Unions aren’t buying O’Toole’s worker-friendly campaign pitch

Erin O’Toole’s attempts to portray himself as an ally of workers, the Conservative leader seems to be public enemy No. 1 so far as Canada’s labour unions are concerned.

Some of the largest unions are urging their members to vote for anybody but the Conservatives. Others are actively involved in urging their members to vote strategically in close-fought ridings — either for the Liberals or NDP depending on the riding — to prevent the Conservatives from winning. Still others, such as United Steelworkers Canada, are endorsing the NDP outright.

But Chris Aylward, national president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), said he’s unaware of any union that has endorsed the Conservatives.

The party itself did not respond when asked whether it has received any union endorsements.

In a bid to broaden the Conservative tent, O’Toole signalled a shift in the party’s approach to organized labour last fall, shortly after assuming the leadership, emphasizing the need for unions to protect workers’ rights and bemoaning a decline in union membership.

Aylward pointed out that O’Toole was a member of cabinet when Stephen Harper’s Conservatives cut 26,000 federal public service jobs in four years and engaged in “blatant attacks” on workers’ rights, including imposing two controversial laws that were seen as anti-union and which were repealed once the Liberals won power.

Similarly, Canadian Labour Congress president Bea Bruske said O’Toole’s policies “don’t really resonate because they don’t deliver what we’re looking for.”

Unifor is “100 per cent” urging its members to vote strategically to produce an “anything but Conservative” result, national president Jerry Dias said.

“It’s all about strategic voting.”