UFCW 1006A - Key Persons
Daiana first joined the local union as a student placement by the York University Labour Studies Program in September of 2012. After graduating from York University with an Honours Bachelor Degree in Work and Labour Studies, Daiana became a Special Projects Union Representative with the local union. Since then, she has worked on several organizing campaigns with the local union and UFCW Canada Locals 175 & 633. Prior to joining our team, she worked as an Early Childcare Educator Assistant for several years. She is now a Member Engagement Representative with the local union. She is fluent in Romanian.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the President
Dan joined the local union on staff in November 1988 as part of the Organizing department. Today, he oversees various departments of the local including, Education & Training, Communications, support staff, the union's Computer/IT systems, and the building administration. In his capacity of overseeing the Education Department, he has led the transition from three basic levels of steward training to the college-credentialed program that it is today with an in-house group of rank-and-file member instructors. In addition, he has overseen the creation of an in-house Communications Department. Dan serves now as the Executive Assistant to the President at Local 1006A. Dan also is the local's representative on the UFCW Canada National's Education and Political Action Committees.
Diana started with Loblaws in 1980 as part-time cashier at a Toronto store. Since then, she has worked in a variety of positions in nine different stores from part-time grocery clerk to full-time dairy clerk, salad bar clerk, analyst to assistant customer service manager. In 1990, she became more involved with the union, attending rallies and volunteering. In 2001, she became a steward. Diana has also served as a Toronto Divisional Board Officer and an Alternate on the Women's Issues Network. She is a former steward instructor and worked union information booths at Loblaws Great Food and Superstore. Diana is also the coordinator of Leukemia Fundraising for the local union and organizes the Members' Day event. She is also a former coordinator of the local union's Women's Issues Network.
Don's history with the local union dates back to 1988 when he started working full-time at Cambridge Fine Foods. Concerned by management's treatment of workers, Don became a steward in 1991. His involvement in the union deepened as he discovered how much he enjoyed representing workers and being a voice on their behalf. Shortly afterwards, he took on the roles of chief steward and bargaining committee member. He also sat on the pay equity team. From 1995 to 1996, Don was a local union SPUR. He worked in the organizing department from 1996 to 2000, when he was hired as a full-time Staff Representative. In 2009, he was named Director of the Manufacturing, Processing & Packing Sector for the local union. In 2014, he was named the Director-Central Region.
Prior to being hired at the local union, Dustin worked at the National Grocers warehouse, the Sobeys Distribution warehouse and UFCW Canada. At the latter, Dustin worked as a national representative where he serviced, organized, negotiated contracts and local mergers. In 2005, the local union hired Dustin as a Staff Representative in organizing and special projects. In this capacity, he coordinated membership booths. He also oversaw fundraising efforts to fight leukemia. After working in Organizing, Dustin now serves the membership as a Union Representative.
Hired by Loblaws in the mid-1990s, Frank worked as a part-time bakery clerk, a baker, and an assistant bakery manager. Frank has served on several Health and Safety Committees, worked in organizing as a Special Projects Union Representative and has helped members in the WSIB/Health & Safety department. Frank was hired on staff in August 2011 after working in servicing and in the WSIB/Health & Safety Department as a SPUR. He has also been a Member Engagement Representative and a Senior Member Engagement Representative. He is one of three local 1006A representatives on the National Office pilot with Local 1006A and Loblaws on a youth internship program pilot for those in the LGBTQ community. Frank currently serves as a Union Representative.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the President
Frank Ragni has been involved in the union movement for over 38 years. In 1978, while working at the Skyline Hotel in Toronto, Frank organized 1200 of his fellow co-workers. During this campaign, his talents as an organizer were recognized by Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees Local 75 and they hired him to help grow their union. In 1979 to 1981, Frank organized over 6,000 members in hotels located on the airport strip and in downtown Toronto. In 1982, Frank joined Canadian Union of Restaurant and Related Employees as an organizer and pay equity coordinator, as well as served on the Executive Board. Frank worked tirelessly in order to successfully organize Swiss Chalet Restaurants across Ontario. In 1989, Frank was elected to the position of Vice President of the Union. When CURRE merged with UFCW in 1995, Frank continued to organize members he also took on the role of servicing representative, Executive Board member and lead negotiator responsible for negotiating approximately sixty collective agreements. When Frank became Secretary-Treasurer of Local 206 in 2013, he did not give up his role of lead negotiator, Grievance Chairperson or Executive Board member and to this day he continues to organize to strengthen our union. He now serves as Executive Assistant to the President at Local 1006A.
