Biography
Ethan is a strategic organizer and project planner with more than two decades of experience in the labour movement. He founded Campaign Gears Ltd. in 2012, combining the fight for workers’ power with a passion for digital technology (he loves making databases, he admits it).
Campaign Gears helps clients such as the Agriculture Union (PSAC), CUPE 5430 (Saskatchewan health care workers) and the Yukon Employees Union (YEU).
Since 2025, Ethan has served as an organizer at the Canadian Association of Professional Employees as an organizer. His work includes training activists in the art of member-to-member conversations, building organizing committees, and building the organizing infrastructure.
Prior to that, Ethan served as Campaign Strategist for the Canadian Union of Postal Workers, working on the Delivering Community Power, Building Worker Power, and Gig Workers United campaigns.
Before Campaign Gears, Ethan was the Organizing Director of a national union, overseeing several large, successful organizing drives. He came to that position after serving as the union’s Community Organizer and Organizing Coordinator.
Workshop Details
Building Power, One Conversation at a Time
Workers are more atomized than ever, and yet union power requires strong relationships between members. Using the Canadian Association of Professional Employees as a case study, this session will examine how this union has forged relationships among members, built openness in negotiations, and is poised to take on the Federal Government for the first time ever. This session will discuss implementing the deep organizing model at scale that Jane McAleavy popularized. Structured Organizing Conversations, Member-led Organizing Committees, and Open Bargaining, alongside digital organizing, will be discussed.