Structures & Operations

 

The Ottawa and District Labour Council is this region's "House of Labour", or central labour body. Just as workers unite in a union to protect their rights, union locals unite in the Labour Council to further their aims and objectives.

 

Since it was founded in 1872, the Labour Council has served and represented workers in Ottawa.

 

The Labour Council's 90 affiliated union locals reflect the whole spectrum of organized labour in Canada. Public and private sector, clerical, service and industrial workers join together through the Labour Council to give a voice to their concerns.

 

Directly chartered by the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and affiliated to the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL), the Council speaks out as labour's voice on municipal, provincial and national issues and promotes the social and economic welfare of workers and all Canadians. It is this body that the CLC and OFL turn to in order to carry out their policies in the community.

 

The Labour Council is involved in a number of educational and service-oriented projects on an ongoing basis. They appoint labour representatives to La Cité collégiale, United Way/Centraide, EI Board of Referees to name a few.

 

The Ottawa and District Labour Council (ODLC) Executive Board is comprised of 12 members (5 officers plus 7 executive).

 

ODLC Standing Committees

Political Municipal Affairs Committee

Women's Committee

Human Rights Committee

Health, Safety and the Environment

International Solidarity Committee

Education Committee

 

Two other programs sponsored by the ODLC include:

 

LABOUR COMMUNITY SERVICES was established in 1988 as a joint Labour Council/United Way venture. Labour Community Services trains unionists to be union counsellors providing peer-counselling and liaison services for workers requiring assistance from community social services. Labour Community Services is labour's link to the social services and social justice movement in our region.

 

WORKERS' HERITAGE COMMITTEE attempts to record and preserve the stories of our regions' workers and their workplaces. Workers have largely not left a written record of their experiences and their voices have not been recorded so as those workers pass away in time, their stories are lost.

The Workers Heritage Committee helps the local labour movement to give a voice to workers and their experiences, allowing us to tell the community about the importance of our work, our lives and to put it in an historical context.

Each local union votes to join the Labour Council, to which it pays a monthly dues allotment of .35 per member per month. Each local is entitled to send delegates to the monthly Labour Council meeting and to report on matters affecting their membership. You will also be made aware of issues affecting other locals within the community There are approximately 40,000 members of the Labour Council in the Ottawa Region. Your support and participation in the council will help strengthen the voice of labour in the region.

The Council meets on the third Wednesday of each month except July.

For more information, please call the Ottawa & District Labour Council at 613-233-7820.

 

Ottawa & District Labour Council