No charges against former Unifor head Jerry Dias following bribery investigation

Former Unifor president Jerry Dias was not charged as the result of an investi‐ gation launched last year into allegations that the longtime union leader ac‐ cepted a bribe, Toronto po‐ lice said Thursday.

The police's financial crimes unit began investigat‐ ing the former president of Canada's largest private sec‐ tor union last spring after the union handed over money Dias allegedly accepted from a supplier of COVID-19 rapid test kits he promoted to members. Police said Thurs‐ day that the investigation has been concluded.

Unifor at the time charged Dias with violating the code of ethics and democratic prac‐ tices of the union's constitu‐ tion, and said a hearing would be held before the national executive board.

Unifor's director of legal and constitutional matters Anthony Dale said in a state‐ ment Thursday that the union's own matters relating to Dias have been concluded to its satisfaction and he will no longer be subject to a hearing process under the union's constitution.

Dale said the union was in‐ formed by police at the end of 2022 that no criminal charge would be laid, but the union's own conclusion was unrelat‐ ed to the police investigation.

Dias said in a statement through his lawyer Tom Curry that these developments "re‐ inforce what I have always known to be true: that over my 45-year career, I have con‐ sistently acted with integrity and in the best interests of Unifor members."

Union leader denies al‐ legations

Dias said the allegations against him were not true.

"I have never made a dime outside of my salary with Uni‐ for, and I have always lived by the union's Code of Conduct," he said.

"In saying this, it is time to move on with my life."

The union had said Dias al‐ legedly gave a Unifor employ‐ ee $25,000, which he said was half of the money from the supplier, and the employee subsequently filed a com‐ plaint under the Unifor code of ethics and delivered the money to the union.

Dias committed to enter‐ ing a rehabilitation facility in the wake of the incident, say‐ ing his use of painkillers, sleeping pills and alcohol to deal with a sciatic nerve issue had impaired his judgment.

Dias began a medical leave on Feb. 6, 2022, around a week after being notified about the union's indepen‐ dent investigation into the matter. He was already set to retire that year, but did so early.

Dias said Thursday that he has received medical atten‐ tion to deal with "serious health issues including debili‐ tating sciatica," and has also received assistance to elimi‐ nate his dependence on opi‐ oids to deal with pain. He said he regrets the distraction to members, and thanked those who reached out to him.

Dias had been the presi‐ dent of Unifor since 2013 when it was created as a merger between two unions. He was an outspoken figure of the labour movement in Canada, playing an key role during the negotiation of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement and the successful fight to reopen the General Motors plant in Oshawa, On‐ tario.

In an election in August 2022, former national secre‐ tary-treasurer Lana Payne was elected the new presi‐ dent of Unifor, running against Dias' former executive assistant Scott Doherty, as well as Dave Cassidy, presi‐ dent of Unifor Local 444.

Dias said the statement that he is proud of his work as Unifor's first president.

"While I will no longer be leading the actions on the picket lines and at the bar‐ gaining table, I will always be Unifor's number one support‐ er."