In 2024 we had our first in-person convention in eight years, with 2020’s being relegated to a virtual event due to the COVID pandemic.
NOTE: Videos played at the convention are available in the video gallery below.
Elections
Executive Board and Council meetings took place. Our Executive Officers were re-elected to another four-year term.
- David Bridger, President
- Tom Galivan, Secretary-Treasurer
- Kumar Ramcharran, Executive Vice-President
- Jackie Swaine, Vice-President
See their bios.
Resolutions
We passed resolutions on Migrant Worker Justice, a Digital Hiring Hall (Janitorial), and a Committee on the Future.
Learn more about our resolutions on our website.
Workshops
Members enjoyed numerous trainings and workshops including Steward Training, Know Your Rights, Understanding Power & Conflict, Leadership Development, Member Mobilization & Unity and a Justice for Janitors National Strategy breakout.
Justice for Migrant Workers screened and facilitated a discussion about “El Contrato,” a Canadian documentary film, directed by Min Sook Lee.
Speakers
Guest speakers at the convention included SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Rocio Sáenz. She has spent the last three decades helping underpaid workers–janitors, security officers, airport workers, fast food workers and others–win better lives through Justice for Janitors-style campaigning.
We were also joined by SEIU Executive Vice President Leslie Frane. Leslie is an organizer, political strategist and coalition builder.
We were treated to a fascinating panel discussion on sectoral bargaining which included Angelica Esmeralda Mendoza Baron, a McDonalds worker from California and member of the Fast-Food Council, Dr. Jim Stanford, economist and director of the Centre for Future, and Sussanne Skidmore, the BC Federation of Labour president.
Brenda Gabris from the International Union served as a translator. We also welcomed Anneisha Williams, another member of the Fast-Food Council from California.
Former Local 2 president J. Cameron Nelson addressed the convention and spoke about our Local’s long history. Did you know our Local was first chartered in 1902!?
Guest Organizations & Booths
We had the pleasure of welcoming several organizations who set up booths to share their work with us.
Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW)
Justice for Migrant Workers (J4MW) is a volunteer run political non-profit collective comprised of activists from diverse walks of life (including labour activists, educators, researchers, students and youth of colour) based in Toronto and in Vancouver. J4MW strives to promote the rights of migrant farmworkers (participating in the Canadian Seasonal Agricultural Workers Program and the Low Skilled Workers Program) and farmworkers without status. Promoting workers rights entails fighting for spaces where workers themselves can articulate their concerns without losing their work or being repatriated. They see themselves as allies and strive for a movement that is led and directed by the workers, and they consider the families left behind, primarily children and women, who are a big part of migration but who are forgotten in the equation of migrant farm labour. J4MW collective is motivated by experiences shared and lessons learned from migrant farm workers over the course of more than nine years of community outreach in rural Ontario, and now Vancouver. As allies, activists and friends they believe migrant workers deserve work with dignity and respect!
Thank you, Chris Ramsaroop, Gabriel Allahdua, Herby Boodhoo, and Taneeta Doma for joining us!
ACORN Canada
ACORN Canada is an independent national organization of low- and moderate-income people with over 150,000 members organized into 30 neighbourhood chapters in 10 regions, across 6 provinces. ACORN’s members fight landlords and corporations through direct action. They also fight for new and improved laws to protect their rights! Each member has a vote, and only members speak for the organization and have the authority to set the policy and determine the tactics of each group. Since 2004, ACORN has won several important victories including payday lending legislation, raises in the minimum wage, housing rights by-laws across the country, affordable internet program, disability rights, and more.
Thank you, Brittany Thomson and Clo, for joining us!
Unrigged
Unrigged is a coalition of 20 local, regional and national media outlets from across Canada. It is a news platform that provides up-to-the-hour news from across the country! Unrigged offers Canadians a place to access the latest news, podcasts, features, and more. It is a collaboration between non-profit outlets designed to benefit readers and promote news, and its website continuously monitors the sites and feeds of its members. The Unrigged outlets have an audience of over a million readers, listeners and viewers in Canada!
Thank you, Andre Goulet and Eric Wickham, for joining us!
Glitter Bean Café
Glitter Bean Café is a queer-centric, unionized, worker-owned co-op offering specialty coffees, teas, baked treats, light fare, liquor service, catering, venue rental and community events in Halifax, Nova Scotia! Glitter Bean Café rose as an alternative to working in an unfair work environment under private ownership. Workers who lost their jobs banded together to form a worker co-op and breathed life back into our much-loved, cozy café. They remain unionized with Local 2, a victory won by cafe workers in 2013. Glitter Bean exists to provide employment and community space that affirms the dignity, wellness, and joy of queer, BIPOC and equity-deserving communities. They are collectively owned and democratically governed by their workers who are majority queer and queer folks of color. Their little business is unique and strives to be values-based, heart-forward, and relational.
Thank you, Alex Marchand and Sawyer White, for joining us!
Union Savings
Union Savings is Canada’s only not-for-profit, union run, members’ benefit program. They can offer you big savings on your day-to-day spending. By creating an account and joining the thousands of union members already enrolled in Union Savings, you could save up to 30% on your cell phone plan, enjoy major travel and transportation discounts, cash in on clothing and beauty promotions, and even more. Current and retired union members of participating unions are automatically eligible for their Union Savings benefits – luckily, SEIU Local 2 is a proudly participating Local.
Thank you, Alexandra Belen and Madelin Burt-D’Agnillo, for joining us!
Convention Video Gallery
Enjoy the videos we shared at convention. We fought many battles over the last four years and welcomed many new members.
