Surprise PC endorsement shows union members need to be 'wooed', says Local 2251 prez

An all-candidate meeting at USW Local 2251 headquarters Thursday night has resulted in the union — for quite possibly, the first time in its history — backing a Progressive Conservative candidate.

The union issued a release this morning endorsing Ross Romano in his bid to serve as Sault Ste. Marie MPP for another term.

“Not in my living memory,” said Local 2251 president Mike Da Prat, when asked if the union had ever backed the PC party. “As far as I know, the NDP  was brought back in the early sixties — ‘61 or ‘62 — when the party was formed, and I believe since then, the steelworkers always supported the NDP.”

Last night’s all-candidate meeting hosted by the steelworkers saw just three parties represented at the event — Ross Romano for the Conservatives, Jaclynne Hamel for the Liberals and Michele McCleave-Kennedy for the NDP.

Following opening remarks, a question and answer period and closing remarks, union members in attendance voted for their choice via secret ballot.

“All three were well spoken, Ross was spirited,” said Da Prat. “I guess he engaged the people, and the people voted for him.”

"This endorsement by the hard-working men and women of USW Local 2251 is a truly humbling moment for myself," Romano said via press release Friday. "I am honoured, and I do not take for granted how important and meaningful of an endorsement this is."

Da Prat says that last night’s vote sets a precedent for USW Local 2251, establishing the union as a “legitimate voting block” which will force the hand of future candidates to take the membership’s all-candidate meeting seriously.

“A comment was made last night at the meeting that the result of this session is a foregone conclusion, however, [that] we’re here actually proves [that] wrong,” said Da Prat. “What the members want to be is considered legitimate voters that need to be wooed, that you have to work for the workers in order to gain the support of those workers.”

“If every party believes that we’re already committed no matter what happens, no matter what is said, then why would anybody worry about working on our behalf in order to ensure that they get our support?” he continued. “The democratic process is built on a party working on behalf of the electorate to the satisfaction of the electorate.”

With the upcoming June 7 provincial election just a couple of weeks away, a new poll carried out by Forum Research suggests that if the provincial election were to be held today, the NDP would form a majority government.

On Friday, the union executive of USW Local 9548, representing 500 employees at Tenaris Algoma Tubes, officially placed its support behind NDP candidate Michele McCleave-Kennedy - a former labour council president and longtime labour activist.

McCleave-Kennedy was unavailable to comment on USW Local 2251’s endorsement of Romano.

Meanwhile, with a provincial election on the horizon, Da Prat says that this is no time for voter apathy to take root.  

“I think the most important lesson that be learned . . . is that anyone that didn’t bother voting, for whatever reason, a no-vote is not a protest vote,” Da Prat said. “The reality is failing to vote means that you’re giving proxy to whoever wins first past the post, whoever wins the election, irrespective of how many people voted.”