AUFA: Acadia University Faculty Association

Diane Barnim, a hotel worker in St. Catharines, Ontario with a clean five-year record of employment, was fired last August shortly after beginning a union drive at her place of employment. In October, the Ontario Labour Relations Board ordered her employer to rehire her. She has since been “harassed, isolated and intimidated” by her employer, and UNITE HERE, the union representing Niagara region hotel, restaurant and casino employees, claims that other employees were also intimidated to the point that the unionization vote failed 35:1.

UNITE HERE has recently launched “Will you stand with Diane?”, a campaign of support for Diane and for all workers’ rights to unionize. The website is www.istandwithdiane.ca. Apart from this article in the St. Catharines Standard, this story does not appear to have been covered by print news media or by bloggers.