Resolutions

Unifor National Will:

• Support Media Council in its efforts to combat the harassment against journalists and media workers, including developing and delivering a multi-media campaign that gives voice to journalists and condemns harassment, hate and abuse; and
• Lobby government, law enforcement and to develop legislation, regulations, and committees where necessary to support journalists who are victims of online harassment, hold perpetrators accountable and prevent harassment in the first place.

Because:

• Journalists and media workers have always faced hate, abuse and harassment, and
• The leading factor of the latest wave of hate, abuse and harassment stems from right wing politicians (eg. Maxime Bernier) who have incited their followers to commit and perpetuate harassment and violence against journalists, and
• The Unifor Media Sector Council’s report Breaking the News: Media Workers Under Attack, in a survey of Unifor media members, found that:
  • 6% of respondents said they had experienced harassment in the field. Attacks ranged from minor incidents to physical threats, racist comments and death threats.
  • 8% reported experiencing online harassment, specifically.
  • 5% of respondents reported daily harassment,
• When asked about the impacts of this harassment:
  • 2% reported feeling angry,
  • 4% were frightened for their safety, and
  • 3% thought about leaving journalism, and
• This harassment has a chilling effect on our journalists, that may prevent them from telling our stories, and
• A great deal of this mistreatment is rooted in white supremacy, racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia, Islamophobia, and other systems of oppression, and
• Women, workers of colour, Indigenous workers, 2SLGBTQIA+ workers and those from other equity-deserving groups are disproportionately affected by harassment, and
• Whereas journalists and media workers have a fundamental right to do their work free from harassment. Unifor believes that media employers, unions, digital platforms, governments, politicians, the criminal justice system, Courts and Tribunals and members of the public all have a role to play in keeping them free from harm.

Respectfully Submitted by: Locals 79-M, 87-M, 240, 700-M & 723-M

Unifor National Will:

• Share Unifor campaign information about the adverse effects of privatization on good jobs and quality of service.

Because:

• The Scott Moe government is undermining good jobs and good customer service at SaskTel with unprecedented contracting out.

• Moe is handing over millions of dollars in contracts on a piecemeal basis to private firms in smaller contracts over time.

• Over the last several years, it is estimated that nearly 1,000 SaskTel jobs have been contracted out to out-of-province companies or firms overseas since 2009.
• When work is contracted out, it is sold off to the lowest In the race to be the lowest bidder, these firms are cutting corners on everything from training to caseload.
• After enough piecemeal privatization, SaskTel is no longer a publicly owned Crown It becomes a shell corporation made up of dozens of contractors, many based out-of-province or even overseas. It ceases to become a serious competitor to Rogers, Bell or Telus.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Locals 1-S and 2-S

Unifor National Will:

• Support an organized campaign by Telecommunication Locals across Canada to combat contracting out and offshoring of good union jobs.
• Support lobbying efforts to amend such acts, laws and policies required in order to prevent the

contracting out and offshoring of good union jobs.

• Engage with government officials in order to bring the issue of contracting out and offshoring of good union jobs to their attention with the goal of preventing further erosion of the workforce in the telecommunications industry.

Because:

• Workers in telecommunications industry are under attack and have been for many
• Thousands of good union jobs have been lost in recent
• Good, quality, reliable telecommunications services are essential to the Canadian
• Contracting out and offshoring of good telecommunications jobs provides inferior service to
• Canadians pay some of the highest prices for telecommunications services in the world and deserve what they pay for.
  
  

Respectfully Submitted by: Locals 1-S, 2-S, 7, 34-O, 42, 48, 81, 401, 506, 2000-A, 2289, 6000 & 8284

Unifor National Will:

• Create and maintain an on-line course, open to all, designed to assist Members in becoming proactive allies of all equity-seeking groups within our Union.

Because:

• Unifor fights for dignity, safety, fairness, and equality for all its
• Allies are particularly crucial in the struggle for true
• Many members are not sure of their roles as allies and don’t know how to
• The current politically charged atmosphere and rise in populism has had a negative effect on all

equity-seeking groups.

