Neil Reimer

Neil Reimer (July 3, 1921 – March 29, 2011) was an activist, trade unionist and former political figure in Canada.

After leaving the University of Saskatchewan in 1942 at the age of 19, Reimer went to work at the Consumers Co-operative Refinery, in Regina, Saskatchewan. He immediately joined a Congress of Industrial Organizations union organizing drive at the refinery. In 1950, he became an organizer for the CIO's Oil Workers International Union and was sent to Alberta to organize workers in that province's booming petrochemical industry.[1]

In 1951, Reimer became the Canadian director of the OWIU (which subsequently became the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Union). Under his stewardship, the union grew from less than 1,000 members to more than 20,000 by 1961. In the 1981 union gained independence from its American parent to become the Energy and Chemical Workers Union and, in 1992, merged with two other unions to become the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.[1]

Reimer was elected as a vice-president of the Canadian Congress of Labour in the 1950s and remained on the executive of it and its successor, the Canadian Labour Congress, until 1974.[1]

In 1961, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation and the Canadian Labour Congress founded the New Democratic Party. In January 1962, the Alberta New Democratic Party held its founding convention and elected Reimer as its first leader.[2] The Alberta CCF had lost its remaining two seats in the 1959 provincial election and received only 4% of the vote. Under Reimer's leadership the NDP gained in popular vote to 9% in the 1963 election and just short of 16% in the 1967 election but was unable to win any seats in either contest. Reimer retired as NDP leader in 1968 relinquishing the position to Grant Notley.

Reimer remained Canadian director of the OCAW throughout the 1960s and 1970s and became national director of the Energy and Chemical Workers Union when it was formed out of the OCAW in 1981. He retired from the union's leadership in 1984.[3][4]

After retiring from the union, Reimer was active as the president[5][6] and then later the secretary treasurer of the Alberta Council on Aging.[7]

His daughter, Janice Rhea Reimer, served as mayor of Edmonton from 1989 to 1995.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Horse sense & organizing", by Neil Reimer as told to Lorraine Endicott, Our Times, February–March 2005
  2. ↑ Provincial Archives of Alberta - fonds
  3. ↑ Wilfrid List, "Labor's love affair with NDP continues", Globe and Mail, January 16, 1984
  4. ↑ "Cookstove ignited gas Alberta fire at oil well endangers lives of 5", Canadian Press, February 7, 1985
  5. ↑ Scott Feschuk, "No smiles in Alberta as seniors lose dental benefits in new year Government slashes support for health care by 40 per cent to save $13-million", Globe and Mail, November 14, 1994
  6. ↑ "Alberta Medical Association - New Guideline For Management Of Cataracts Announced", Canadian NewsWire, August 22, 1996
  7. ↑ Lauren MacGillivray, "Cash crunch takes toll on seniors", Calgary Herald, November 3, 2001