Bob White, who died last weekend, was a Canadian icon, not only a dedicated and effective labour leader, but as his career unfolded, a key contributor to our overall economic and social landscape.
I had the privilege of knowing and working with him intermittently for almost 50 years. We first met in the early 1960s, when I was a recently graduated labour lawyer working with David Lewis and Bob had joined the UAW Canadian staff under the sub-regional director Dennis McDermott.
As a lawyer in the Lewis firm, I first became aware of Bob’s talents in a key dispute between the Canadian Auto Workers and the International Association of Machinists over the bargaining rights at de Havilland Aircraft in Malton. After Bob’s successful contribution to the CAW win, I also learned of the kudos he received from his hero, Walter Reuther, and the handwritten letter of commendation he received from Reuther, which he treasured and retained for the rest of his life.
I’ve always believed that Bob’s broad concerns for a just society in all aspects resulted at least in part from his deep admiration of Reuther’s unique interest in and contribution to national and global affairs, and the profound effect Reuther’s riveting and persuasive communication skills had on all who listened to him.
After working with Bob on arbitrations and related matters for over 10 years, I became deputy minister of labour in Ontario and a year later Bob succeeded Dennis McDermott as the UAW’s Canadian regional director. That year I received Premier Bill Davis’s authority to form the Labour/Management/Government Advisory Committee.
There was at that time a clear need for improved communications among the participants. Fortunately, key leaders joined the committee, including the CEOs of CGE, Algoma Steel, CIL, General Steelwares, CIL, General Foods, as well as the heads of the United Steelworkers, the Communications Workers, OPSEU, the UAW and others.
No one played a more significant, positive role than Bob White. The group’s original focus was on the Ministry of Labour’s experimentation with European-based Quality of Working life concepts — ways in which shop floor work and supervision could be restructured to give workers more satisfying participation and autonomy, at the same time enhancing productivity and competitiveness.
Due in large part to Bob’s leadership, this mandate was soon expanded to deal with a much broader range of social and economic issues — this, as I’ve intimated, at a time when the labour relations climate had badly deteriorated.
The committee, with the encouragement of the Minister Bob Elgie, the support of Premier Davis, and the acknowledgement of the committee members of the need for concessionary collaboration, succeeded in supporting a number of statutory reforms, including to the Labour Relations Act, the Employment Standards Act, the Human Rights Code and the enactment of Ontario’s first Occupational Health and Safety Act.
The result? A marked improvement in the labour relations environment, with a significant reduction in collective bargaining impasses and strikes.
Space does not permit a detailed recitation of Bob’s remarkable achievement in creating the CAW as an independent Canadian entity, with the reluctant acceptance of the UAW’s American leadership, nor his voluntary resignation in 1992 to become the president of the Canadian Labour Congress for seven years.
In that latter role, as throughout his remarkable career, he did not hesitate to express his strongly held views, including the weaknesses of many free trade agreements, the dangers of global warming, and the inequities in national and global wealth distribution, to name a few.
It would be wrong to pretend all of Bob White’s views were universally accepted, here in Canada or globally. But they were highly respected, even by those of differing political persuasion, as evidenced by his receiving the Order of Canada in 1990 during the Mulroney government’s tenure.
As has been said by others, we have lost one of Canada’s most charismatic, courageous and influential leaders. Thank God I knew him.
Tim Armstrong, a lawyer and former Ontario Deputy Minister of Labour, is now chair of the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada.
Tim Armstrong, a lawyer and former Ontario Deputy Minister of Labour, is now chair of the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada.
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