Canadian Auto Workers Union
The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) is one of Canada's largest and highest profile trade unions. While rooted in the large auto plants of Ontario the CAW has in recent years expanded and now incorporates workers in industries from fisheries to air travel. The currently lead by Buzz Hargrove, the union is strongly left leaning and has long been a significant backer of the NDP political party.
The union began as a the Canadian branch of the United Auto Workers, founded in the 1930s. In the 1980s Canadian labour began to become far more militant then their American counterparts. The focus of union activity had also changed, high wages and good benefits from the auto-companies had been achieved, the union saw the greater threat as coming from the federal government, making large national unions that covered many industries more useful than international unions limited to only one industry. Under Bob White the CAW thus broke off from the UAW in 1985.
After separation the CAW began to grow quickly in size and stature merging with a number of smaller unions to double in size. Most notably were the mergers with the Fishermen, Food, and Allied Workers and the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Transport and General Workers. The CAW also played an important role in fighting the government of Brian Mulroney and such policies as the GST and free trade.
In the early 1990s, after a period of brief exaltation at the election the NDP of government of Bob Rae in Ontario, the CAW and NDP soon had a falling out ending their long alliance in that province.
