Labour unity is the order of the day at the OFL convention where 1,000 delegates unanimously chose their new leadership team today.

High-profile and longtime labour leader Sid Ryan is the president-elect, replacing Wayne Samuelson who, after 12 years in office, decided not to seek re-election.

“This is a talented and dedicated team,” says Samuelson. “Once these three announced their candidacy, it didn’t take long for a consensus to develop that they were the right people for the job.”

Steelworker Marie Kelley was acclaimed to the position of secretary-treasurer and will take over from Irene Harris, who has also been in OFL office for 12 years, the first

eight as executive vice-president.

Re-elected to the executive vice-president’s office is Terry Downey, who was an OPSEU executive board member and regional vice-president before her first OFL term in 2005.

Delegates clearly welcomed the leadership team’s message of unity and commitment to building a new economy that serves the needs of working people, their families, and communities.

In his acceptance speech, Ryan cited his labour background in Canada with the Steelworkers union and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE). The president of CUPE Ontario for the past 17 years reserved special mention for the guidance he received from his father, who told him: “Have the courage of your convictions to stand up and be counted. And those words ring in my ears.”

Leading off nominations for Ryan was Pearl Sawyer, executive vice-president for the province-wide UFCW Local 1000A.

Ryan is the one to lead the OFL at this time, Sawyer told delegates.

“Sid has shown himself to be a formidable voice for working people and their families,” she said.

“He is committed to labour unity. He’s engaged in the search for a progressive strategy to build the new economy and social solidarity. And I believe he is bringing to Ontario labour what the movement needs at this time to make Ontario work.”

OFL secretary-treasurer Irene Harris made solemn reference to the upcoming 20th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre, when gunman Marc Lepine murdered 14 women at the Ecole Polytechnique. Two of the women worked there and were members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

In the 20 years since the Montreal massacre on Dec. 6, 1989, spousal violence has claimed the lives of 486 women and children in Ontario.

The OFL and affiliated unions work with the women’s community to bring about public education, new legislation, and collective agreements to ensure that women and children are safe in their homes, workplaces, and communities.

The United Nations designated November 25 the international day to eliminate violence against women in 1999. Women’s activists have marked that day as a day against violence since 1981.