The Windsor and District Labour Council hopes sending strongly worded letters to the heads of Unifor and the Canadian Labour Congress will motivate them to resolve a schism in the labour community.
Back in January, Unifor's executive board voted in favour of splitting from the Congress in a dispute over the rights of workers to choose which union will represent them.
Last fall, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113, which represents transit workers in Toronto, transferred members to Unifor. ATU fired the local president calling the move "underhanded". Under the Congress's constitution, that should have sparked a review. Instead, the local was placed under trusteeship.
At the time, Unifor Local 444 President James Stewart told BlackburnNews.com the split would not affect how the labour movement in Windsor-Essex operated, but now, the local labour council says it will.
"Without being in the CLC, you cannot be on local labour councils," says Council President Brian Hogan citing the Congress's constitution.
That could deliver a big blow to efforts by the labour movement in Windsor-Essex because Unifor Local 444 is the largest union in the region with over 6,000 members at the Windsor Assembly Plant alone.
Protesters outside of the Tim Hortons at Dundas St. and Richmond St., January 10, 2018. (Photo by Miranda Chant, Blackburn News)
"That schism is affecting the work on the ground, and we need all of us to be getting along on the ground," says Hogan listing off the different causes the council is working on including supporting income equality, Tim Horton's workers who have lost paid breaks and lost hours, and upcoming Women's International Day activities.
"Unifor is a large part of this community," continues Hogan. "This community relies on Chrysler and all the good work those union members do."
The decision to split from the Canadian Labour Congress is not a first for Unifor. Its predecessor, the Canadian Auto Workers union was expelled from both the Congress and the Ontario Labour Federation in 2000.