The United Auto Workers (UAW), fully named International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States and southern Ontario, Canada. It was founded as part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the 1930s and grew rapidly from 1936 to the 1950s. The union played a major role in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party under the leadership of Walter Reuther. It was known for gaining high wages and pensions for automotive manufacturing workers, but it was unable to unionize auto plants built by foreign-based car makers in the South after the 1970s, and it went into a steady decline in membership; reasons for this included increased automation, decreased use of labor, mismanagement, movements of manufacturing, and increased globalization. After a successful strike at the Big Three in 2023, the union organized its first foreign plant (VW) in 2024.
The 2003 New Democratic Party leadership election was a leadership election held in Canada to replace New Democratic Party leader Alexa McDonough, after her retirement. It ended on January 25, 2003, with the first ballot victory of popular Toronto city councillor Jack Layton.
The National Automobile, Aerospace, Transportation and General Workers Union of Canada, commonly known as the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), was one of Canada's largest labour unions. In 2013, it merged with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, forming a new union, Unifor. While rooted in Ontario's large auto plants of Windsor, Brampton, Oakville, St. Catharines, and Oshawa, the CAW has expanded and now incorporates workers in almost every sector of the economy. The presidents of the CAW were Bob White (1985–1992), Buzz Hargrove (1992–2008), Ken Lewenza (2008–2013), and Jerry Dias (2013–2022) when the CAW became UNIFOR.
Joseph John Comartin is a retired Canadian lawyer and politician. He represented the riding of Windsor—Tecumseh as its Member of Parliament (MP) from 2000 to 2015. A member of the New Democratic Party (NDP), he ran for its leadership in 2003. He called for a return to social democratic policies after the party's drift to the centre during the 1990s, and voiced concerns regarding American influence over Canada's economy and foreign policy. After serving in a variety of leadership roles, he retired from parliament in 2015. From 2018 to 2022 he served as the Consul General of Canada in Detroit, representing Canada in Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, and Ohio.
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.
Jeffrey D. "Jeff" Watson is the former Member of Parliament for the Essex electoral district in Ontario, 2004-2015 under Stephen Harper's Prime Ministership.
Basil Eldon "Buzz" Hargrove is a Canadian labour leader and the former National President of the Canadian Auto Workers. He is currently serving as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Toronto Metropolitan University's Ted Rogers School of Management.
Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, abbreviated CEP in English and SCEP in French, was a largely private-sector labour union with 150,000 members, active from 1992 to 2013. It was created in 1992 through the merger of three unions: the Canadian Paperworkers Union, the Communications and Electrical Workers of Canada, and the Energy and Chemical Workers Union. See below for some other unions that were merged into the CEP. CEP/SCEP was affiliated to the Canadian Labour Congress.
Robert White, was a prominent leader in the Canadian trade union and labour movement who was the founding president of the Canadian Auto Workers after leading its separation from its American parent, the United Auto Workers, and then president of the Canadian Labour Congress. Born in Northern Ireland, he emigrated with his family to Canada at age 13, settling in Woodstock, Ontario. White died in 2017 at the age of 81 in Kincardine, Ontario.
Brampton Assembly Plant is a Stellantis Canada automobile factory located at 2000 Williams Parkway East Brampton, Ontario, Canada. Originally built by American Motors Corporation (AMC) for US$260 million, in the former Bramalea area of Brampton, the manufacturing plant was specially designed for building the Eagle Premier. Its role since has primarily been to assemble full-sized Chrysler products.
Peggy A. Nash is a Canadian labour official and politician from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was the New Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament (MP) for the Parkdale—High Park electoral district (riding) in Toronto, and was the Official Opposition's Industry Critic. Before becoming a parliamentarian, she worked as a labour official at the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW).
Owen Frederick Bieber was an American labor union activist. He was president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) from 1983 to 1995.
Thomas William LaSorda, is a Canadian-American automobile industry executive who was CEO and President of the Chrysler Group. In December 2011, he joined the board of Fisker Automotive and assumed the role of CEO until his resignation in August 2012.
Unifor Local 200 is a local union of the general trade union Unifor. It represents auto industry workers in Windsor, Ontario at three Ford Motor Company of Canada engine plants and one Nemak aluminum casting plant.
George Burt was Canadian Director of the United Auto Workers (UAW/CAW) from 1939 to 1968.
SEIU Healthcare is a Canadian trade union representing more than 60,000 workers in Ontario, Canada. Through collective bargaining, the union represents workers in hospitals, home care, nursing and retirement homes, and community services. The union has been active in Ontario for over 70 years.
Canadian Auto Workers Local 1973 was a local union affiliated Canadian Auto Workers.
Charles E. Brooks (1915–1977) was a Canadian labour union activist, the first president of the United Auto Workers Local 444, who was assassinated by an upset employee of Chrysler Motors.
The Canadian auto industry is closely linked to the U.S., due to the Automotive Products Trade Agreement and later the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and is in similar trouble. Canada's 3,500 car dealers, which employ 140,000 people, told the federal and Ontario governments in mid-November they are at risk from the financial crisis; they are asking the national government to help out despite a record year of sales. Ottawa is considering providing financial aid to the Canadian subsidiaries of the Big Three, and possibly auto parts companies as well. The auto industry argued that loan guarantees and other help would try to save tens of thousands of Canadian jobs threatened by the sudden drop in North American car sales. Chrysler Canada has asked for $1 billion in aid, making it the only Canadian arm of the Big Three to make a specific dollar request.
Jerome P. Dias Jr. is a Canadian trade unionist who was elected the first national president of Unifor in August 2013 at the union’s founding convention following the merger between the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.