Job Titles:
- Representative
- Union Representative
Driven by a deep commitment to fairness and workers' rights, Geoffrey Gosselin has been a union representative since 2009. During those years, he has helped secure improved contracts, prevented unfair terminations, and facilitated open communication in the workplace. Geoff says about his role at the union: "Being a union representative isn't just a role; it's a calling. It's a way to contribute to a fairer, more just workplace for everyone. That's why, even after all these years, I continue to be passionate about what I do. Every day, I wake up knowing that I have the privilege of making a difference in the lives of members."
Gloria became a member and a steward after her workplace, Grail Springs Retreat Centre, joined Local 1006A in 2018. She became active in her union to ensure members at her workplace were aware of their rights. At her workplace, she was a strong advocate for workers' health and safety. Elstone was also a member of the UFCW Canada's National Indigenous Subcommittee. Today, she services members at a variety of workplaces, including No Frills, RCSS, Loblaws Great Food, YIG, and Frulact.
Gord started working as a deli clerk in an Ottawa Loblaws in 1976. He became a deli manager and worked in several stores throughout Ottawa. In the mid-1980s, he became a steward and soon after was elected secretary-treasurer for the Ottawa Division. Gord has also taken the instructor's course from the Workers' Health and Safety Centre and has served as president of the Ottawa division. During his time at the helm of the Ottawa division, he was hired as a Staff Representative. Gord hates to see workers treated poorly by management and is driven to stand up for those who don't have anyone to stand up for them.
Greg was hired in 2014. He was a member of the local union at the Maple Grove Distribution facility. He holds a BA in Law & Justice and a Post-graduate certificate in Labour Studies from Laurentian University. He also studied Industrial Relations at Queen's University. Greg is a strong believer in social justice and takes great pride in helping workers win. Prior to being hired on staff with our local union, he worked as a SPUR with UFCW Canada Local 175 & 633. In this capacity, he worked on various union organizing drives to help workers win rights at work and also represented workers at various industrial and retail banners.
Joe's first job was working as a dishwasher at Swiss chalet in London, Ontario. It was this job at Swiss chalet that helped put him through university and he worked there for over ten years. Joe first got involved as a shop steward in 2002. From there, in 2008 he became a member of the Executive Board. In June of 2011, he began to work as the union organizer for the Local and felt that he now had the opportunity to really make an impact in workers' lives, fighting to gain collective bargaining rights for hundreds of the Local's newest members. In February 2016, he began a new role as union representative and will continue to fight to defend workers' rights in each and every unit he represents.
In 2016, John became a member of UFCW 1006A and was voted in as a steward after helping organize his workplace, Baton Rouge. In addition to working in the hospitality industry for 23 years, John has twice been a member of his union negotiations committees. In 2019, John was the recipient of UFCW 1006A's "Leadership and Advancement of the UFCW" award. He is driven to empower co-workers and ensure fair and just representation of workers' rights and to serve a voice for those who are taken advantage of in the workplace. John services a variety of industries, including restaurants, hotels, cannabis, grocery retail and daycare.
Job Titles:
- Assistant to the Director - Region 5 / Union Representative
Jonathan's history with the local union dates back to 1990 when he was hired part-time at an Ottawa Loblaws store. By 1994, he was a steward and soon afterwards, became one of the first members of the local union's youth network. After 12 years with Loblaws, Jonathan was hired on staff in 2003 as an organizer. The same year, Jonathan became the local union's youth coordinator after completing UFCW Canada's youth internship program. Jonathan is also an Executive Board member with the Toronto & York Region Labour Council and a member-at-large on the board of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (Canadian Chapter) and a member of the UFCW Minority Coalition Advisory Board. Jonathan is also fluent in French.
Job Titles:
- UFCW Canada Member
- Union Representative
Joshua Robichaud's journey as a UFCW Canada member began when he started working as an order picker at Summit Foods in 2003. Through the years, he worked his way up, working as forklift driver, receiver and shipper and loader. He became a union steward and grew to understand the importance of having a strong voice and leadership at work. In 2022, Joshua was hired as a 1006A Union Representative and currently services workplaces in a variety of sectors including grocery retail, laundry and food processing. He is motivated by helping members in any way possible, from a simple call to fighting for someone's job.
