By Michael Hamilton, Ontario Federation of Labour Executive Vice-President and former member of the InSolidarity Committee and Local 376Where to begin? I have been thinking long and hard about how to really convey the feelings that I have been experiencing over the last month and a half.In November 2025, I was
elected as the new Executive Vice-President for the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL). In a way that nobody had expected or predicted, I ran off the floor and was successful in the election for the role.Words cannot describe the atmosphere in the room when this happened. Many longtime union activists approached and congratulated me and said they had never seen anything like that before and that my message of hope, unity and bringing the labour movement back to grassroots mobilizing really resonated with them. I just wanted to take this opportunity to express my gratitude and thanks to all of you.First and foremost, I would not be in this space without the support that I received from numerous OPSEU/SEFPO members at the OFL Convention. When you hear about grassroots mobilizing, what happened at the convention was a sign that real grassroots mobilizing works.As many of you are aware, I have dedicated the last 10-plus years of my life doing the work of the union and the labour movement as a whole. I was lost in what I was doing with myself, and I had no goals or purpose. I felt trapped in a lot of ways because I didn’t know where I belonged.
Support your union, and it supports you back
Fast forward, and I started to take a more active role in the operations of OPSEU/SEFPO as a member. At the time, I was a member of LBED Local 5107 and I started to attend various OPSEU/SEFPO equity conferences and conventions. From there, I started to meet new people and learned about the challenges they faced in their own workplaces.It was December of 2019 when I was elected to my first OPSEU/SEFPO committee, InSolidarity. The funny thing is that since then, I’ve been a member of the committee, and I am expressing myself now through this committee.From there, I joined the Coalition of Racialized Workers and wrote articles for InSolidarity addressing the challenges that Black and Racialized members faced during the pandemic.In 2021, I became President of LBED Local 376. It has been an honour to advocate for and serve the members of 376 because they gave me a chance when they had never even met me before, and put their faith and trust in me to do the work for the local. I was then able to sit on the Human Rights and Constitution committees representing OPSEU/SEFPO Region 3.
From OPSEU/SEFPO to the house of labour
My name was put forward to sit on the first ever National Union of Public General Employees (NUPGE) anti-racism committee with members from union affiliates across Canada. The work we did culminated in the first ever NUPGE anti-racism conference which took place in Ottawa in 2023. I was also blessed in 2023 to be selected as a member of the first cohort of the Broadbent Institute Emerging Leaders Program. Being able to converse with a lot of young and upcoming people across Canada was eye-opening and humbling.Finally, as I look back there are many more experiences that I’ve had as an OPSEU/SEFPO member. Not that everything was always perfect, but I would like to think that I’ve established positive relationships with the many members I’ve had the honour and privilege of meeting and working with.God works in mysterious ways, and I believe that everything happens for a reason. I will not take this new role lightly and will be leaning on my OPSEU/SEFPO family for guidance and support.Again, thank you all from the bottom of my heart. I am blessed and will not let any of you down.Love and Solidarity,
Michael Hamilton
