preservingwildlife corridors. The event attractedhundreds of people and lots of kids.

We presented the ribbon signed bycitizens of Windsor and area supportingOjibway and the concept of a NationalPark. We partnered with Photographicartist Sherry Campeau who presentedthe thought-provoking “Mortuarium-Under Our Feet” series. She displayed

10 prints that used the photos of snakesand turtles killed on the road surround-ing Ojibway collected in Jonathan Cho-quette’s Ojibway Prairie Complex RoadMortality Study — which shows some2,000 snakes a year are killed by cars onneighbouring roads in the natural area.She discovered compelling patterns anddigitally repeated the pattern to producewhat looks like oriental carpets. The art-work reminded us that we should becareful not to harm these important andendangered reptiles.

Gordie Howe InternationalBridge EnvironmentalAdvisory Committee-

We continue to advocate for GreenEnergy on the new bridge. As I reportedlast issue, I met with the Green Corridorclass at the University of Windsor andthe Detroit Windsor Bridge Authorityon engaging students in the designprocess. This collaboration resulted inGreen Corridor Students proposing en-vironmentally sustainable design for thenew bridge and the School of Engineer-ing students participated in a structuraldesign competition.

Invasive Asian Carpin the Great Lakes!

A fertile male Asian Grass Carp wascaught in Lake Erie near Point Pelee!This prompted a frantic search in thearea for others. None were found but ifthese fish manage to establish them-selves it could devastate our fisheriesand affect our members in fish process-ing. Brian Masse has been leading onthis issue and we will continue to workwith him, ERCA and the IJC to raiseawareness on how to stop these invasivefish.

A spokesperson for the MNR said,“We are encouraging any boaters orfishermen that find anything they thinkis an Asian or grass carp to let us knowright away… They are a problem fishand will out-compete others for food.They are an invasive species.”

RegionalEnvironmentalCouncil . . . Mark Bartlett

The Guardian – 26

Mark Bartlett and Jonathan Chocquette on World Snake Dayat Ojibway Park

University of Windsor Engineering Students display their conceptfor the Gordie Howe Bridge

The Guardian – 27

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The Guardian –29

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The Guardian – 30

Millions of people yearning for a"Brexit" from destructive trade dealsWritten by Maude Barlow

U.S. President Barack Obama’srecent visit to Canada, against thebackdrop of Brexit and the U.S.presidential campaign, had manyopinion leaders trying to dismissconcerns about free trade.

Now, we’re told, people whoare against free trade are isolation-ists who want to entrench them-selves in the past, in a parochialnostalgia for the nation-state. Theideology of free trade opponentscan only lead to an inward-lookingmentality that fosters wars and de-stroys the economy.

So say the free traders whohave been fostering wars and de-stroying the economy.

But is it that easy: a fight be-tween free trade, on the one hand,and isolationism on the other?

This false binary constructleaves little room for a third choice:the progressive concept of “fairtrade” and the aspiration to buildeconomies and trading relation-ships that are based on social andecological justice, on the primacyof democratic rights over the prof-its of transnational corporations,and on the free movement of peo-ple rather than capital.Free trade is a fundamental tenet

— along with privatization, dereg-ulation and austerity — of theagenda that is driving deepeninginequality around the world.The “investment protection”

clauses in free trade agreements arewhat allow transnational corpora-

tions to directly sue national gov-ernments that pass laws againstfracking, pipelines and other cli-mate crimes. These provisions alsotrample on indigenous rights andtheir ability to say no to major re-source extraction projects. And it’sthe “intellectual property rights” infree trade agreements that allowhighly profitable pharmaceuticalcorporations to secure the delay ofcheaper generic and biosimilardrugs at the expense of humanlives.

It is inexcusable for some politi-cians and newspapers to use thedemagoguery of Donald Trumpand the bigotry of Nigel Farage —who led the Brexit campaign forthe United Kingdom to leave theEuropean Union — to obscure thisvalid progressive critique of thepower free trade agreements giveto transnational corporations andhow those powers undermine ourrights.

Opposition to the Trans-PacificPartnership (TPP), the Canada-Eu-ropean Union Comprehensive Eco-nomic and Trade Agreement(CETA), the North American FreeTrade Agreement (NAFTA) andother agreements is not “anti-trade.” It is a rejection of “freetrade” and the powers these dealsbestow on transnational corpora-tions over our democratic andhuman rights. This rejection ofthese destructive trade deals is partof a positive vision of “fair trade.”

Far from antiquated, this senti-ment is on the rise, highlighted bythe recent Angus Reid Institute poll

that showed only one in four Cana-dians support NAFTA.

This isn’t about trying to returnto some imaginary past beforeglobal trade, with white picketfences and no immigrants where“foreign ideas” are rejected. This isabout shaping globalization in away in which our cosmopolitanismand openness to the world is notshaped by corporate interests butby democratic impulses.

And while the votes for Brexit,and the support for Trump, may notalways choose the best politicalframing, politicians and eliteswould be arrogant to dismiss thewidespread discontent with the sta-tus quo.

We must reject the attempts tostoke racism as a way of misdirect-ing blame away from proponentsof business as usual. It’s not immi-grants, refugees or racialized com-munities that have caused the sharprise in economic inequality. Theblame rests squarely with cuts topublic services, privatization andthe fallout of so-called free tradedeals that have cost hundreds ofthousands of jobs.There is a massive wound in our

economy. Free trade agreements intheir current form are not going tofix it since they are a central part ofthe problem. There needs to be amassive shift in the way tradeagreements are conceived and im-plemented so that the benefits ofglobal trade are shared by all.

The Guardian – 31

The Guardian – 32

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