Ken is an organizer with UFCW 1006A and has worked for the union for more than seven years, helping security guards achieve the rights and benefits that they need and deserve. Previously he ran his own security agency for 25 years and prior to that had worked as a uniformed officer.
Job Titles:
- Tachani Bishop
- Union Representative
A long-time activist, Kevin was hired on staff in March 2010. His involvement in the union dates back to 2000 when he became a grocery clerk at Tony's No Frills in Hamilton. Since then, Kevin has been a steward, a special union project representative, co-chair of his region's youth network and completed the national office's three-week youth internship program. He has also participated in the Talking Union program. In 2005, Kevin was elected president of the local's Southwest Retail Division and in 2008, he was elected as a member of the local's Executive Board. Kevin is also very active in the NDP, and worked as a campaign manager for a successful NDP campaign. He worked as a Member Engagement Representative, then a Senior Member Engagement Representative before becoming a Union Representative in May 2016.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Officers Team
- Secretary
- Secretary - Treasurer
- Treasurer
Kevin has been standing up for workers and their families since the 1970s when he was an active member of the Labourers' International Union and Plumber & Pipefitters Union.
From those early days, his involvement in the labour movement deepened in the early 1980s as he became a volunteer organizer and later a Special Projects Union Representative with UFCW Canada.In 1983, UFCW International hired Kevin as an Organizing Representative and from the mid to late-1980s, Kevin became an International Representative, serving local unions across the country.
In 1990, Local 1000A hired Kevin as a Staff Representative. Since then, he has served in a variety of positions, including Director of the Industrial Sector from the mid- to late-1990s.
In 2004, he was elected Executive Vice-President and in 2013, as Secretary-Treasurer of Local 1000A.
Kevin has extensive experience with negotiations, grievances, arbitration and litigation (with the Ontario Labour Relations Board, Human Rights Commission, and much more). On May 1, 2016, Kevin became the Secretary-Treasurer of UFCW Canada Local 1006A.
Job Titles:
- Canada Member
- Union Representative
Kyle became a UFCW Canada member nearly 15 years ago. After getting his start working at a Fortinos Warehouse, he moved to the National Grocers Maple Grove Warehouse where he became a steward a few years later. Since then, his involvement with Local 1006A has steadily grown. He has served as Vice-President and President of the Warehouse and Transport Division. He also assisted in the 2010 Maplegrove negotiations. In addition, Kyle was a member of the Youth Committee and has also worked as a SPUR, helping workers win rights in their workplace. Kyle is also very active in his riding, helping both the provincial and federal NDP. He was hired as a Union Representative-Organizer in April 2016.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Director of Organizing
Lesley is responsible for growth in the organizing department. Lesley comes from UFCW Canada's National Office where she has held several roles since April 2005. Well aware of the inequities and exploitation workers regularly face, Lesley continues to help workers form a union in their workplaces to improve working conditions.
Job Titles:
- Certified Instructor With the Workers' Health
Martha is a certified instructor with the Workers' Health and Safety Centre and a paralegal certified with the Law Society of Upper Canada. Recognized by the Brampton-Mississauga Labour Council for her health and safety work, Martha has also worked with the United Steelworkers Injured Workers Program, with the Labour Community Services of Peel (a non-profit organization which assists low-income workers with no union protection) and in Settlements Centres across Mississauga and Brampton Area (providing immigrants with information about their rights at work). During her time as a labour and community activist, Martha became heavily involved with health and safety, WSIB, women's rights and youth movement. Martha represents workers injured, or suffering from illness with their WSIB claims. She also provides information to members who have questions and concerns about health and safety issues at work. Martha is fluent in Spanish.
Michael has been practicing labour law since 2002, working at CUOE, UFCW 175, Koskie Minsky LLP and LIUNA 506. Michael is a former Vice Chair at the OLRB. He has a strong labour background and is a social justice fighter.
