Unifor, OPSEU pooling resources to fight Doug Ford’s ‘destructive agenda’

Two of Canada’s biggest unions plan to join forces against what they call Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s “destructive agenda.”

The alliance between Unifor and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) comes in the wake of Ford’s comments about the pending closure of a General Motors plant in Oshawa, Ont.

Ford said last week there’s nothing his government can do to convince the automaker to change course, adding the company’s president had told him, “The ship has already left the dock.”

In a statement Sunday afternoon, OPSEU President Warren (Smokey) Thomas says such “flip comments … are not good enough for Ontarians.”

He says the unions will lobby the government to “re-invest in public services,” and ask Ford himself to encourage employers to create “good stable jobs.”

Meanwhile, Unifor national President Jerry Dias said Ford’s agenda is “one attack after another” that hurts working-class people and their families.

“Between cowering to corporate interests, a dangerous public sector hiring freeze, and punishing the provinces’ most vulnerable workers — Doug Ford has clearly shown his playbook,” Dias said in a statement.

The premier’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.