Delegates were being asked to support a resolution to put a stop to internal conflicts, and they did. It directs the OFL and leaders of affiliated unions to sign a pledge to organize the unorganized, not to take members from other unions.

Steelworker Don Fraser is president of Hamilton and District Labour Council, which submitted the resolution.

“Union members want their dues to go to organizing the 70 per cent of workers who don’t have unions, servicing existing members, and mounting political fightback,” said Fraser.

Resolution 69

Submitted by Hamilton and District Labour Council

WHEREAS union density is around 30%; and

WHEREAS there are millions of workers who want

and need to be organized;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the

Federation and the leaders of all affiliates sign a declaration

agreeing not to raid or liberate other legitimate unionized

workers and to concentrate their efforts on organizing the

unorganized.

As job losses continue to mount, and private sector workers struggle with unemployment and lost pensions, corporate leaders “are setting their sights” on the public sector.

“If they can silence us, they will have removed the first and the last lines of defense that many of our members and our community allies have,” said Byers.

She talked about the need to change the employment insurance program and pensions. Workers and communities across the country are suffering, and things are getting tougher for equity groups.

“The gains of women, workers of colour, Aboriginal workers, and workers with disabilities over the past 20 years are being wiped out by the effects of corporate greed,” she said.

The economic crisis has hit workers of colour harder than others. Community and labour activists are examining this disproportionate effect at a forum in Toronto, Saturday, Nov. 21. The event is at the Sheraton Centre where labour delegates from across Ontario will gather at the OFL convention for the week of Nov. 23 to set direction and policy for the coming two years on many issues, including on the equity front.

“What the employment statistics from the past year tell us is that while all Ontarians are struggling, racialized workers and their families have been hit especially hard,” says OFL executive vice-president Terry Downey, who is a forum co-chair. “Racialized workers have seen disproportionately larger increases in unemployment rates and disproportionately larger decreases in employment income.”

Co-chairing with Downey is Avvy Go, Clinic Director of the Metro Toronto Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic.  Although racialized workers could achieve greater job security and better pay from unionization, they are less likely to be union members, according to Go.

“We need to examine why that is so, and together, develop solutions to build communication and co-operation between communities,” she says. “The forum will allow activists from unions and racialized communities to develop a common action plan that will bring about positive solutions that will benefit all workers. It will promote a green-collar, substainable economy that includes good jobs for all.”