CAW Local 199 has a long and colourful history. Our members have been organized since 1936, however, the workers that first organized local 199 have a history at McKinnon's that dates back to the early 1900's.

Memories of a United Auto Worker
Women in the Union
History of Labour Day
75 Years of Collective Bargaining
Building Brock University
75th - Wayne Gates
Women's Auxiliary #50

Jack Layton NDP
Bert Hillier
James Connell
Gerry Michaud
John Clout
Pudge Dawson
Gordon L. Lambert
Eric Cooper
Len Harrison

Over the decades we have helped build the community and improved working conditions for our members. We negotiated seniority rights, wages, pensions, health benefits, and new investment. These bargaining gains were not just handed over to us. Our members had to fight hard and struggle for everything. Strikes in the early days were long, often lasting many months.

Our contract improvements have not only benefited the workers that Local 199 represents, but the Niagara community has grown and developed because of our struggles. Just look around the community where we spend our wages. Local businesses, dentists, doctors, lawyers and many others have profited greatly because of our wages and benefits.

Unions build communities. Over the past decades, CAW Local 199 has helped raise over 12 million dollars for the United Way Campaign, helped build Brock University, a community swimming pool, the Pelham Road Clinic, built a retirement village for our retirees, donated equipment to local hospitals, have held many plant gate collections for people in need and host an annual community Christmas Dinner for the less fortunate. This is just the tip of the iceberg. In the name of community spirit and fellowship, our members donate their time to volunteer, whether it is canvassing for the Diabetes or Cancer Society, coaching or even volunteering to drive cancer patients to treatment or deliver meals on wheels. We are a very important part of our community, and we should be proud of it.

We have a history that can be traced back one hundred years. The tragedy is that everyday we lose touch with our past and our history is being lost. The documentation of our history can't be done quickly and can't be done by one or two members. We need your help!

This website provides a sample of photographs we have in our archives. If you recognize anyone in the photographs, would like to share information, or tell a story about our past, please contact us. If you have old photographs or a newsletter or items that are of historical interest, we would love to look at them. Anything received will be returned to you.

Click here to view our photograph Album