Lethal Weapon actor appears at Unifor national convention in Vancouver

VANCOUVER – Canada’s largest private sector union brought some star power to its national conference on Sunday.

Actor Danny Glover, perhaps best known for his role in the Lethal Weapon movies, spoke to the delegates and expressed his support for Unifor.

“I am in great solidarity with you,” he said.

Glover, who gained fame for playing the role of a detective in Lethal Weapon alongside actor Mel Gibson, has a reputation for throwing his support behind labour movements worldwide.

During his address to the union members, Glover drew comparisons between organized labour and America’s Civil Rights Movement.

He says Martin Luther King Jr. was a staunch supporter of unions during his campaigning for racial equality, and likened the fight for workers’ rights to a struggle for justice.

“Whether we are Canadian workers or whether we are American workers, we have a long history to live up to,” said Glover. “Men and women who all throughout the 20th century who gave of themselves, who struggled and sacrificed for the rights of workers.”

“We stand on their shoulders,” he said.

He said there was a “global attack on working people,” suggesting companies have an easier time outsourcing workers than they did before.

“Capital has the power to go wherever it wants, to destabilize wherever it wants,” he said.

Once Glover finished his speech, Unifor National President Jerry Dias made the actor an honorary member of the union.

Unifor has about 305,000 members and was created more than a year ago when the Canadian Auto Workers union merged with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.’

The first Lethal Weapon movie debuted in 1987, and three sequels followed, making hundreds of millions of dollars during their box office runs.