Union for All Workers

Ontario

Photos by William Jordan
Text by Sam Stark

click to enlarge images

The approximately 2,500 UAW members in Canada and their 2.3 million brothers and sisters in the Canadian Labour Congress are having as hard a time holding on to past gains as are union members in the U.S.

In the 1980s, conservative governments in both countries promoted the political philosophy that business must be freed of government regulation and strong unions. Both labor/labour movements are fighting together today against “free” trade, privatization, deregulation and attacks on the right to organize.

Even the very popular Canadian single-payer health care system is under attack by the World Trade Organization and U.S.-based corporations.

UAW members in Canada are organized into two locals (251 and 2381) in Region 1. They are based in nearly two-dozen units throughout a dozen different cities in southwestern Ontario.

The Canadian labor movement is fighting to restore cuts in social spending, especially for its health care system, workers’ compensation, child care and education.