Daniel Cloutier was elected as Unifor Québec Director in April 2022. Cloutier first got involved with the union in 1989, during a labour dispute at Purolator that lasted four months. Upon returning to work, he was elected as a steward for Local 146 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), one of the founding unions of Unifor.

He served in various capacities, including as local president before being hired as a CEP service representative in 1997. Covering a broad range of sectors provided him the opportunity to work in several regions of Québec as well as in the rest of Canada.

Cloutier has led numerous negotiations, including several at the national level, resolved strikes and arbitrations, and worked in the Health and Safety department. He also served as president of the Canadian National Representatives Union.

Following the creation of Unifor in 2013, Daniel joined the Health and Safety Department, where he worked to make the Service de défense des accidentées et des accidentés du travail (SDAT) an effective tool for defending local unions and their members.

To request an interview with Daniel Cloutier, contact Véronique Figliuzzi. Media outlets can download Cloutier's high-res photo here.

Elected National Secretary-Treasurer at Unifor’s Constitutional Convention in 2022, Len Poirier formerly served as Assistant to the National President, Director of Road Transportation and long-time national service representative.

Poirier first became a professional truck driver at Laidlaw Transport (Laidlaw Waste Systems) in 1986. Elected unit chairperson in 1988.

Poirier has served as Unifor’s Road/Urban Transport delegate to the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and has sat on the road section steering committee for many years. He is currently the Chairperson for Canada.

From 1986 to 1994, he was a member of CBRT & GW, co-founding the Road Transport Council is recognized as one of Unifor’s industry councils.

Poirier had been one of the longest serving Board of Directors under the Transport Health and Safety Association of Ontario (THSAO), and with the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association of Ontario (IHSA).

In these roles, he has worked tirelessly to support the needs of the road transportation members of our union and the broader public as well.

Since 2008, Len has been involved or co-led national bargaining for Loomis Express and DHL with local unions from every province.

To request an interview with Len Poirier, contact Kathleen O'Keefe. Media outlets can download Poirier's high-res photo here.

Elected Western Regional Director in 2019, Gavin McGarrigle was formerly the B.C. Area Director and served as a National Representative since 2006.

Active in many elections, McGarrigle oversaw the Unifor campaigns in 2017 and 2020 that led to a change in government and the subsequent re-election of the largest NDP majority in B.C. history.

He has opposed anti-union legislation in Manitoba and the anti-worker policies of Alberta’s United Conservative Party and supported Unifor Votes efforts in the recent Saskatchewan and federal elections.

McGarrigle also worked as a union organizer and mobilized members to help achieve important legislative gains including single-step unionization in B.C. to allow workers to organize more easily.

He continues to press for a sustainable and inclusive foundation for B.C.’s forestry industry and for workers’ voices to be heard in all sectors.

McGarrigle has been a leader on many picket lines to highlight the need for anti-scab legislation, including the Co-op Refinery lockout in Saskatchewan, and he continues to push for a nation-wide ban.

Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, McGarrigle has lived in British Columbia for more than 25 years.

To request an interview with Gavin McGarrigle, contact Ian Boyko. Media outlets can download McGarrigle's high-res photo here.

Samia Hashi is Unifor’s Ontario Regional Director, elected at the 2023 Canada Council.

Since her election, she’s taken a boots-on-the-ground approach to supporting members on picket lines, at rallies and demonstrations, and in their communities.

Hashi began her tenure with a major health care campaign to raise awareness and take action on Ontario’s crumbling health care system, calling on all levels of government to provide adequate funding for necessary staffing levels and high-quality care. In a series of health care town halls, Samia heard firsthand from communities across the province on the critical issues impacting them and their families.

Her work now focuses on further supporting committees of our union and mobilizing members around the upcoming election season.

She brings a deep understanding of union organizing to her work—having rose through the ranks at Unifor as a member, an organizer of her workplace, Bell TV, and thousands of other new members, and as a staff member in Unifor’s organizing and human rights departments.

As a member of Local 6006, Samia served as steward and represented workers across the province as a member of the Unifor Ontario Regional Council’s Young Workers’ Committee.

Hashi’s family immigrated to Canada in 1991, arriving as Eritrean refugees. Upon arrival, her family found community support and solidarity in addition to the rights and freedoms that her parents had sought for Hashi and her siblings.

Stephen Cotton is General Secretary of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), a global union federation of 740 trade unions representing nearly 16.5 million transport workers in over 150 countries in the maritime, port, aviation, road, rail and urban transport sectors. He was elected to the position at the 43^rd ITF Congress held in Sofia, Bulgaria, in 2014, and re-elected twice: at the 44^th Congress in Singapore, 2018, and at the 46^th Congress in Marrakech, 2024, the first ITF Congress to be held in the Arab World.

Under his leadership, the ITF has transformed into a proactive campaigning organisation, allowing the ITF and its affiliates to secure industry-leading contracts and protocols with key multinational companies in the transport sector.

Cotton is a Trustee of the ITF Seafarers’ Trust and serves on the United Seamen’s Service (USS) governing body.

