Ontario Federation of Labour Convention begins....

I have the privilege again of representing the members of my union at the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) convention which begins tomorrow (with some meetings later today). I'll try to do some mini-blogging with highlights during the week. 

This is an election year and President Wayne Samuelson will not be running again. Word is that Sid Ryan has the nod from the OFL exec and will be the next leader. Sid is the first leader from a public sector union to take the helm of the Fed. Change is good and I think Sid will be a good spokesperson for the issues facing working people in Ontario.

Rumors have been floating about another candidate but I imagine that's all it is -- a rumor. In traditional labour movement style, democracy will prevail and there probably won't be an election.

I'm not sure what's up on the policy front. I know that OPSEU has submitted a number of resolutions including 3 or 4 on the environment. Those resolutions include:

• provisions for the boosting the scope and percentage of local procurement under the new Green Energy Act to help kickstart a greener economy with good, local, green jobs
• sending a strong message to Stephen Harper about the upcoming Copenhagen climate change talks
• establishing a framework for the OFL itself to reduce its own carbon footprint

One of the highlights for me will be a Union Button/Pin/Ribbon Fair [2]. I'm an avid collector of historic labour memorabilia and helped to initiate the Fair. It will take place on Wednesday at lunch time at the bottom of the escalators. It's organized by the Workers Arts and Heritage Centre [3].

Another highlight will be this afternoon's launch of the CLIFF film festival at the Sheraton Centre (4:00 p.m.).  Kudos to Frank Saptel and the organizers of this historic, cross-Canada labour film festival. At least two years in the making, the festival will showcase a variety of labour focused films from Canada and abroad. The rest of this coming week, the festival will be held at the Bloor Cinema.

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