NDP staffers join new union, split with Unifor over strategic voting

OTTAWA – More than 600 federal NDP political staffers have chosen a new union home that will give unequivocal support to their party.

The staffers from New Democrat MPs’ parliamentary and constituency offices have voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers.

They had been members of Unifor, the country’s largest private-sector union, but divorce proceedings were instigated after Unifor refused to give unconditional support to the NDP in the Ontario election last spring.

Unifor encouraged its members to vote strategically — for either the Liberals or NDP — to ensure the Progressive Conservatives didn’t win.

It has since adopted a similar strategy for next year’s federal election in a bid to defeat Stephen Harper’s Conservative government.

Federal NDP staffers decided Unifor could not be relied upon to protect their jobs if it wouldn’t give a blanket endorsement to the party for whom they work.