History

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Local 414 has a proud and colourful history, the original Charter dates back to 1946, as a Provincial Local representing in the early days primarily Dominion Stores.

Over our 74 years we have had the privilege of being part of various unions. Originating out of the International Union, Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (R.W.D.S.U.) in 1993, the Canadian sector of the R.W.D.S.U made the decision to divide from our American affiliate, who at the time decided to merge with the United Food and Commercial Workers. (U.F.C.W.) For us in Canada, we found our political alliances better matched the United Steel Workers of America (USWA). Being part of the USWA allowed us to continue to grow but after 7 years the leadership and members needed something different and in November of 1999 we made another decision to leave USWA and merge with the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW).

CAW has traveled a similar path to us; they believe in choice, and they didn’t feel their international union was fully benefiting Canadian workers and like us chose to break away and start an all-Canadian union. CAW has had many successful mergers over the years, ours being one of them. Local 414 believes our alignment with CAW was a good one, we were able to expand our education programs with CAW’s input and we gained access to outstanding servicing for our members.

On August 31, 2013, we made another big move with another merger.  The Canadian Auto Workers union (CAW) and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) merged to create the largest labour union in Canada and was re-named Unifor.

Unifor Local 414’s priority has always been our membership. While there were transition years, from one parent organization to another, we have always fought to keep our unique membership united. Today, Local 414 has a broad scope of members whom we represent including grocery, retail and distribution centers. We represent members in such diverse industries as food & vending, food services, security guards, maintenance workers, glass auto parts, taxi dispatchers, travel agents, tow truck drivers, women’s shelters and drug stores.