Year: 2008
Location: Calgary
Profile: Gordon Christie was executive secretary and organizer of the Calgary District Labour Council (CDLC) from 1991 to 2008. He was chosen for those roles because of his lifetime union and community activism. When Christie worked at the Alberta Liquor Control Board Distribution Centre (1980-1991), he was an activist member of AUPE, Local 50/03, and a delegate to the CDLC. His years leading the CDLC coincided with Ralph Klein’s time in power, which was marked by an agenda of cutbacks, wage rollbacks, and privatization. Christie called on his members to fight back and when Klein announced privatization of Calgary hospital laundry workers’ jobs in 1995, and the workers walked off their jobs in an illegal strike, Christie played a leading role in building union solidarity and community support of these workers. Grassroots activism and tremendous public support for the laundry workers forced the government to delay the privatization by 18 months, among other concessions.
During his AUPE and CDLC years, Christie was active in Friends of Medicare, among other organizations fighting for public services. He remains active in FOM in retirement as well as the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada and shows solidarity with strikers by joining picket lines.
Keywords: Alberta Liquor Control Board; Calgary and District Labour Council; Community support for laundry workers’ strike; Grassroots activism; Privatization; Ralph Klein; Union solidarity during strikes; Wage rollbacks.
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See also: Alberta Union of Provincial Employees; Calgary Laundry Workers Strike; Friends of Medicare