Toronto Star Referrer

No clear new leader in the wings for Unifor

Union hasn’t had contested election since former head Dias’s win in 2013

ROSA SABA

Tensions were palpable as the Unifor national convention kicked off Monday in Toronto, with a highly contested election just two days away after longtime leader Jerry Dias retired early amid an investigation into an alleged kickback.

The election is a historic one for Canada’s largest private-sector union, which represents around 315,000 workers across the country, including Toronto Star employees. The union hasn’t had a contested election since Dias was first elected in 2013.

He was already set to retire this year, but then retired early, not long before news broke that he was under investigation for the alleged kickback, news that shook the union’s leadership and cast the upcoming election in a new and more complicated light.

A third-party workplace investigation into Dias’s conduct found that he allegedly received $50,000 in cash from a company supplying COVID-19 rapid tests in exchange for Dias promoting those tests to Unifor employers.

Dias allegedly offered half the kickback to assistant Chris MacDonald, who reported it to the union.

Citing health problems, Dias did not participate in the investigation, and his lawyer Tom Curry has said this makes the investigation not credible.

Dias will have the opportunity to speak at an upcoming hearing.

Before the scandal surfaced and on Dias’s recommendation, the union’s National Executive Board voted to endorse Dias’s assistant Scott Doherty for president. At the time, Dave Cassidy, president of Windsor-based Unifor Local 444, was the only opponent.

In April, secretary-treasurer Lana Payne threw her hat in the ring, a contentious decision because of the timing and her role in handling the investigation fallout, drawing criticism from the leadership group and leading Doherty to turn down their endorsement.

Dias may not be at the convention, but his presence hangs in the air like a ghost, said Brock University labour studies professor Larry Savage.

“You can cut the tension with a knife,” said Savage.

By the time delegates broke for lunch on Monday, not one had

uttered the former president’s name into a microphone.

After the break, Payne delivered a brief overview of the investigation as well as the impending task force to review lessons from the Dias scandal.

Members then took to the microphones, some criticizing the board’s decision to release the investigation, and many countering with support for the board’s transparency throughout the scandal.

“This union has been through hell,” said Jennifer Moreau, chair of the union’s Media Council. “We have to confront this head-on.”

The new president will be chosen Wednesday by delegates voting on behalf of their locals.

Based on endorsements made publicly by union locals, Payne has an edge over Doherty, said Savage — however, those endorsements only represent about a third of Unifor locals.

Unifor is entering its first contested election without a clear endorsement from leadership, said Savage, and at two days out, the results are far from clear.

However, Savage noted that the structure of the convention benefited Payne in that she got a lot of face-time from the opening remarks to the financial report, where she delivered positive news about the union’s recovery from several years of operating in a deficit.

Dias’s legacy may be tainted publicly by the scandal, but within the convention walls, it’s a lot more complicated, said Savage. The former leader is inseparable from the union’s history, including its many victories and accomplishments, and his former assistant is running to replace him.

The bombastic Dias wielded personality and political power to great effect during his tenure as president, which began upon Unifor’s creation in 2013.

He’s credited with saving an auto plant in Oshawa, and had the ear of federal and provincial politicians.

“No matter who wins, there’s going to be a reckoning,” said Savage.

Doherty’s relationship and history with Dias, once a significant boon to his campaign, has now become an albatross, said Savage, and he’s had to work to portray himself not as the carrier of the torch, but as an agent of change.

Simon Black, an associate professor of labour studies at Brock University, said the current moment in Canada and North America is defined by renewed interest in unions amid the ongoing pandemic, record inflation, and a tight labour market.

Though data on unionization takes time to bear out, we are seeing more strike action than usual, and historic union drives in sectors that are normally difficult to unionize, such as retail, said Black.

For unions like Unifor, this time is “a window of opportunity,” Black said.

The convention is a good place for the union to discuss this moment, to figure out how to deploy its resources and political clout during this all-important time for the labour movement, said Black. Though the kickback scandal has to be addressed, Black says the timing is a “great shame” and that it could hold the union back from discussing other issues.

But overall, a contested election is undeniably a good thing for Unifor, said Black, no matter how contentious. Black believes that the average rank and file worker will simply be relieved to put the scandal behind them and move forward with a clean slate.

Savage agreed that for the average worker, the Dias scandal might not tip the scales. But it will be a tool used by employers and anti-union politicians to undermine labour efforts, he said.

Regardless of who is elected, said Black, “there’s going to be pressure … to ensure that something like the Dias scandal doesn’t happen again.”

Based on endorsements made publicly by union locals, Lana Payne has an edge over Scott Doherty, said Brock University labour studies professor Larry Savage

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2022-08-09T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-08-09T07:00:00.0000000Z

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