Welcome to the third annual Prairie Council Conference
here in beautiful Regina, Saskatchewan.
We're here to plan our way forward over the next year,
and what the focus is going to be on
in terms of the year going forward.
We're not going to change the world,
but if we work together,
we can make progress, we can make things happen.
Think of what we've accomplished in 3 years.
One thing that's for sure, everybody knows who Unifor is.
There are so many issues confronting working people today
and the only way you’re going to deal with them
and you're going to be able to mobilize is by bringing people together.
It’s always a great time coming to prairie council.
It’s great to see so many faces I’ve seen before
and so many new faces.
It’s really great, it’s really good to know that we have Unifor
like union which is there for our rights fighting for everyone
and doing good for all.
We get to brainstorm if you like trying to get different ideas,
different ways of attack.
We're up against pretty tough scenarios here in this province.
It’s important that we have coalitions and alliances,
and look to our allies to join forces with them.
I think it's numbers speak volumes and the more people
that we can connect with the better off we're going to be.
Without these committees we couldn't prosper
it's impossible to move forward if you leave people behind.
It’s important that we work with anybody who
shares the same kind of vision that the labour movement does,
one of inclusiveness, one of fairness,
one of economic progress, one of social justice.
We’ll be working with anyone who supports those ideals.
It might be a group of retirees, it might be anti-poverty activists,
it may be indigenous people,
and that's part of our role.
The best unions in our history have always been those
that have been grounded in the community first.
The tides are changing across this country, and I believe that
indigenous people are a really big part of that story,
and I think that's exciting.
Personally and professional just go learn about indigenous communities,
so that you can start to build inroads and understand,
so that when these indigenous people enter the workforce
in the next 10 years, you know indigenous youth,
that you know that there’s an inclusive and diverse workplace
already waiting for them.
These workplace challenages we face don't ever go away, but
how we respond to them is what makes us proud as Unifor members.
The way the dynamics is changing in the workplace these days
I mean you got to be able to adapt, and change accordingly.
Workers should not have to carry the entire burden of change.
Those burdens should be shared more equally,
more fairly through society.
We'll hold the governments to the standard that they've set for themselves.
We need to be able to create space in our society for inclusivity.
We need to have these conversations, and we need to have it in an open environment
where people are going to be respected for the unique individuals that they are.
Coming here, I feel a solidarity, everybody's you know, brother and sister,
and it doesn’t matter what walk of life you come from,
what industry you come from,
but when you’re here, everyone is like a family
and everybody gets together for a common cause.
This isn't about us being satisfied about where we were 10 years ago
This is about us understanding where we are, fix the last 10 year, and then plow forward
as we move forward to the type of country that we all expect.
So it is about making the next step, and we’re going to spend a lot of time
in the next year talking about what tools are needed in order
for us to build not only stronger local unions but a stronger national union.