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11 April, 2011
Neil Reimer, National Director Emeritus of the Canada’s Energy and Chemical Workers’ Union (ECWU) – one of the Communications, Energy, Paperworkers (CEP) Union’s founding unions – passed away on 30 March in Edmonton, Alberta. He was 89.
Neil Reimer has been described as a "giant of the labour movement," and surely no one could argue with that description.
For nearly 70 years, Reimer was a strong and dedicated advocate of workers’ issues. Beginning his career in 1942 as an organizer for the Oil Workers International Union (OWIU) while working at Consumers Co-operative refinery in Regina, Saskatchewan, he played a major role in organising his first energy workers’ union there. He 1951, he moved to Edmonton, where he organised oil and chemicals plants. He was also mayor of Edmonton.
He helped found the New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada in 1961, and was elected the first leader of NDP’s Alberta branch in 1963.
Neil Reimer
He went on to become leader of the Canadian district of the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW), and ultimately founder of the independent Canadian union, the ECWU.
His retirement from this position in 1984 only slowed him some, as he remained active in politics and social justice movements until his death.
Canadian trade unionists and social leaders knew him as a “visionary.” He did not simply look toward the future, he tried to build it according to the principles he believed in. Those principles included decency, respect, and dignity for workers and their families.
He understood the need to organize and he believed in the independence of the Canadian labour movement. He believed that Canada should control its own natural resources – especially energy resources – for the benefit of Canadians. Under his direction, some of the most progressive union policies of the day were produced on topics from energy and the environment, to working hours to national collective agreements, to health and safety.
Neil played a big role inside the ICEM. He was a personal friend of many ICEM elected representatives and staff officers. He was an influential member of the then ICEF Executive Committee up until his retirement, and many of his ideas live on in ICEM policies.
Neil led a long and active life and his accomplishments helped make the world a better place. The Canadian labour movement, the CEP, the ICEM, and indeed all workers have much to thank Neil Reimer for. He will be well remembered and sadly missed.