In the summer of 2006 three employees at Native Child and Family Services of Toronto decided to try and form a Union due to unfair practices by management.  The initial people were Emma King, Cindy Baskin and Joanne McKenna.  They contacted the Canadian Union of Public Employees – CUPE Union and the organization of workers started.  With CUPE leading the way NCFST staff we held two separate votes, but we did not get enough votes to form a Union.

 Undeterred, the diehard unionists at the agency were determined to become unionized; they never gave up and went around talking to as many people at ten different locations.  They spoke about the need for a union and made people aware of the injustice that was going on and why a Union was the only way to protect Workers rights and to force management to stop the unjust terminations that were happening on a weekly basis.   An example of this practice was every Monday when we turned on our computers an email would read.  ‘So and so is no longer working at NCFST. “No one knew why the person left or was forced to leave the agency.  We just knew that another one of our colleagues was gone and we were bewildered as to why this was continuing to happen.  It became disheartening.

The workers at NCFST decided to keep trying to form a Union and continuously organized staff, held meetings and encouraged people to come out to vote in favour of a Union.  At this point in time workers at NCFST approached another Union:   Communications, Energy and Paperworkers – CEP who immediately helped us to get organized.  Within a few months the Union was voted in under the auspices of CEP.   We worked very hard on our first Collective Agreements and our Bylaws and workers started to learn how to run a Union shop.  Josephine Petcher from CEP national office was instrumental in getting our local up and running.  We received training on bargaining, keeping the financial accounts, how to be effective stewards and how to run an efficient executive.  We worked very hard and became a workable, capable union.   

At a national conference held in Quebec City in 2013 the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union {CEP} and the Canadian Auto Workers Union [CAW] voted to amalgamate into one large Union.  The delegates at the conference voted in favour and UNIFOR was born on August 31, 2013.   UNIFOR became the largest private sector national union in Canada with a membership of 600,000.  Five members of the NCFST Executive attended the conference and we were proud to be part of such an important National Union.

UNIFOR Local 2488 continues to be a unionized agency with a membership that doubled from 200 to 400 members in the past ten years.  We are much more knowledgeable and effective as a union as we now have had twelve years of union experience.  We work closely with the Unifor National office for training and support.  We will continue to be strong and be  a loud voice for the work place and for social justice.   

In Comradery,

Gillian Swindell Vice President Unifor Local 2488