Unifor will maintain a particular conference to switch former President Jerry Dias because the union proceeds to a listening to into allegations the long-time chief accepted cash from a provider of COVID-19 fast check kits that he promoted to numerous Unifor employers.
Secretary-Treasurer Lana Payne detailed the findings of an exterior impartial investigation into Dias at a press convention March 23. She additionally confirmed the previous president’s abrupt exit 5 months forward of his deliberate retirement date will shake up the race to switch him.
“Our structure requires a particular conference when there’s a emptiness outdoors of a sure window,” she mentioned.
As secretary-treasurer, Payne would have assumed the duties of president if Dias had left lower than 120 days previous to the union’s triennial conference, which is scheduled for Aug. 8-12 in Toronto. As a result of Dias’ retirement after 8 ½ years as president got here outdoors this window, Unifor’s Nationwide Govt Board (NEB) should manage a vote to elect a brand new president inside 30 days.
“Our board might be coping with the problems round a particular conference after we meet once more in every week or two,” Payne added, with out specifying what dates could also be into account.
Unifor, which represents 315,000 staff in Canada, together with roughly 40,000 at auto elements suppliers and automobile meeting crops, makes use of a delegate system for elections. Versus particular person members casting ballots, delegates from locals throughout the nation vote on behalf of members, electing prime officers to three-year phrases.
Following Dias’ almost three-term tenure, his alternative will grow to be Unifor’s second president. The labour union was fashioned in 2013, following the merger of the Canadian Auto Staff union and the Communications, Vitality and Paperworkers Union of Canada.
Scott Doherty, govt assistant to Unifor’s nationwide president, and Dave Cassidy, president of Unifor Native 444, which represents staff at Stellantis’ Windsor, Ont. Meeting Plant, started campaigns for the presidency in February.
The 2 candidates, together with any others who might have declared, had anticipated to face off on the union’s August conference in Toronto, however Dias’ departure will shorten the race significantly.
It would additionally result in a second presidential election in August.
Underneath regular circumstances, the union holds elections at its conference for president, secretary-treasurer and its administrators for the Western, Ontario and Quebec areas. Regardless of the particular election confirming a brand new president simply a number of months earlier, the presidency might be put to a different a vote in August.