Dana Fisher, Society of United Professionals/IFPTE Local 160

Dana Fisher leads the Society of United Professionals/IFPTE Local 160’s Legal Aid Ontario bargaining unit and serves on Local 160’s Executive Committee. Fisher is a Duty Counsel lawyer who was a member of the committee that organized the more than 350 legal aid lawyers to join IFPTE in 2016. In addition to the challenges of organizing most workplaces, Ontario lawyers do not have the right to join a union. Fisher and her colleagues overcame that barrier through a multi-year campaign that ultimately saw the provincial government intervene to help Legal Aid Ontario lawyers gain voluntary recognition of their collective bargaining rights.
 

Following her leadership role in establishing their bargaining unit, Fisher led the team that negotiated the legal aid lawyers’ first collective agreement. She also led Local 160’s fight against the Ontario government’s 33% cut to legal aid funding, succeeded in advocating for additional federal funding for legal aid for refugee claimants, and saw her advocacy result in healthier and safer courthouses during the COVID-19 pandemic.