THE OFL CONVENTION
The Ontario Federation of Labour recently held its biennual conference at the Sheraton Centre in Toronto, marking 50 years of solidarity. Throughout the 5-day conference at the end of November between 800 and 900 delegates from all affiliated unions attended. CUPE 4000 had 3 delegates to represent us. There were inspirational speeches provided by Wayne Samuelson, president of the OFL as well as the mayor of Toronto, David Miller. In addition, both the federal and provincial NDP leaders, Jack Layton and Howard Hampton gave motivational talks in support of our causes. However, the most memorable moment came when the Bob Borch Human Rights award was shared jointly by Maher Arar and his wife, Monia Naszik. Mr. Arar gave an emotional account via the big screen of his unfounded 10 months of torture in Syria. His wife, who spent 3 years facilitating Mr. Arar’s release, was there in person to accept the humanitarian award for both of them. The OFL conference gives different unions a rare chance to get together and share their experiences and compare notes. All of these unions stand up in unison to fight for the rights of the individual union and to try to have more workers organize themselves to establish more unions. After all, only 30% of workers in Ontario are actually unionized.
Erika Trommershausen

On January 24th 2008. There will be elections to the following positions: Le 24 janvier 2008, il y aura élections aux postes suivants: PRESIDENT-PRÉSIDENT THE CANDIDATES ARE, LES CANDIDATS SONT: BRUCE WALLER LOU BURRI RECORDING SECRETARY, SECRÉTAIRE ARCHIVISTE THE CANDIDATES ARE : LES CANDIDATS SONT : DIANE LACASSE MARILENA FOX SECRETARY TREASURER, SECRÉTAIRE TRÉSORIER THE CANDIDATES ARE, LES CANDIDATS SONT: TROY ST-LOUIS DANIEL RIVERS THERE WILL BE VOTING STATIONS AT THE FOLLOWING PLACES: LE VOTE SE FERA AUX ENDROITS SUIVANT: -CIVIC SITE: 7AM TO 7PM @ GREENERY LOBBY -GENERAL SITE: 7AM TO 7PM @ BACK OF THE CAFÉTÉRIA / A L’ARRIÈRE DE LA CAFÉTÉRIA -RIVERSIDE SITE: 7AM TO 5PM @ CORRIDOR OF EMPLOYEES CORNER/ CORRIDOR DE LA SALLE DES EMPLOYÉS. January 17th. 2008, 17 janvier 2008. Serge Lalonde National rep. CUPE, Conseiller national SCFP.