Combined Organizing Effort Nets New Members in Ottawa!
Ottawa, ON – A combined effort by organizers from IAMAW District Lodges 78 and 11 was successful in bringing workers at the Kingsway Arms St Joseph Manor Retirement Home in to the Machinists Union.
“We said after we organized the Kingsway Arms head office in Bowmanville we would specifically target other locations of this company and this is following through with that plan,” said IAMAW District Lodge 78 organizer Scott Jackson. ‘This is the result of a lot of hard work on the part of Organizers Roy Bhansingh of District 78 and Hélène Fréchette of District 11.”
“The majority of the work force at the Manor is from French Africa or Haiti and English is not their first language,” explained Jackson. “Hélène was instrumental in breaking the language barrier and making these workers feel comfortable in joining the Machinists.”
The 55 workers at the retirement home in Orleans, a suburb of Ottawa, consist of housekeeping staff, dieticians, kitchen staff and personal support workers. They will become members of IAMAW Local Lodge 1295. The IAMAW also represents 35 workers at the Kingsway Arms Retirement Home in Bowmanville, just east of Toronto.
“We said after we organized the Kingsway Arms head office in Bowmanville we would specifically target other locations of this company and this is following through with that plan,” said IAMAW District Lodge 78 organizer Scott Jackson. ‘This is the result of a lot of hard work on the part of Organizers Roy Bhansingh of District 78 and Hélène Fréchette of District 11.”
“The majority of the work force at the Manor is from French Africa or Haiti and English is not their first language,” explained Jackson. “Hélène was instrumental in breaking the language barrier and making these workers feel comfortable in joining the Machinists.”
The 55 workers at the retirement home in Orleans, a suburb of Ottawa, consist of housekeeping staff, dieticians, kitchen staff and personal support workers. They will become members of IAMAW Local Lodge 1295. The IAMAW also represents 35 workers at the Kingsway Arms Retirement Home in Bowmanville, just east of Toronto.
