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CEP/CAW merger to go ahead, Coles will lead CEP

Delegates to the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union convention have voted in favor of forming a new union with the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW). The merger will create the largest private-sector union in the country, with more…

Delegates to the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union convention have voted in favor of forming a new union with the Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW). The merger will create the largest private-sector union in the country, with more than 300,000 members.

The delegates have also re-elected Dave Coles as CEP national president.

 “We have a significant job to do: we are going to build not only a new union, but a new labour movement,” Coles told delegates after thanking them for their support. Over the coming months, one of his main tasks will be to lead the union in the process of creating a new union with the CAW.

Peter Kennedy, national secretary treasurer of CAW, said the next steps in the merger process are to establish a number of working groups that will develop the new constitution and founding documents of the new union.

The new organization is expected to launch in 2013.