Proposal Committee

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CAW and CEP each appointed representatives to a “Proposal Committee” which has discussed many issues related to the establishment of a new Canadian union. The Committee made developed several reports, and its final report was adopted by both CAW and CEP national conventions.

Resource Staff

Reports and Letters

• Report of the New Union Proposal Committee - March 1st,2012
• Public Statement on 2nd Meeting of CAW-CEP New Union Proposal Committee – March 15-17th, 2012
• Third Report of the CAW-CEP New Union Proposal Committee – May 22nd, 2012
• Joint Letter on the Third Meeting of the CAW-CEP New Union Proposal Committee – May 22nd, 2012
• Fourth Report of the CAW-CEP New Union Proposal Committee - May 28, 2012
• Fifth Report of the CAW-CEP New Union Proposal Committee - June 29th, 2012
• Towards a New Union – Proposal Committee Final Report - August 1st, 2012

Biographies

CAW-TCA

Peter Kennedy is the CAW National Secretary-Treasurer. Before becoming one of the union’s top officers, Peter was the assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer where he oversaw negotiations with General Motors, the aerospace sector and the electrical and electronic sectors. In this capacity, he was also responsible for day to day operations and administration of the union, retirees programs as well as staff relations. Peter has sat on the board of directors for a number of community organizations and led a number of provincial and federal electoral campaigns.

Sylvain Martin is the CAW Quebec Director and the regional director for the Quebec City area. Through-out his years as a union member and activist, Sylvain has held a number of elected positions in the local union and served as president of the Quebec Council, considered to be the parliament of the Quebec-based section of the union. As a union staff member, Sylvain has worked in education, organizing and servicing.

Deb Tveit is an assistant to the CAW National President. Deb became a member of the union after helping organize her workplace in 1990. Before being named assistant, she held a number of elected positions and later was appointed as a national service representative. As an aboriginal worker of the Oneida Nation, Deb has been active in improving the rights and position of aboriginal and workers of colour within the union, workplaces across the country and the broader community.

Bob Chernecki is the recently retired assistant to the CAW National President. Bob was appointed as assistant in 1992 and served under two national presidents. He was responsible for major collective bargaining at Chrysler, Ford, CN, CP, VIA Rail, skilled trades, the ship building, fisheries, and the health care sectors, along with other responsibilities out of the president office. Before joining the staff of the union in 1987, Bob held various local union elected positions at CAW Local 444 in Windsor, Ontario.

Tim Carrie is the president of CAW Council, considered to be the parliament of the union. He is also the president of CAW Local 27 in London, a large amalgamated local union with members in auto parts, health care, general manufacturing and warehousing. Tim is the president of the CAW Independent Parts Supplier Council (IPS Council) and a member of the CAW’s National Executive Board. Tim served as president of the London District Labour Council.

Lewis Gottheil is the Director of the CAW Legal Department, which operates out of Toronto and Montreal. Lewis advises the leadership and staff of the CAW on a broad range of legal issues that impact the union and its membership at the bargaining table, in the workplace, and in the community at large. He appears as litigation counsel to defend and advance the legal interests of the union before all employment related Tribunals and all levels of provincial and federal Superior and Appellate Courts. Lewis graduated from McGill University, B.A. (Great Distinction) in 1977 and Osgoode Hall Law School in 1980, and was called to the Bar in 1982.

Susan Spratt is the CAW Area Director for B.C. and Alberta. She began her working life at New Flyer Industries in Winnipeg and has worked in a number of different areas of the union joining the staff more 20 years ago. Susan sits on the executive of the B.C. Federation of Labour.

Chris Buckley is the chair of the CAW General Motors master bargaining committee and the president of CAW Local 222 in Oshawa, a large amalgamated local union in Durham region. He is also a member of the CAW National Executive Board and a trustee on the CAW Council Executive. Chris co-chairs the Campaign Cabinet of the United Way of Durham Region.

Resource Staff:

 Jim Stanford is an economist with the Canadian Auto Workers union. Jim is the author of Economics for Everyone (published in 2008 by Pluto Press and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives). He writes an economics column for the Globe and Mail, and is a member of CBC TV’s regular National News economics panel, “The Bottom Line.” He received his Ph.D. in Economics in 1995 from the New School for Social Research in New York, and also holds economics degrees from Cambridge University and the University of Calgary.