• None of us are free until all of us are

Respectfully Submitted by: Locals 111, 114, 240, 433, 4304 & 6005

Unifor National Will:

• Create a task force composed of National, Regional and Retiree representation to explore the possibility of setting up an inexpensive Health Benefits Insurance Plan where members and retired members without coverage may opt-in.
• Provide a report from the task force to Canadian Council in 2024 with their findings.

Because:

• Many members do not have health benefits at their
• Many retirees do not have health benefits when they
• Unifor Statement of Principles and our Union’s social philosophies reflect that all members, active and retired, be treated the same.
• Allowing our members and retirees to purchase these benefit

Respectfully Submitted by: Locals 219, 240, 444 & 1285

Unifor National Will:

• Create a task force composed of National, Regional and Retiree representation to explore the possibility of setting up an inexpensive Unifor-controlled Portable Pension Plan where members and retired members without coverage may opt-in.
• Provide a report from the task force to Canadian Council in 2024 with their findings.

Because:

• Many members do not have pension plans at their
• Many retirees do not have pension plans when they
• Allowing our members to opt into this pension
• Explore and consider the HOOPP Model or similar pension plans where employers can also

contribute.

• Unifor Statement of Principles and our Union’s social philosophies reflect that all members, active and retired, be treated the same.

Respectfully Submitted by: Locals 240, 444 & 1285

Unifor National Will:

• Bring together the labour movement and allies to fight against the privatization of our universally

accessible health care.

• A call for a National Day of

Because:

• We see provinces across the country moving towards privatizing services that are currently

under the public health care system.

• We see people paying out-of-pocket for new-covered health care
• Private health care has never proven to be beneficial to

Respectfully Submitted by: Locals 240, 444 & 1285

Unifor National Will:

• Call for the regulation and protection of technicians in the automotive retail industry, where there is none.

Because:

• This is an unregulated skilled trade their hours of work and their wages are not

Respectfully Submitted by:

Local 252

Unifor National Will:

• Pressure all levels of governments to strengthen the Canada Pension Plan (CPP), Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), Old Age Security (OAS) and social supports to help seniors retire with
• Continue to advocate for an Employment Insurance (EI) program that expands eligibility, access and benefits.
• Lobby the federal government to ensure permanent EI reform and social supports that help

seniors.

• Mobilize members to participate in EI and Retirement Security campaign

Because:

• The CPP has recently been threatened by right wing governments, with previous federal governments threatening to increase the age qualifier for retirement benefits.
• Recent Statistics Canada reports highlighted that nearly one in five Canadians are 65 years of age or older with nearly one in five current retirees having less than $25,000 in savings or investments;
• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how broken the El system in Canada is - with it’s restrictive eligibility criteria, low benefit rates and significant gaps in worker coverage;
• Unifor members across Canada continue to be negatively impacted by an El system that doesn’t

work for workers;

• Unions have an obligation to advocate for their membership and the collective needs of

Canadians;

• Unifor was founded on the principle of social unionism with a commitment to work in common cause with other progressives in Canada to achieve economic progress for all.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Local 707

Unifor National Will:

• Expand Unifor’s organizing efforts in the warehouse sector with the objective of certifying new units and welcoming new warehouse members to the union.
• Strengthen our union in warehousing through membership outreach, collective bargaining, and sector-wide coordination.
• Ensure participation from National, Regional and Local unions representing warehouse members

in these efforts.

Because:

• Wages, benefits, work conditions are bargaining
• To ensure all their rights are protected through
• This will not allow the company to use one warehouse against
• To protect the workers in warehousing and prevent
• To challenge the hiring practices and lobby the government to prevent agency

Respectfully Submitted by:

Local 1285

Unifor National Will:

• Lobby officials at both levels of government to amend the legislation with respect to this situation, with the aim of applying the same treatment to people who have suffered a miscarriage at any stage of pregnancy, i.e., that the co-parents have access to five (5) days of bereavement leave, two (2) of which are paid.

Because:

• A miscarriage can occur at any time during
• There is no legislation providing for leave in the event of miscarriage for pregnant persons

working for a company under federal jurisdiction.

