Home About Us Board of Directors Nomination Criteria Nomination Form Contact Us Robert White Labour, Canadian Labour Congress Toronto, Ontario You must have Windows Media 9 or above to see the video above. Click here to download the free player. Born in Upper Lands, Northern Ireland in 1935, Robert White immigrated to Canada when he was 13 years old. He began working at the early age of 15 for Hay & Company in Woodstock, Ontario and within a year he had already participated in a strike, his first pro-labour activity. Robert White became fully immersed in the Canadian labour movement as a union organizer and then by 1959, President of Local 636 of the United Auto Workers (U.A.W.). In 1960 Mr. White was appointed as international representative of the U.A.W. and assigned to organize duties in Canada, named administrative assistant to the director of the National Office of the U.A.W. in 1972 and by 1978 Mr. White became the Canadian Director of the U.A.W. In 1984 Robert encouraged the Canadian membership of the U.A.W. to split away from the International union to form a new and separate entity, the Canadian Auto Workers Union. This was an important event in the history of the Canadian labour movement. At the first C.A.W. convention in 1985 Robert was acclaimed as its first leader. Robert became a national figure in Canadian labour and politics during this time. Robert White served three terms as president of the largest private labour organization in Canada before becoming the president of the Canadian Labour Congress in 1992. Robert represented the interests of 2.2 million Canadian workers and was always a strong advocate of social justice issues and fair trade practices, not only for Canadians but workers around the world. In addition to Mr. White's extensive labour history he was also the first Canadian to be President of the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Chair of the Commonwealth Trade Union Council, Chair of the Human and Trade Union Rights Committee of the 126 million-member International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Mr. White currently serves as President Emeritus of the Canadian Labour Congress. Induction Category: Labour Home | About Us | Board of Directors | Nomination Criteria | Nomination Form | Contact Us © Canadian Manufacturing Hall of Fame: 2000 Talbot Road W.- Box 43, Windsor, ON N9A 6S4 Phone: 519-972-2382 - Fax: 519-972-2733 - E-mail info@cmhof.ca Premier Sponsors: Cocktail Sponsor:

Announcing the 2009 Canadian Manufacturing Hall of Fame Inductees: (click the names below for their biographies) John L. Bragg Oxford Frozen Foods Ltd. Oxford, Nova Scotia Steve F. Krar Educator, Trainer, Author Welland, Ontario Dr. John S. MacDonald MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Burnaby, British Columbia Placide Poulin MAAX Inc. Sainte-Marie de Beauce, Quebec Peter Lymburner Robertson* Robertson Inc. Milton, Ontario * Deceased Gavin Semple Brandt Group of Companies Regina, Saskatchewan An induction ceremony and dinner will be held Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts in Windsor, Ontario Click here for 2006 & 2007 Inductees