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Comartin recalls that the legal plan was set up as a trust,
with union and management representatives on the
management board plus an independent chair. Dr. Ianni
served as the independent chair of the trust, assisting with
decisions on particular applications for benefits.
Parent is one of a number of representatives from the
labour community who has served as a member of the
University’s Board of Governors. He was a governor in the
early 1990s when the CAW led the community campaign
for funds to expand the University Centre.
CAW Local 200 president Frank McAnally and Green
Shield president Walter Austen co-chaired the campaign,
and Local 444 president Larry Bauer was an active and
vocal supporter as well.
The campaign was in support of the $15.8-million
addition and renovation in 1992-93 that doubled usable
space available to students in the 30-year-old University
Centre. The CAW raised more than $1 million, the largest
donation in the history of the University at the time.
All three student organizations made major, long-term
commitments to pay for the building as well.
In commemoration, the University Centre was renamed
when it opened in the fall of 1993 (the CAW Student
Centre).
Over the past decade, CAW locals have provided
important financial assistance to some of the capstone
projects of senior engineering students. Teams of students
design and build competitive small-scale formula and
Baja competition vehicles, and that experience becomes a
springboard for careers.
The CAW and the Windsor & District Labour Council
have also been instrumental in the development of the
Labour Studies Program at the University of Windsor.
They encouraged the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
to establish the program, members have served on the
Labour Studies Program Advisory Board, and the union
has encouraged its members to enroll in Labour Studies
courses, says Professor Alan Hall, who is director of
the program.
Dr. Hall says support from the labour community
is important to keep the program strong. He notes the
Labourers International Union of North America recently
pledged $3,000 a year to be converted annually into
three $1,000 entrance scholarships for students majoring
in Labour Studies. The scholarships will be named for
recently retired LIUNA official, Wally Dunn.
Gary Parent, former president of the Windsor & District Labour Council.
To make a contribution to the Labour
Sponsored Gary L. Parent Community &
Health Services Scholarship, call
519-253-3000 ext. 3255 Or go on-line to
and click Giving.