• The Act respecting labour standards provides: In the event of termination of pregnancy before 20 weeks: up to three (3) weeks of unpaid leave for the pregnant person, and no leave for the

co-parent. In the event of termination of pregnancy after 20 weeks: five (5) days of bereavement leave, the first two of which are paid, for the co-parents, and eighteen (18) weeks of maternity leave without pay for the person who was pregnant.

• An event of this type can be extremely difficult, may require medical treatment and several medical appointments, and the co-parents must take the necessary time to mourn this event, whether it occurs before or after twenty (20) weeks.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Local 6001

Unifor National Will:

• Launch a campaign for the implementation by the government of a preventive withdrawal system for pregnant or breastfeeding workers who work for an employer under federal jurisdiction.
• Provide local unions with the tools necessary to negotiate safe maternity programs in their collective agreements.

Because:

• A pregnant or breastfeeding person working in a company whose labour relations fall under federal jurisdiction could face a risk to her pregnancy in certain situations or in certain hazardous areas.
• Federal labour legislation does not make provision for preventive withdrawal and this can place a pregnant or breastfeeding person in a precarious situation.
• This leads to insecurity that could be avoided and it would be in the best interests of all to protect these people as much as possible by offering preventive withdrawal.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Local 6001

Unifor National Will:

• Continue the necessary studies on the evolution of work organization and the job market in order to develop a bargaining strategy for the introduction, maintenance and improvement of telework that is as advantageous and beneficial for workers as possible.

Because:

• Since the pandemic, telework has become a condition of work and life (work-family/life balance) for 40% of Canadian workers, who fear that they may lose it or see it changed.
• Telework has become a major bargaining issue for private and public sector unions, and despite the fact that it can be formally integrated in collective agreements, many employers impose their management rights and dubious telework policies without consideration for workers.
• In times of labour shortages, telework, whether full-time or according to preference, has become a hiring condition, putting pressure on the capacity to attract and retain employee-members.
• Telework contributes to the reduction of GHG emissions and should not have to bear the burden of the desertification and economic challenges facing downtown cores.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Local 6001

Unifor National Will:

• Lobby the various levels of government to increase the death benefit from $2500 to $5000 and make it non-taxable.
• Unifor lobbies provincial labour federations to organize a national campaign for an enhanced tax- free death benefit.

Because:

• The amount of the death benefit has not changed for many
• The amount of $2500 should be used to pay for a decent
• The cost of funeral expenses in 1998 varied from $2500 to $5000.
• The cost today varies between $5000 to $10,000.

Respectfully Submitted by:

Local 62

Unifor National Will:

• Appoint a committee within 60 days which shall be comprised of staff from the Research Department and IT Department. This committee will research and compose a comprehensive report of recommendations and appropriate remedies that all Employer’s should institute when they have been the subject of a cyberattack and our member’s sensitive personal information is confirmed to be compromised or at risk and/or undetermined to be compromised.
• Submit a copy of the report to the National Executive Board for approval/action. Once approved,

the report shall be sent to all National Staff and Local Unions as a guide.

• Establish a ‘Bargaining Toolkit’ with draft language for stronger protections within Collective

Agreements.

• Lobby Provincial and Federal Governments, where required, to strengthen applicable legislation

to ensure Employer compliance.

Because:

• Instances of successful cyberattacks against Canadian Institutions and Canadian Employers is sharply on the rise, and;
• Unifor members rightfully demand and expect that their sensitive personal information is fully protected and that every reasonable and appropriate action(s) and/or remedies are promptly instituted when their Employer fails to protect this information, even in the absence of Employer

Respectfully Submitted by:

Local 1090

Unifor National Will:

• Pay the premium for salary insurance (weekly disability benefits) to the employer, so that it

remains in force.

Because:

• During a conflict, Unifor reimburses premiums for the following coverages: hospitalization, drug insurance, group life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment benefits, and out-of- province expenses.
• Unifor has close ties with GreenShield Insurance
• During the dispute between Local 177 and Ash Grove, one of our members was diagnosed with

cancer.

• When she returned to work, our insurer (Sunlife) refused to accept her on
• The local union had to force the employer to take out disability insurance with another insurer

and to pay the premiums.

• If nothing had been done, this member would have had no salary for

Respectfully Submitted by:

Local 177