No Holds Barred

Jerry Dias is a new kind of union leader, and he's the president of a new kind of union. Jerry tells the story of how he went from dropping out of first year university to facing down Donald Trump's treasury secretary and refusing to live with General Motors' ruthless decision to shut down Oshawa's iconic assembly plant.

Jerry describes his career as a union activist and his surprise election as president of the newly-formed Unifor, an organization with 300,000 members. His leadership style is unabashedly in your face — whether it's rivals in his own union, other union leaders, or company management. Jerry is a strong advocate of union political activity — but not as a no-questions-asked NDP loyalist.

When the federal Liberals invited him to advise on the NAFTA renegotiations with the Trump administration, he leapt at the chance to push for an agreement that took account of workers' interests. In his account we see Chrystia Freeland in action, as well as the US negotiators, with Trump cabinet members pulling strings.

During the same period, Unifor was negotiating with the big US auto manufacturers. Jerry and his union targeted GM, and won an agreement where GM committed to keeping the key Oshawa plant open to 2020. It seemed like a huge win at the time. Jerry describes the devastating developments that followed in late 2018, when GM renounced their agreement and announced the shutdown that many Unifor members always thought was in the cards.