David Robertson is the former director of the Work Organization and Training Department at the CAW. Prior to his retirement in June 2011, David was on staff for 25 years. David was involved in many facets of the union and was responsible for co-ordinating CAW convention and policy papers on union development issues, such as organizing and union renewal.

Jo-Ann Hannah is the Director of the Pensions and Benefits Department of the Canadian Auto Workers union. Jo-Ann negotiates pensions and benefits in auto, rail, airlines, and mining.  She worked on the 2000 CAW Task Force on Working Class Politics in the 21st Century – a major project to consult CAW members on the political role of the union. She has served on the United Way of Greater Toronto Research Committee. Jo-Ann has a Ph.D. in Education from the University of Toronto and an LL.M. from Osgoode Hall Law School.

CEP-SCEP

Gaétan Ménard has been the CEP’s Secretary-Treasurer since 2006, after having served as a national representative for six years. Prior to that he held various elected positions on his Local executive, at Masson Paper in Gatineau, Quebec. During this time he was also president of the Outaouais Labour Council and took on numerous responsibilities at the Quebec Federation of Labour.

Michel Ouimet, CEP Executive Vice-President, Quebec, began his career as a data technician at Bell Canada in 1973. He wasted no time in becoming involved in the union, specifically with the organizing drives for technicians and operators. In 1987, after several years of Local activism, Michel was hired as a CEP national representative. Three years later he was elected as the Regional Vice-President for Quebec, and in 2007, as Executive Vice-President. He is also Vice-President with the Quebec Federation of Labour, and as such, sits on the board of the QFL and on the board of directors of the QFL Solidarity Fund.

Chuck Shewfelt was elected as CEP’s Atlantic Regional Vice-President at the 2010 convention. He was first elected as an officer to one of our media locals — Local 830M — in 1981. Chuck was hired as a full-time national representative in 1989, where he worked from Halifax and St. John’s, servicing Atlantic Canadian Locals in all four CEP sectors before becoming the Atlantic Region VP.

Kim Ginter was elected as Vice-President of the CEP Ontario Region at the 2010 national convention. Prior to that, he had been the region’s Administrative Vice-President for three years. Kim has more than 20 years experience in the labour movement. He became a full-time national representative-organizer with the union in 1991, after having served as the president of Canadian Paperworkers Union Local 324, a CEP predecessor union.

Jim Britton has been the Regional Vice-President for CEP’s Western Region since being elected at the 2008 national convention. He comes out of the energy sector and has been an active union member for more than 40 years. His activism began in Sarnia, Ontario, where he served as Local president of a CEP predecessor union, the Energy and Chemical Workers Union. Jim was hired as a CEP national representative in 1991 and was soon assigned to the west coast.

Peter Murdoch has been CEP’s Vice-President Media since 2000. Before that he was a national representative with CEP, and an organizer with the Newspaper Guild. Peter has worked as a journalist and senior editor at a number of Ontario newspapers. Prior to that he worked as a social worker/therapist in a number of settings.

Angela Adams is a CEP Rank and File Board Member and the Secretary-Treasurer of CEP Local 707 – our union’s largest Local. Angela has been a union activist for more than 10 years. She works in mining operations at Suncor in Fort McMurray, and is also a local school board trustee.

Dean Carvery is the Indigenous/Racialized Worker Representative on the CEP Board of Directors. He is the president of Local 773 at IKO Industries Ltd. in Calgary, Alberta where he has been a long-time union activist. Dean is originally from Halifax, N.S.

Resource Staff

Fred Wilson is the Assistant to the President of CEP. Based at the Ottawa national office, he coordinates the union’s policy, campaigns and national services. Fred has been the senior staff representative in eastern Canadian pulp and paper pattern bargaining and in the CEP National Energy and Chemical Bargaining Program. Fred is a long time social activist and volunteers on the national Board of Directors of the Council of Canadians.

Duncan Brown is National Director of CEP Graphical and the Executive Director of CEP’s Humanity Fund. He also coordinates global solidarity initiatives. Previously he was International Vice-President of the Graphic Communications International Union. Duncan has extensive experience in all aspects of unionism, especially strategic organizing and campaigning.

Patty C. Barrera is Director of Special Projects and Political Action at CEP, and she is also the staff resource person for CEP’s National Equity Committee. She is a long-time political strategist and community activist. Prior to coming to CEP, Patty was an integral part of the Canadian Labour Congress’ Political Action and Campaigns department, coordinating the CLC’s National Municipal Program.