CAW-CEP mega-union to hold founding convention Labour Day weekend
by The Canadian Press
Three-day event will see approval of union's constitution, name and logo, elect its first leaders
TORONTO—Canada’s largest private sector union will hold its founding convention on Labour Day weekend 2013 in Toronto.
The three-day event merging the Canadian Auto Workers’ (CAW) and the Communications, Energy and Paper Workers (CEP) unions will open Friday, Aug. 30 and run until that Sunday.
That will allow delegates to carry banners with the new union name during Labour Day events in their communities.
The founding convention will approve the union’s constitution, name and logo, and elect its first leaders.
National meetings of the new union’s Canadian council will take place in Vancouver in 2014 and Montreal in 2015.
Delegates to CAW and CEP conventions voted overwhelmingly over the past few months to create the union that will fight aggressively against attacks on the labour movement by governments and others.
The new union would represent more than 300,000 workers across roughly 20 economic sectors.
Most of the membership would be concentrated in manufacturing, communications and transportation.
But the new entity would also represent some public sector employees working in health, education and transit roles.
