Canadian Congress Focuses on June Elections, Training, and Ontario

Toronto attorney Don Eady briefed the Congress on Ontario Labour Relations Board Vice Chair McKee’s April ruling on several longstanding issues in Ontario.

Canadian Congress delegates considered a range of issues during their May meeting. Chief among them were the June 28 election, the extensive list of IU-sponsored programs for Locals and members in Canada for the coming year, training, and the longstanding dispute in Ontario over bargaining rights.

Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) Secretary-Treasurer Hassan Yussuff didn’t mince words when pointing out that the country’s labor movement must do “much more, to exercise its collective voice” at the polls. CLC’s political response to the country’s population shift away from rural areas to a handful of urban centers – 80 percent of all Canadians now live in one of six metropolitan areas – is to help affiliates “find successful ways to reconnect with local politics” and tap into regulatory and funding decision-making. To increase political activity at all levels, the CLC will train more activists, increase lobbying, and help bring greater diversity to labor’s political ‘voice.’

Delegates also heard from attorney Don Eady, a partner in the firm of Paliare Roland Rosenberg Rothstein LLP in Toronto, who reviewed the key provisions of an April 21st decision handed down by David McKee, Vice Chair of the Ontario Labour Relations Board. The ruling urged the IU, BAC Locals in Ontario, and the breakaway leaders to make one last attempt at mediation. In the meantime, however, the decision regained some important legal footing for three BAC Locals in the province – Locals 6, 7 and 25 – which have fought to remain affiliated with the International Union. Depending on the outcome of the mediation, another decision by McKee may be forthcoming.