Gerry Beauchamp: Gerry Beauchamp, former president of the Gainers UFCW local, was one of two people charged with tracking where company products were taken during the Gainers Strike in 1986 so that picketers could pressure companies to join the union’s boycott.
Vicky Beauchamp: Vicky Beauchamp was a meat packager at Gainers, a union activist, and a strike leader during the Gainers Strike of 1986.
Ellen Bullock: When Ellen Bullock became a pork cutter at Burn’s from 1969 to 1980, doing “men’s work,” she endured endless male chauvinist teasing to earn wages to raise her three children on her own.
Donato Colangelo: During 31 years of work at the Swift Meats/Gainers plant in south Edmonton, Donato Colangelo experienced deteriorating management attitudes that produced the Gainers strike and finally the plant closure.
Jim Connolly
K.C. (Kip) Connolly – Kip Connolly is a slaughterhouse worker who became a long-time UFCW official who played key roles in the Fletchers and Gainers strikes in Edmonton of 1986 and the Maple Leaf strike in Edmonton in 1997.
Wayne Covey – Long-time UFCW, Local 1118 employee Wayne Covey played the lead role in coordinating strike action among meatpacking workers in Alberta in 1986, including strikes at Gainers in Edmonton and Fletchers in Red Deer.
Shane Dawson – Shane Dawson was one of the organizers of the long but ultimately successful UFCW, Local 401 unionizing drive at Lakeside Packers from 1997 to 2004.
Archie Duckworth – Archie Duckworth played a leading role in organizing Lakeside Packers in Brooks in 2004 and the subsequent strike the union fought to win a collective agreement.
Maria Dunn: Juno-award winning folk singer and labour activist Maria Dunn is a gifted songwriter and performer, with “sharp and poignant lyrics,” who draws audiences into the heart of the stories she tells about labour history.
John Ewasiw: John Ewasiw worked in meatpacking for 40 years, and was a UFCW activist before, during, and after the Gainers strike of 1986.
Mary Ewasiw: Mary Ewasiw worked at the Swifts/Gainers plant for over two decades, and became active in the UFCW.
Angela Fiddler – Angela Fiddler, a member of the Waterhen Cree Nation, faced racism in oilsands’ work camps and was able, as a shop steward for UFCW Local 401, to bargain for Indigenous rights to worship in the camps.
Peter Jany: Peter Jany is a South Sudanese origin refugee in Canada who played a key role in the UFCW union organization campaign at Lakeside Packers in Brooks in 2004-2005.
Albert Johnson – Albert Johnson was president of UFCW Local 1118 from 1986 to 2014, and his notable accomplishments included a successful strike against Fletchers Fine Foods in 1986 and winning rights for temporary foreign workers hired by meatpacking plants covered by Local 1118.
Mohamed Kanu – Refugee from Sierra Leone who studied in Cuba before taking up residence in Red Deer. UFCW-appointed Safety Representative at a meat processing plant who upholds union advocacy and training.
Ronald Klassen – Ronald Klassen, a Métis worker who heads up an Indigenous members’ committee for Local 401 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, explains how the union movement and the Indigenous community are both guided by core principles that are crucial to achieving the aims of truth and reconciliation.
George Kozak – George Kozak, a 46-year mechanic at Swifts Edmonton, describes the improvements that UFCW and its predecessor won in terms of correcting unsafe working conditions.
Emmanuel (Manny) Lacson – Manny Lacson is an immigrant worker from the Philippines who became active in a UFCW Local 401 union organizing drive at Lakeside Packers and then in two strikes in 2005.
Norm LeClaire – Norm LeClaire spent 30 years as a full-time business agent in packinghouses for UFCW and its predecessor.
Oscar Lopez – While a temporary foreign worker at Olymel in Red Deer, Oscar Lopez assumed the role on behalf of UFCW Local 1118 of persuading management against imposing penalties on workers who failed to follow instructions because of language issues.
Serena Nelson– Serena Nelson is a proud Indigenous woman who serves as a workplace steward at the Safeway store in Lloydminster and who deals with racism both in the community and among fellow workers.
Sam Nuako – Sam Nuako is a Ghanian-born labour relations officer for UFCW who focuses strongly on diversity issues and on encouraging members to always speak up about their concerns.
Doug O’Halloran – Doug O’Halloran was president of UFCW Local 401 when he was permanently disabled as a result of a car chase during a first-contract strike at Lakeside Packers.
Peter Zotek – Peter Zotek (1929-2022) was a slaughterhouse worker, and his interview provides vivid descriptions of the dangerous work that he and others performed, and their struggles to win improvements in working conditions, pay, and respect as human beings,