Two Canadian Trade Unions Merge, Linking 300,000 Auto and Communications Workers

OTTAWA—The Canadian Auto Workers formally merged Aug. 31 with the Communications, Energy, and Paperworkers Union of Canada to become Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, representing a combined 300,000 workers.

The merged union’s newly elected leadership immediately pledged to promote organization of Canada’s nonunionized workers, particularly in traditionally nonunion industries. Represented by some 3,500 delegates at Unifor’s founding convention in Toronto, the memberships approved the merger and the new union’s constitution by a 95.5 percent majority.

The delegates elected three people to full-time leadership positions with three-year terms—Jerry Dias as national president, Peter Kennedy as secretary-treasurer, and Michel Ouimet as ...