In 2021, Cotton was appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to serve as a Member of the Board of the UN Global Compact, an initiative that mobilises industry leaders globally to do business responsibly and improve the state of society.

He chaired the Council of Global Unions (CGU) between 2019 and 2023, a particularly challenging time for trade unions globally. In 2014, Cotton received the USS Admiral of the Ocean Sea (AOTOS) Award, in recognition of his work defending the well-being and fair treatment of seafarers.

Hassan Yussuff is one of Canada’s most experienced labour leaders. As the past President of the Canadian Labour Congress, he was the first person of colour to lead Canada’s union movement.

After emigrating from Guyana, Mr. Yussuff worked as a truck mechanic with General Motors for 10 years before getting involved in the labour movement. In 1988, he joined the Canadian Auto Workers union as the National Staff Representative, and later became their first Director of Human Rights. In 1999, he became Canadian Labour Congress’s first person of colour elected to an executive position, as Executive Vice-President. He went on to be elected as Secretary-Treasurer for three terms, from 2002 to 2014, before being elected President in 2014. He was re-elected in this role in 2017.

In addition to his work in Canada, Mr. Yussuff is a prominent international activist. In 2016, he was elected for his second term as President of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas, an organization uniting 48 national organizations and representing more than 55 million workers in 21 countries. He was also a member of the Executive Bureau and General Council of the International Trade Union Confederation and a member of the Ministerial Council of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Mr. Yussuff served on the Government of Canada’s NAFTA Council and its Sustainable Development Advisory Council. He also contributed to numerous other task forces and organizations, including as co-chair of the Task Force on Just Transition for Canadian Coal Power Workers and Communities, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the National Institute of Disability Management and Research. He was recently appointed to the Net-Zero Advisory Body by the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change. He has recently been part of the Industry Advisory Roundtable on COVID-19 Testing, Screening, Tracing and Data Management and the COVID Communications Partners Roundtable.

Mr. Yussuff and the Canadian Labour Congress, with their tripartite partners, are recipients of the 2021 Canadian Freedom of Association Award for their instrumental collaboration in Canada’s 2017 ratification of the International Labour Organization’s Convention No. 98. Mr. Yussuff has been a recent recipient of the Pearson Centre Progressive Leadership Award. He has also received honorary Doctorate of Laws from Brock University and Ryerson University.

Michael Kaine is a fierce advocate for transport workers in Australia and across the globe.   

Michael’s early career saw him working across community, torts and commercial litigation at the NSW Crown Solicitor’s Office after completing his Arts/Law degree at NSW and being admitted as a solicitor.

Michael has now worked at the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU) for over 25 years campaigning for better standards for workers across the transport industry. Beginning with organising owner drivers, concrete drivers and couriers, Michael went on to become National Secretary where he’s led the union to new heights across road transport and aviation.

Under Michael’s stewardship, the TWU has run multifaceted campaigns in road transport, working with Coles, Woolworths, Uber, DoorDash and Menulog to lift transport standards, win ground-breaking legislative reform for truck drivers and transport operators and a world-first system for gig workers, and in aviation led illegally outsourced Qantas workers to a High Court win, as well as achieving ground-breaking Same Job Same Pay laws.

The world-first legislation won by the transport industry to lift standards in the gig economy has seen Michael take up a leadership role in the gig economy section of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). He is also the ITF’s Asia Pacific Road Transport Chair and ACTU Vice President.

Mark Hancock was​ elected CUPE’s 6th National President in November 2015, following two terms as President and four terms as Secretary-Treasurer of CUPE BC.

Mark became a CUPE member in 1984, and served fifteen years as President of Local 498 representing Port Coquitlam Municipal Employees.

Mark knows that our greatest asset as a union is the breadth and diversity of our members and the strength of our local unions.

Mark believes CUPE and the labour movement have a pivotal role to play in defending workers’ rights and building a fairer and more inclusive economy for everyone in the post-pandemic world.

Magali Picard was elected president of the FTQ at its 33^rd Convention in January 2023. She previously served as Vice-President of the FTQ and of the Fonds de solidarité FTQ, National Executive Vice-President of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), as well as President of the Quebec Council.

Ms. Picard is a proud member of the Wendat Nation and a long-time advocate for Indigenous and women's rights. Throughout her career, she has fought for greater social justice for workers so that everyone may live in dignity. She began her career as a union activist in 1999 with the PSAC-affiliated Union of Veterans’ Affairs Employees (UVAE), where she was president of Local 10042. Thanks to her outstanding skills and enthusiasm, she quickly climbed the ranks of the PSAC, an FTQ affiliate.

Magali Picard is currently First Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors and a member of the Executive Committee of the Fonds de solidarité FTQ.

She also sits on the Canadian Council and the Executive Committee of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and on the General Council of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

In addition, Ms. Picard is a member of the Comité consultatif du travail et de la main-d'œuvre (CCTM) and sits on the Board of Directors of the Commission des normes, de l'équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail (CNESST).