Fighting Back makes a Difference

The power of unions to protect good jobs and win back outsourced work is nothing new. The collective approach for workers to come together in Unifor and demand better from employers happens all the time with success.

Employers will always try to lower cost, outsource work and reduce compensation to groups of workers while shifting the savings over to profits for shareholders or company owners. It is the basic principles of capitalism, and as workers, we need to exercise our rights, and power to bring balance.

The formation of unions directly results from employer/owners having all the power to dictate working conditions. Unions have empowered workers and helped support equal participation in negotiating employment, compensation and working conditions.

As non-union employees at WestJet, many of you have become accustomed to accepting your employer's workplace decision without ever knowing an alternative option was possible. It is precisely how your employer wanted the system set up; they would have you participate in an internal association that more often than not rubber-stamped the employer's decision while telling you there was nothing you could do.

As members of Unifor, we encourage you to speak up when you see injustice. To speak up and hold Onex WestJet accountable when they make decisions to outsource 3333 of your coworkers with little regard to the contributions many of them have given to the company for decades.

Unifor uses all of our tools when we fight back to save good jobs. We negotiate at the bargaining table, mobilize our members and lobby community and government to protect good-paying Canadian jobs.

It has been a successful year for Unifor members. We have been able to reverse a decision by TorStar that would have them outsource work to the United States. In our negotiations with Air Canada, we successfully negotiated work ownership for airports jobs at Air Transat after completing the purchase.

One of the biggest wins for Unifor this year was in auto bargaining with the Detroit three automakers that saw more than 5 billion dollars of investment in Canadian facilities securing long term auto production as well as Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) production. A first-ever was a reopening of a Canadian auto plant with the reversal of the decision to close General Motors Oshawa and start building light and medium trucks as soon as 2022 hiring 2500 workers.

Just this week, following a years-long campaign, Bell workers secure the reversal of Wireless Home Internet (WHI) contracting-out in Ontario and Quebec.

On Monday, December 14, Unifor received confirmation from Bell Canada that the company has begun the process of repatriating all installation work performed by outside contractors working on WHI projects in ON and QC.

Unifor credits the strength and solidarity of Canada's telecommunications workers with this win.

This long-anticipated move will ensure that WHI installations will continue in-house by unionized workers in the two provinces. The union will continue to campaign for an end to contracting out in the Atlantic provinces.

There are alternatives to accepting jobs cuts from Onex WestJet and the Airports Employee Association (AEA). Talk with your coworkers about signing a Unifor membership card or update your card if it has been longer than six months since you signed.

If you have any questions about what a Unifor contract can do for you in such difficult times, or anything else, please reach out to one of your organizers.

Billy O'Neill, Unifor
[email protected] | 416-605-1443

Quebec
Ada Zampini, Unifor
[email protected] | 514-701-6227

Prairies
Bruce Fafard, Unifor
[email protected] | 587-341-0945

British Columbia
Simon Lau, Unifor
[email protected] | 778-928-9630

Atlantic
Patrick Murray, Unifor
[email protected] | 506-850-7996