TEAMSTERS CANADA 33RD CONVENTION RECAP

world. We have an important role as a democratic institution to uphold the principles of transparency and democracy, inside and outside our union.

Brother Don Davies, NDP MP for Vancouver-Kingsway and former lawyer for Local Union 31, explained the benefits of the agreement made between the NDP and the Liberals in order to move a progressive agenda forward. One that has workers at the fore.

We also received the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, who committed to delegates to working closely with our union.

Obviously, we did not only hear from politicians.

We heard from mental health experts. We know that there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that our members living with mental health problems, including addiction, get the help they need.

We likewise heard about the benefits of diversity. We need to recognize that we can do better. The importance of initiatives to promote diversity within the organization, whether through mentoring or other actions, were discussed.

Our members submitted important policy resolutions, which were debated and voted on by delegates. These resolutions touched on a range of subjects, including fighting for better working conditions in retirement homes and protecting dairy workers from trade wars and countries that would use Canada as a dumping ground.

We also passed a resolution on the importance of health and safety of our rail workers, who continue to needlessly be injured or even killed on the job. To that effect, we also commemorated the three-year anniversary of the Field Hill derailment, which took the lives of three of our members.

We resolved to fight against the Drivers Inc scheme, which is nothing but a race to the bottom for working conditions in the trucking industry.

And these are just a handful of the issues delegates debated.

Attendees also paid a warm tribute to Brother Roy Finley, executive assistant to the president of Teamsters Canada and former secretary-treasurer of Local Union 362, for his over 42-year career.

Readers curious to learn more about the convention can check out this YouTube playlist with all videos that were presented at the convention: TEAMSTERS.CA/CONVENTION

SCAN THIS QR CODE TO WATCH THE CONVENTION'S VIDEOS: