VANCOUVER – Beginning on Tuesday, April 2, in Vancouver, the United Steelworkers union (USW) will hold its triennial National Policy Conference. Speaking and presenting to USW members will be a number of well-known Canadian political leaders, international labour leaders and social justice activists.
Conference delegates will debate and make decisions on issues affecting Steelworkers and labour more generally, including U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs, collective bargaining in modern times, domestic violence in the workplace and Indigenous issues in the workplace.
Media are welcome to attend as accredited observers.
WHAT: 54th United Steelworkers National Policy Conference
WHEN: April 2-5, 2016
WHERE: Westin Bayshore, 1601 Bayshore Dr., Vancouver
WHO: Jagmeet Singh, Federal NDP Leader
John Horgan, B.C. Premier
Tanya Talaga, Anishinaabe Canadian author/journalist
Union leaders from around the globe
600 USW activists from across Canada
Rank-and-file Steelworkers activists meet every three years for the USW National Policy Conference to set the union’s policies and priorities. The 2019 conference will be attended by 600 Steelworkers activists from across Canada, as well as national and international guests and dignitaries.
USW National Director Ken Neumann will deliver the opening address to the conference at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 2.
Jagmeet Singh, Leader of Canada’s New Democrats, will be the guest speaker on the conference’s first day, at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, April 2.
British Columbia Premier John Horgan will address conference delegates on Wednesday, April 3, at 9 a.m.
Also on Wednesday, Tanya Talaga, award-winning author and investigative journalist, will be a guest speaker during a session addressing Indigenous rights issues, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Other conference speakers will include USW International President Leo W. Gerard (Wednesday, 3:45 p.m.); Len McCluskey, General Secretary of Unite the Union, the largest union in the U.K. and Republic of Ireland (Thursday, 9 a.m.); and Napoleón Gómez, Senator, Republic of Mexico, and leader of Mexico’s Los Mineros union (Friday, 9 a.m.).
The USW represents 225,000 workers in virtually every sector of the Canadian economy.
* For media accreditation to attend the conference, contact Sarah-Louise Quig at 647-999-3098, squig@usw.ca.
Ken Neumann, USW National Director, 416-544-5951
Bob Gallagher, USW Communications, 416-544-5966, 416-434-2221, bgallagher@usw.ca
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