Ontario Federation of Labour

The Ontario Federation of Labour is a federation of labour unions in the Canadian province of Ontario. The original OFL was established by the Canadian Congress of Labour in 1944. It was merged with the rival Ontario Provincial Federation of Labour in 1957 (now considered the modern OFL's founding date), one year after the merger of the CCL and the Trades and Labour Congress (the OPFL's parent federation). It is now the provincial federation of the Canadian Labour Congress.

Ontario Federation of Labour

Abbreviation	OFL
Formation	1944/1957
Type	Trade union centre
Headquarters	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Location	Ontario, Canada
Membership	700,000
President	Laura Walton
Secretary-treasurer	Ahmad Gaied
Executive vice-president	Jackie Taylor
Parent organization	Canadian Labour Congress
Website	ofl.ca

The Ontario Federation of Labour offices in Toronto

Elroy Robson was the original OFL's first president and William Sefton was its first secretary-treasurer.^{[citation needed]} Policy conventions are held every two years. Today, the federation represents 54 unions and a million workers who belong to its affiliated trade unions.^[1][2]

Officers of the OFL since 1957

Presidents

• Cleve Kidd (1957–1958)
• David Archer (1958–1976)
• Cliff Pilkey (1976–1986)
• Gord Wilson (1986–1997)
• Wayne Samuelson (1997–2009)
• Sid Ryan (2009–2015)
• Chris Buckley (2015–2019)
• Patty Coates (2019–2023)^[3]
• Laura Walton (2023 - present)^{[citation needed]}

Secretary-Treasurer

• Douglas Hamilton (1957–1970)
• Terry Meagher (1970–1984)
• Wally Majesky (1984–1986)
• Sean O'Flynn (1986–1988)
• Julie Davis (1988–1995)
• Ethel Birkett-LaValley (1995–2005)
• Irene Harris (2005–2009)
• Marie Kelly (2009–2011)
• Nancy Hutchison (2011–2015)
• Patty Coates (2015-2019)
• Ahmad Gaied (2019–present)^{[citation needed]}

Executive Vice-Presidents

• Julie Davis (1986–1988)
• Ken Signoretti (1988–1997)
• Irene Harris (1997–2005)
• Terry Downey (2005–2011)
• Irwin Nanda (2011–2015)
• Ahmad Gaied (2015-2019)
• Janice Folk-Dawson (2019–2023)
• Jackie Taylor (2023 - present)^{[citation needed]}

Campaigns

The OFL's primarily helps coordinate and support labour actions, strikes, and bargaining of Ontario's labour unions. Where the law impedes this work the OFL has historically campaigned to have such legislation repealed. Where the law is lacking, the OFL has historically campaigned for new legislation to be introduced. The following are some of the campaigns the OFL has run since establishment:^[4]

• Campaign challenging the provincial Judicature Act (1965)
• Day of protest challenging Pierre Trudeau's use of federal powers to interfere in collective bargaining (1976)
• I Care About Medicare (1979)
• Ontario Can Work (1980)^[5]
• Affirmative Action, Equal Pay, Pay Equity, Employment Equity (1980-1990)
• New ERA (Economic Recovery Alternative) (1982)
• Scrap Bill 162 (1987)
• A Job To Die For (1990s)
• Positive Space (1999)
• Keep Your Promises, Dalton (2004)
• Jobs Worth Fighting For (2005) ^{[citation needed]}