Jean-Claude Parrot
National President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers
In office
1977–1992
Preceded byJoe Davidson
Succeeded byDarrell Tingley
Personal details
Born24 July 1936
Montreal, Quebec
OccupationPostal clerk, trade unionist

Jean-Claude Parrot (born 24 July 1937) was National President of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers between 1977 and 1992, and its chief negotiator for eighteen years. Parrot led the union through several national postal strikes and was responsible for cultivating the union's reputation as a militant organization that made pathbreaking gains in collective bargaining that would later be adopted by other unions.

Early life

Parrot became a postal clerk in Montreal in 1954.

Union Activism

Parrot became CUPW's national negotiator in 1975. The 1975 negotiations led to a 43-day national strike.[1]

During the 1978 negotiations, the Canadian federal government imposed back-to-work legislation. In defiance, postal workers remained on strike for seven days after the legislation took effect. Parrot was eventually jailed for two months in 1979 for refusing to tell postal workers to return to work.[2]

He led postal workers to many victories such as the conversion of Canada Post into a Crown Corporation, breakthroughs in collective bargaining such as paid maternity leave, and CUPW's 1989 victory in a winner-take-all certification vote that doubled the size of the union.

Canadian Labour Congress

Jean-Claude Parrot was elected Executive Vice-President of the Canadian Labour Congress at its 19th Convention in Vancouver in 1992.[3] He was subsequently re-elected to this position in 1994, 1996 and 1999.

Writings

On the fortieth anniversary of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Jean-Claude Parrot published his memoirs in a book entitled My Union, My Life: Jean-Claude Parrot and the Canadian Union Of Postal Workers.

References

  1. ↑ KAPLAN, WILLIAM. "Jean-Claude Parrot". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  2. ↑ Panitch, Leo; Swartz, Donald (2008). From Consent to Coercion: The Assault on Trade Union Freedoms. Toronto: Garamond. p. 149. ISBN 9781442600966.
  3. ↑ KAPLAN, WILLIAM. "Jean-Claude Parrot". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2016-04-10.

Further reading

  • Parrot, Jean-Claude (2005). My Union, My Life: Jean-Claude Parrot and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Halifax: Fernwood Publishing. ISBN 9781552661642.
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