Paul Canning
General Vice President (Eastern Region)
Paul Canning has served the IUPAT for over 35 years. Over the years, he’s represented our brothers and sisters at various levels and positions.
Growing up in the City of Malden, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, he learned union values at a young age and joined the IUPAT as a shop worker in 1987. Soon after, he became an apprentice Glazier before finally achieving Journeyman status. Throughout the 1990s, Paul was a fixture at union meetings. With over a decade of strong trade credentials under his belt, he ultimately decided to answer his calling to improve the conditions for the members of District Council 35/Glazers and Glassworkers Local Union 1044, eventually becoming President.
In 2000, DC 35 hired Paul as an Organizer to hold low-road contractors accountable to the strong labor standards that exist in a union-dense city. Following many campaigns, he rose to serve as Director of the Organizing department, where he worked to develop new strategies for community and political engagement. Making room for young leaders to grow and take on new challenges, Canning stepped into a position as Business Representative and shortly thereafter, in 2015, was appointed Servicing Director.
Paul recognizes that building a strong team to ensure contract compliance is critical to our mission as labor representatives. In 2016, Paul revamped and reinstated the DC 35 Steward Program to educate members about their rights under the collective bargaining agreement and the issues that directly affect working people.
Prior to his appointment to General Vice President by IUPAT General President Jimmy Williams, Jr., Paul served as Assistant Business Manager under the leadership of DC 35 BM/ST Jeff Sullivan.
As an organizer, GVP Canning worked to create better conditions for the underrepresented. As a representative, he served our members through negotiations, grievances, and jurisdictional disputes. As a trustee of DC 35’s Pension, Health and Welfare and Annuity Programs, as well as a Trustee for the Finishing Trades Institute of New England, he worked tirelessly to increase and protect the health of our members’ benefits.
“Organizing is the job of every union member, as it is the responsibility of every member to educate friends, families, and neighbors about what a union really is. In the end, the union is more than collective bargaining agreements, good wages, benefits, and good working conditions. The union is the workers banding together in a triumph of hope over fear, and standing up together for justice. It is because of the organizers and organizing campaigns in the last 135 years, and because of the sacrifices many men and women made in the past, we enjoy the standard of living we have today. We must continue to organize to keep our union strong!” -IUPAT GVP Paul Canning
