Unifor Local 302 President’s Report- March 23, 2026

Unifor Local 302
President’s Report
General Membership Meeting

March 23, 2026

Blue Crew Campaign
The Ministry of Education has decided that the new school that will open in Cambridge this year, as a joint Public and Catholic school, will have the custodial and maintenance jobs contracted out to a third party. CAMA/OSSTF (representing WRDSB) and UNIFOR (representing WCDSB) have launched a collaborative campaign called the “Blue Crew Campaign” to bring awareness to this issue. As the custodians at both Boards and the Maintenance members at WCDSB wear blue uniforms, we have called this the blue crew campaign.

Together we toured several schools on March 10th to bring the message to our members. We were joined by OECTA, CUPE, ETFO and OSSTF in this campaign as they all wore blue on that day in solidarity.

We will be handing out cards and buttons to all staff at both Boards for them to wear to show solidarity.

This is just the beginning of the Government contracting out our work at new builds.

The Long-Term Care/Retirement Bargaining Strategies Conference
The Long-Term Care/Retirement Bargaining Strategies Conference will be taking place from April 7th-9th, 2026, at the Holiday Inn Toronto International Airport. Local 302 has registered 32 delegates to this conference.

Family Fun Day
A reminder that registration is open for this year’s Family Fun Day at East Park London. Deadline for registration is end of day May 29th, 2026.

Scholarships
The annual Scholarships for Unifor Local 302 members and family are being accepted now. Every year we offer 5 $1000.00 scholarships to our members entering an education program and to their family members that are entering post-secondary education programs. Please contact Maeda at the office for a registration form (519) 951-0302. We will be accepting applications until end of day June 26th, 2026.

Local By-law Changes
Local 302 is in the process of updating its By-laws to bring them in line with current practices and align with changes to the National Constitution 2025.

The changes will be read at the General Membership meeting and will be voted on at the following General Membership meeting. This will take place over the next couple of meetings until all the changes have been addressed.

Pride Parade (London)
Local 302 is planning to attend this year’s pride Parade, stay tuned for upcoming meetings.

BIWOC
We will be holding nominations and elections at the April meeting for 6 delegates to attend the Black, Indigenous, and Workers of Colour Conference being held at Unifor Family Education Center in Port Elgin from June 12th – 14th, 2026.

Bargaining Updates
Upcoming: None at this time
Ongoing: Merrymount
Ratified: Holiday Inn

In Solidarity,

Kevin Phillips
President
Unifor Local 302