Welcome to the east coast of Canada
the land of sea salt air, rocking activism,
and exceptional solidarity
♪ Solidarity, we stand in solidarity...
The Canadian Council, a celebration
Unifor is five years old
We’re five years!
Can you believe it? What an achievement
Happy anniversary Unifor!
Thank you so much for welcoming us all to the unceded Mi'kmaq territory
Thank you for starting our Council in such a good way
The nation is here
We’re in this room all going in the same direction
We’re standing in solidarity
All those in favour please signify
We welcome your passion and participation at the microphones
Equity groups are the beauty of our organization
I’m very proud of my union for making equity and diversity a priority
It’s great that we can come together like that
I believe we have to continue to do that
and to always work
We still have a job to do
When we come together, when we support each other,
it creates something powerful
We can rise when we fight for our vision right here
The Pharmacare system is going to be an election issue
We’ve never ever been this close
People are turning down their hydro just to pay
for medically necessary prescription drugs
Now more than ever, we need to get out and get our members to vote
We absolutely need to mobilize
Knock on doors
We have to walk the walk, we have to talk the talk
Educate, educate, educate
Our job is to go out in the field
to go out and meet the candidates
and present our demands, and we’re going to work hard on this campaign
Pharmacare and child care are things we can’t make happen
without a government who’s willing to work with us on these issues
It’s time for us to organize again, member-to-member organizing
Our members are bold, outspoken, and not afraid
to demand what they deserve from their employer, their government, and their union
Whenever something comes up, we get together, we discuss it and we always ask if everything is ok,
if there’s anything that needs improvement
And that’s how we grow
Seeing people at the mic talk passionately,
it just reinforces why we do these things
The work you all are doing is not easy
We are a union committed to doing the right thing, not the easy thing
It’s just really, really powerful being in a room full
of such passionate, intelligent, kind, empathetic people
I want to talk about a problem of the loss of local news
This goes deeper than jobs
This goes to the very fabric of our democracy
♪ We’ve got to save local news before we’re out of time
So please, take out your phones
We need this to go far and wide
The last year has been really about us solidifying the foundation of our organization
The principle fights that we’ve taken from coast to coast to coast
The fight in Thunder Bay
Port Arthur quickly became an important struggle for our union
This strike brought forward the issue of inequities that women face every day in the workplace,
and it united the community and our members from coast to coast to coast
Somewhere along the way, when you feel hopeless and used up,
Somewhere along the way, when you feel hopeless and used up, you get a little help from your friends and over a hundred people come to stand by you
you get a little help from your friends and over a hundred people come to stand by you
And yes, the infamous fence fairies come to your rescue and encage your clinic
Somehow a massive fence was erected around the perimeter of the clinic
This strike was about taking a stand
We deserve respect
This strike placard represents an historic document to help remind us all of the struggles
by our sisters at the Port Arthur Health Centre
It’s like a signed contract for never to be shit on again
It felt awesome to be on stage
Just a fabulous feeling just to be recognized
And then we went to Goderich, Ontario
Nearly 400 of our members at Compass Minerals were forced to take strike action
I’d like to introduce the brothers from 16-O
who are walking in a little gift for Jerry in the back of the room there
a commemorative UNIFOR scab-hunter canoe
The canoe was used by the management to bring across scabs, to bring across supplies
This will be a symbol of our determination
to ensure that no scabs ever enter our workplace again
Nobody’s going to disrespect our union ever, or our president
And we took them on
And we took them on Little ol’ Goderich, and you, brothers and sisters,
Little ol’ Goderich, and you, brothers and sisters,
we took them on and we won
I can tell you that there’s no doubt that employers know
we are an organization that defends its values and beliefs
we are an organization that defends its values and beliefs Some employers have tried, but I can honestly say that, in the end,
Some employers have tried, but I can honestly say that, in the end,
we won those battles, even if some of the disputes were long
Seeing the workers who have been out on strike, the ones who are still fighting
Seeing the workers who have been out on strike, the ones who are still fighting it is an incredible moment of solidarity
it is an incredible moment of solidarity
Right now our unit is on strike, and what’s really impressive
Right now our unit is on strike, and what’s really impressive is the excellent level of mobilization by Unifor Quebec and Canada
is the excellent level of mobilization by Unifor Quebec and Canada
We’ve had a lot of visits to the picket line
We can feel that we’re a big family, that we’re well surrounded
and that we’re going to go far with Unifor
We are entering the seventh week of the strike
The employer hasn’t budged
We’ve contacted the conciliator
The conciliator has tried to contact the employer - radio silence
Our actions on the picket line have had no effect
The message…
Unifor is coming for you!
We’re done screwing around
I mean, the fight that we are about to embark on for DJ Composites in Gander,
it really is about us standing up for our members
When we go into Gander, we will do so with our heads held high
and with the knowledge that we have done everything possible to resolve this dispute
We still have a lot of fight in us
We’re a small unit, but we’re not going to give up,
and we know our union has our backs
We’re going to stay strong and stay in solidarity
The striking workers and the workers locked out was inspiring
It just set my heart right into the deepest of deep
It doesn’t matter whether you’re from a large workplace or a small unit,
because when you’re in trouble,
we’re going to come together as an organization with 315,000 members
In solidarity!
So, so, so, solidarity! So, so, so, solidarity!