OTTAWA—After seven years at the helm of the CLC come next May – 49 years in the labour movement total – Bob White will retire from the leadership of the Canadian Labour Congress.

"I would be 67 at the end of the next term, if I ran again. No way that should happen. I’m stepping down to make room for younger leadership," White told the CLC’s Executive Council.

White will be remembered for informing the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) out of the Canadian section of the US-based United Auto Workers. As the first CAW President, he led innovative bargaining for indexed pensions, child care, and shorter work time and placed new emphasis on organizing.

He will also be remembered for his prescient opposition to the US-Canada Free Trade Agreement and NAFTA. White predicted that free trade would divert investment to low-wage, no environmental-standard venues and make Canada more vulnerable to downswings in international markets. He also said that these agreements would open a gap between the rich and the rest in Canada. These predictions were dismissed in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.

White took the positions of the Canadian labour movement to the international level, increasing links between the CLC and the international labour movement. As the President of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), White urged leaders such as Bill Clinton and Jacques Chirac at G7 meetings for international trade that would actually benefit working people and respect the environment. In this capacity, White also led the opposition to the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI) at the OECD.

As Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the International confederation of Free Trade Unions, White pressured government to respect human rights and to free political prisoners such as the jailed Indonesian labour leader Muchtar Pakpahan.

White presided over the growth of the CLC with the addition of nurses’, teachers, and pilots’, unions and with the return of the building trade unions that once formed the Canadian Federation of Labour.

As President of the CLC, White worked out a special relationship with Quebec trade unionists which respects their right to chose their future direction and today serves as a model for future relations between Quebec and the rest of Canada.

White announaced that he would take time off before considering anything else, but whatever he does, it will benefit working people. "My life has been dedicated to workers, and that’s where my commitment resides."

White also announced the retirement of CLC Secretary Treasurer Dick Martin. White said, "Dick has made a major contribution to the labour movement and to the CLC in particular. His hard work and dedication serve as a model for future CLC leaders and for Canadian union leaders in general."