Canada’s largest private-sector union, which represents 315,000 members in industries like auto making, media, shelters, and healthcare, elected the former national secretary-treasurer Payne on Wednesday at its constitutional convention in Toronto. She is the first woman to hold the position. (The Logic)
Talking point: Payne takes the union’s helm in a leadership vacuum left by past national president Jerry Dias. Dias stepped down amid health concerns, and an internal investigation into a $50,000 payment he received from a rapid COVID test supplier seeking promotion of its product to union members. Payne led a third-party probe into allegations of a kickback payment. A former journalist, Payne, who was also the first woman to be Unifor’s national secretary-treasurer, defeated executive assistant to the president, Scott Doherty and Unifor Local 444 president Dave Cassidy.