Huguette Plamondon

Huguette Plamondon (January 6, 1926 - September 29, 2010 ) was a trade unionist in Quebec, Canada. A trailblazer and leader in the Quebec, Canadian and international labour movements, she dedicated the bulk of her efforts to representing the United Packinghouse Workers of America and then the United Food and Commercial Workers, after the UPWA merged with the Amalgamated Meat Cutters in 1979 to create the UFCW. She also served as a vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress from 1956 until 1988.

Early life Plamondon was born on January 6, 1926, in Montreal. Her father was a member of the Brotherhood of Railway Carmen of America. She entered the labour force as a stenographer at a steel plant, and when the United Steelworkers of America started organizing the plant, Huguette became one of the campaign's most militant supporters.

Activism and career In 1945, at the age of 19, Huguette Plamondon started working as a secretary in the Montreal office of the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA). Shortly thereafter, she started organizing meatpacking workers in Montreal, and began a decades long career as a voice for food workers and for one of North America's largest and unions.

She became a member of the Montreal Labour Council (Conseil du travail de Montréal) in 1953, which at that time was affiliated to the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). In 1955 she was elected president of the Montreal Labour Council, and served in that role until 1958, a short-lived political movement led by Pierre Dansereau and Pierre Trudeau.

In 1956, she was elected a vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress,

She served as an International Vice-President of the United Food and Commercial Workers. She was also the president of UFCW Canada Local 744P in Quebec. Near the end of her career, she was Executive Assistant to the UFCW Canadian Director, Clifford R. Evans.

She was married to Romeo Mathieu, also a trade unionist. She died of a heart attack in 2010, at the age of 84.

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