From Unifor and Unifor 2000:
OCTOBER 2, 2024
The 2024 Bud Jimmerfield award was presented to Unifor Local 1937 member Robert Girard at the recent Canadian Council convention in Montreal.
“Our union recognizes Robert’s tireless work as a health and safety advocate over many years, both to thank him and to inspire other Unifor members to follow in his footsteps,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.
Girard was hired in 2002 as an operator at Rio Tinto/Alcan’s aluminum smelter in Quebec. He first became involved in the union as a shop steward in 2011, by 2014 was elected as the prevention representative, and then in 2017 Girard was elected occupational health and safety coordinator for his local.
Unifor 2000 also had a great nominee for the award. Glen Koyanagi is a warehouse coordinator at Purdy’s Chocolatier’s Chester location. He is co-chair of the Chester Health and Safety Committee.
Since stepping up to the position, Koyanagi has taken a committee that was not functioning well and turned it around into a very well-run committee. They bring up and deal with issues quickly. It is now the best functioning health and safety committee in the local, local president Brian Gibson has said.
Girard is responsible for occupational health and safety for all workers at Rio Tinto/Alcan facilities in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region. Over the years, he has demonstrated an exemplary commitment to occupational health and safety, at the level of both prevention and worker compensation.
In addition to being a member of the Unifor Québec training team, Girard also organizes several training courses each year that are offered to OHS representatives from his local, and other Unifor locals. Themes covered in these courses include the right to refuse work, psychosocial risks, work in confined spaces, the use of cameras in the workplace, and the duty to accommodate workers with disabilities.
Girard is also deeply committed to defending the rights of workers who have been the victim of a workplace injury. He has served as a workers’ compensation representative before the Quebec Commission for Standards, Equity, and Workplace Health and Safety and administrative tribunals, and he has provided assistance to non-unionized workers on the management of their workplace injury files.
“Every year, we honour a member with an unshakable commitment to keeping workers safe and well,” said Unifor Director of Health, Safety and Environment Joanne Hay. “Robert inspires others to know their rights at work, to stand up for themselves and others, and to use every tool available to workers to push against the constant overreach of profitmaking into our personal safety.”
“We know this is this essential union-building work that helps to ensure workers are going home to their families at the end of each day. Defending health and safety is the ultimate in solidarity and is worthy of our union’s highest recognition,” said Payne.
Who was Bud Jimmerfield?
Bud Jimmerfield was a tireless Health and Safety, Environment and Workers’ Compensation activist, not just at his workplace but at other workplaces and in communities from coast to coast.
Bud worked as a machinist for 31 years, exposed every working day to cancer-causing metalworking fluids at an auto parts plant in Amherstburg, Ontario.
When Bud was diagnosed with esophageal cancer at the age of 47, the compensation board initially denied that his cancer was caused by exposure to metalworking fluids at his place of work. Bud and his union fought back, presenting evidence to an appeals board that agreed that Bud’s cancer arose from workplace exposure. This appeal decision was ground-breaking and resulted in national attention on the effects of exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace.
It has been 25 years since Bud’s death in January 1997, 18 months after his diagnosis, at age 49, leaving behind his eight children and wife Diane.
Before he died, Bud charged union activists with an important responsibility “don’t mourn my death, fight for the living and do your best to try to prevent future occupational diseases, death and injuries from occurring.”
As Bud’s union, Unifor continues his legacy through activism and education. Since 1999, the union has presented outstanding health, safety and environment activists with the Bud Jimmerfield award.
Previous Bud Jimmerfield Award Recipients:
- Dave Churchill, Local 28, 2023
- Marc Roussel, Local 219, 2022
- Ed Steers, Local 199, 2021
- Richard Clark, Local 697, 2020
- Karen Paton-Evans, UniFaith Community Chapter, 2020
- Todd Sleeper, Local 88, 2020
- Dave Stewart, Local 598, 2020
- Mark Bruce, Local 1996, 2020
- Angie Martz, Local 229, 2020
- Shirley Egan, Local 444, 2019
- Grant Truscott, Local 686-B, 2018
- Roger Haggerty, Local 592, 2017
- Emil Mesic, Local 707, 2016
- Susan Markus, Local 1859, 2012
- Nadia Anton-Collins, Local 707, 2010
- Gord Piper, Local 114, 2009
- Wayne Butler, Local 20, 2008
- Gary Parent, Local 444, 2007
- Dave Renaud, Local 222, 2006
- Jamie Wright, Local 88, 2005
- Karen Willsey, Local 2168, 2004
- Ken Bondy, Local 200, 2003
- Bob Bourrier, Local 100, 2002
- Dick Martin, Canadian Labour Congress, 2001
- Jim Mahon, Local 1520, 2001
- Hector McLellan, Local 27, 2000
- Jim Campbell, Local 195, 1999
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