Bob Luna: Pioneer unionist

by Levy Abad

Bob Luna is one of the pioneer Filipinos who arrived in Winnipeg in 1973. Nowadays, people know him as a civil servant who works in the bureaucracy. He is known to have helped many of our newly arrived compatriots through the years. Like any migrant, there’s always a context that moves and shapes our decisions, and Bob Luna is not an exception. In 1973, Bob Luna arrived in Winnipeg when there were only about two thousand Filipinos in a city that shaped the labour history of Canada.

Winnipeg is the historical context of the General Strike of 1919, and in the early sixties, with the development of capitalism, it welcomed the arrival of hundreds of Filipino garment workers to its industries. This first group of Filipino workers eventually brought their families here, as well as their relatives and friends.

Looking back, on May 1, 1973, the workers movement in the Philippines made a statement, “Workers, unite and end the US-Marcos Dictatorship!” (Source: Manggagawa: Noon at Ngayon). Martial Law was just declared the previous year (September 11, 1972), due to the intense resistance of the Filipino people against foreign intervention, bureaucratic corruption, and feudalism. Prior to Bob Luna’s departure and even after, the situation in the country was turbulent, which made migration an attractive option.

Lest the community forget, Bob Luna was a trade union leader for 17 years with New Flyer Industry from 1983 to 1999. He started as a shop steward in the early ’80s and, in the process, rose in the ranks. He shared that he became the Chair of Human Rights for CAW-Manitoba back in the day. He left the labour movement in 1999 and served as the Executive Assistant of Becky Barret, Minister of Labour and Immigration for four years from 1999 to 2004.

I asked him about his union membership, and he explained that he was with Unifor, formerly the Canadian Autoworkers Union (CAW). He added that when he started, it was still known as the Canadian Automotive, Industrial, Mechanical and Allied Workers (CAIMAW). He spoke dearly of the CAW and the labour movement in general and how he learned a lot from it. He shared that the union empowered its members to undergo training in labour laws, human rights advocacy, training in organizing and community leadership.

I asked a fellow long-time CAW, brother Mohamed Alli, who arrived in 1972 and who is married to a Filipina, as to the education program that union leaders get. He listed: arbitration, negotiations, “know your union workshop,” health and safety, political action, anti-racism training, workers of colour training and labour history to name a few.

Bro. Mohammed explained that a leader is usually given the opportunity to take some of these education courses for empowerment. Bob Luna reckons that he and Mohamed Alli were co-founders of the first CAW People of Colour Movement under the guidance of Hassan Yussuff, first CAW National Human Rights Chair and Chair of the Canadian Labour Congress from 2014 to present.

Going back to Bob Luna, I inquired about the union’s role in the development of the Filipino community of Winnipeg. He mentioned that aside from fighting for the improvement of the workers’ conditions and rights of the union, CAW members in particular, during his time as president of the local, also supported the fundraising for calamities in the Philippines, including the establishment of the Philippine Canadian Centre of Manitoba between the 80s and mid 90s.

I shared with him that I’m writing a series of articles on the earliest Filipino union leaders of Winnipeg. He affirmed that indeed there were a few like Phoebe De Leon also of CAW, Neri Dimacali of Boeing (CAW), the late Mar Javier (CUPE), who briefly became the chair of the Health Sciences Union, Butch Mendiola (USW) and Ernie Pionela of CUPE Manitoba local 1550 as finance officer.

I’m proud to know Bob as a friend and a brother in the labour movement. All the other union leaders from the Filipino community since the late 70s must not be forgotten as they were part of the struggles to better the general condition of the working class of the province. No matter how small their numbers were, they were part of the Filipino community’s struggles and efforts to give back.

Levy Abad is the author of Rhythms and Resistance: Narrative of Filipino Musicians and Activists (1972-1994). He is also a singer-songwriter, poet, and migrant rights activist who has released four albums centred on the life and struggles of migrants.