CAW to 'reaffiliate' with the Ontario Federation of Labour

[Blue_Tires]

The Canadian Auto Workers says it will reaffiliate with the Ontario Federation of Labour after an absence of more than a decade.

CAW president Ken Lewenza said Friday that the union is currently talking to OFL leaders about conditions for a return that will likely come in the first quarter of next year.

"We're not reaffiliating just to reaffiliate," Lewenza told more than 800 delegates at a CAW council meeting earlier. "We're affiliating because we believe the labour movement needs us and we need the labour movement."

Union delegates had passed a resolution at a council meeting earlier this year to start a "constructive and respectful" dialogue that could lead to possible reaffiliation.

The CAW, one of the province's biggest private sector unions, left the federation in 1997 after it could not get assurances of representation among the OFL's top four officers.

It has about 225,000 workers across the country including a majority in Ontario.

Lewenza said the labour movement in the province needs a united front in the growing attack on workers by corporations and governments.

http://www.thestar.com/business/article/734764--caw-to-reaffiliate-with-the-ontario-federation-of-labour