United Steelworkers union converges in St. John’s for triennial conference
08 Julio 2024 - 6:46AM
The United Steelworkers (USW) union has brought 450 members, staff
and guests to St. John’s as part of the union’s triennial District
6 Conference. USW District 6 includes members in the Atlantic
region and Ontario. The conference, with the theme “We’re Ready,”
will take place at Delta Hotels by Marriott St. John’s Conference
Centre, at 120 New Gower St. and runs from Monday to Thursday.
Delegates to the conference will help set the direction for the
district over the coming years, including in the areas of
bargaining strong contracts, organizing new workplaces, building
power through education, health and safety and political
action.
The conference kicks off on Monday morning at 9 a.m. NDT with an
Indigenous opening and an address from District 6 Director Myles
Sullivan and presentations from a number of guests.
During the conference, members will have the opportunity to
visit Bell Island on Tuesday and Wednesday and learn about the
union’s important labour history of representing underground mine
workers on the island.
Participants will also take part in a series of workshops
focused on raising the bar on women’s health and safety, action on
ending gender-based violence, political action, finding your voice
in the union, building power at work and preventing and dealing
with harassment in the workplace.
USW District 6 is the largest district in the union, with 80,000
members across the five provinces. Known as the health and safety
union in Canada, over the last two years the union has been
pressing Newfoundland and Labrador elected officials for a criminal
investigation into the flash fire at the Braya Renewable Fuels
refinery in Come By Chance on September 2, 2022 where one worker
was killed and seven more were critically injured. Since 2017, the
union had been sounding the alarms on the unsafe working conditions
at the refinery.
About the United Steelworkers union
The USW represents 225,000 members in nearly every economic
sector across Canada and is the largest private-sector union in
North America, with 850,000 members in Canada, the United States
and the Caribbean.
Each year, thousands of workers choose to join the USW because
of the union’s strong track record in creating healthier, safer and
more respectful workplaces and negotiating better working
conditions and fairer compensation – including good wages, benefits
and pensions.
For more information, please contact:
Shannon Devine, USW Communications and Political Action
Department 416-938-4402 / sdevine@usw.ca (on-site in St.
John’s)