Jerry Dias
Jerome P. Dias, Jr. is a Canadian trade unionist, who was elected the first president of the Unifor union, a merger between the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, on August 31, 2013.
The son of Jerry Dias, Sr., a worker at de Havilland's facilities in Downsview who led the plant's United Auto Workers local from 1967 to 1978, Dias pursued studies at York University before dropping out and taking a job at the plant, and later became president of the union local himself in 1987. He later became a staff representative for the Canadian Auto Workers' national office in 1993; in 2007, he became a senior assistant to CAW presidents Buzz Hargrove and Ken Lewenza, Sr. Jerry has been active in the labour movement for nearly four decades.
