Letters from the president

Every day we get up and expect to go to work and come home to our families and loved ones. Indeed, coming home safe and sound is both a routine and a right that all workers have. Sadly, we know that things aren’t always so simple.

Teamsters Canada is satisfied with the Trudeau Government’s third budget. The union is pleased that the government is taking small steps toward creating a national pharmacare program. However, the government should increase infrastructure investments in coming budgets, and do more to help Canadians through the coming wave of automation and technological changes.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa and Teamsters Canada President François Laporte, speaking at a North American labour summit sponsored by the AFL-CIO, agreed that workers’ rights must be front-and-center in the minds of those participating in the fourth round of renegotiations of NAFTA.

NAFTA talks start in Washington, D.C. today on an ambitious schedule to come up with a “modernized” agreement by the end of the year. The Teamsters Union will be tracking them closely. As North America’s transportation union, our members on the roads and rails, in warehouses and ports from coast to coast, depend on trade for their livelihoods...

Restoring card check and repealing these union-busting Conservative laws were major Liberal campaign promises. This was the letter François Laporte, the President of Teamsters Canada, sent on Tuesday to Canadian local unions on the issue of Bill C-4.

I was saddened to learn of yesterday’s workplace shooting at a UPS warehouse in San Francisco, which took the lives of three of our fellow Teamsters. Today, the thoughts and prayers of over 125,000 Canadian Teamster members are with the victims’ co-workers and loved ones...

Dear brothers and sisters, Teamsters have always been an ally of workers in the construction industry. This is why I am writing to you today. The strike mandate that you have given your union...

Sisters, Brothers, Our union’s international election has come to an end. I’d like to thank all the candidates for their hard work, and congratulate General President Jim Hoffa and General Secretary Treasurer Ken Hall...

To date, Hurricane Matthew has taken a major death toll in Haiti (the exact numbers were not known at the time this was written) and the situation looks dire for this island and many neighboring countries of the Greater Antilles. François Laporte, President of Teamsters Canada, is appealing to Canadians to come to the aid of the victims of this natural disaster by making donations to the Canadian Red Cross.

Labour Day is more than just a day off. It is, first and foremost, a time to reflect on the big union battles waged before our time… and those that we are still fighting today.