Toronto & York Region Labour Council
Linda Torney became the first woman President of the Labour Council in January 1988 after serving as the Treasurer for 4 years and being a member of the Executive Board for 6 years prior to that. She was a member of PSAC; a staff representative for the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild (SONG – now UNIFOR); as well as a negotiator for OPSEU. As president, she assisted in the establishment of the Labour Council’s committee on Video Display Terminal Health and Safety. The committee was responsible for bringing ergonomic and radiation health hazard information to public attention. She served as the Labour Representative on Toronto District Health Council, and was a Member of the Board and Executive of United Way of Greater Toronto, as well as the Chair of Labour Community Services, Metro Labour Education Centre, and Labour Council Development Foundation.
Linda is perhaps best known for her work co-chairing a mass action to shut down Toronto in the unprecedented Metro Days of Action in October 1996. Under the slogan “Organize, Educate, Resist” hundreds of thousands took to the streets, protesting the attacks of Mike Harris’s Conservatives against working people and communities.
In 2001, Linda was forced to retire due to illness. Once her condition stabilized, she served as a volunteer board member of the Social Planning Council. In 2014, she moved to Prince Edward County where she continues to volunteer in a number of community initiatives.