In 2002, Michael became a UFCW Canada member when he started working as a grocery clerk for Metro. In the following years, he became a union steward and a health and safety committee member in the workplace. As a member, he completed UFCW Canada's Young Worker Internship Program (YIP). Michael also assisted the union with fundraising activities for blood cancer research, and he interned with UFCW Local 881. For over a decade, Michael worked as a National Communications Representative for UFCW Canada. As a Union Representative with UFCW Local 1006A, Michael services a wide variety of workplaces.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the President
Paul was a union activist working part-time in the grocery department of Loblaws prior to joining the local union as a Staff Representative in 1993. A York University graduate, Paul was also one of the original rank-and-file SPURs who worked in the organizing department and helped launch the SPUR program. As Executive Assistant to the President, Paul has led negotiations for various collective agreements and acts as 1006A's liaison with Loblaw Companies Limited. He also is responsible for the local's WSIB and Health & Safety departments.
Ric started working part-time at Mississauga's Surveyor Road Distribution Centre in 1996. Hired full-time in May 1999, he was elected as a steward the following month. Two years later, his increasing activism led to his election as an officer for the union's warehouse division. In 2002 and 2004, he worked as a SPUR for the local union, assisting and then leading the campaign against the CAW at Cambridge's Maple Grove Distribution Centre. Following those campaigns, he was hired full-time as a Union Representative by the local union. Ric aims to challenge members to be aware of their workplace on a daily basis and encourages them to work with their Stewards and Union Representatives toward achieving positive results. Prior to 1996, Ric attended Wilfrid Laurier where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Business Administration Diploma. He then worked in the financial industry for nine years. Ric is also fluent in Portuguese.
Job Titles:
- Health & Safety Representative
As a former customer service representative at the Chapters in Woodbridge, Sabrina Querubin played a key role in helping her co-workers achieve union representation with UFCW 1006A in 2021. She is driven to ensure workers are treated fairly. Sabrina has a Masters degree in law from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University. She is also a registered lawyer in New York State and the Philippines. She is currently working on securing her law licence in Ontario.
Job Titles:
- Senior Communications Representative
Prior to being hired at Local 1000A in May 2010, Thulasi developed extensive experience writing stories for newspapers across Ontario. Thulasi is a graduate of Queen's University (B.A.) and of Ryerson University's Journalism program. She is responsible for membership communications, which include social media management and creating content for our website, Connections magazine, telephone town halls, email news blasts, media releases and speeches. In addition to negotiations communications planning, she produces stories on new collective agreements, negotiations updates, new units organized and much more. She is the coordinator of the union's Pride Advisory Committee, organizing our participation in Pride events every year. She is also UFCW Canada's representative on the Ontario Federation of Labour's Pride and Solidarity Committee.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Executive Officers Team
- President
- President / International Vice - President
- President, UFCW Canada Local 1006A
For more than four decades, Wayne has been an activist and a champion of workers' rights.
Wayne became a rank-and-file UFCW Canada member and activist in 1976 at an Ontario supermarket. Over the next eight years he went on to become a steward and a member of his local union's executive board. In 1984, after graduating from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Science degree, Wayne joined the staff at UFCW Canada Local 175 where over the next six years he served as an organizer, servicing representative, pay equity coordinator and grievance chairperson.In 1990, Wayne became a Regional Director; in 1992 was elected Secretary-Treasurer; and in 1999, was elected President of UFCW Canada Local 175 which under his leadership grew to become North America's largest single local, with over 47,000 members.
In April 2006, Wayne was elected as National President of UFCW Canada by the UFCW Canada National Council, and an International Executive Vice President and member of the International Executive Committee. Under Wayne's direction, UFCW Canada provided strategic orientation and support to local unions across Canada. Under Wayne's leadership gains were achieved in servicing and training the membership, in growing the union, in reaching out to new diverse Canadians, and in extending the campaign for labour rights and better workplace protections through political and lobbying efforts, as well as through the courts.
In October 2013, Wayne was elected President of UFCW Local 206 and remains on the UFCW International Executive Board as a Vice President. On May 1, 2016, Wayne became the president of UFCW Canada Local 1006A.
Job Titles:
- Local Union President
- Union Representative
Winston has been a Local Union President, organizer, Union Representative, negotiator, Executive Board member and loyal member of UFCW Canada for more than 31 years. He has contributed to the growth of the UFCW through his tireless efforts of community involvement and partners. He has expanded the growth and diversity efforts of UFCW.