UFCW Canada Local 401 Is Loud and Proud at Edmonton Pride
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UFCW Canada Local 401, Alberta's largest private sector local union, along with approximately 20,000 other partipants were loud and proud at the 2012 Edmonton Pride Parade, organized by the Edmonton Pride Festival Society. With this year’s theme being “Stand Out”, UFCW Canada Local 401 had a significant contingent at the June 9 parade, to celebrate the diversity that is Canada and to send the message that "issues affecting the LGBTQ community and workers are all of our issues."
UFCW Canada Local 401 President Doug O’Halloran, a committed veteran of Pride Parades in Edmonton, noted that, “Unions do not only negotiate wages and benefits. We have a history of reaching out to our diverse communities because human rights don’t stop when you leave the workplace.”
Additional groups taking part in the parade included the Alberta NDP, the Alberta Federation of Labour, and a number of other labor unions.
This year UFCW Canada Local 401 also constructed an impressive float decorated in UFCW Canada colours while members, activists, staff, community and family members danced and marched.
Underscoring the Edmonton Pride Parade, President O’Halloran spoke on the need for the labor movement to continue to fight for equality. “UFCW Local 401 is proud to work and share in the struggles where our community members reside, as a means to further their rights, achieve fairness and equality for all. Canadians choose unions to be their voice of reason because history has shown us that many corporations think only of the next quarter, shareholder value, and short term profits. If human rights get in the way of corporate greed than we know that those hard-won rights will be trampled upon.”
In 2012, UFCW Canada and its local unions will be taking part and will be Loud and Proud at numerous Pride Parades across the Country. To take part in a Pride Parade in your city, please click here.