René Roy

General Secretary of the Québec Federation of Labour

René Roy is General Secretary of the Québec Federation of Labour, Québec’s largest union body, since November 1998.

Mr. Roy obtained an electrical technician diploma from the Institut de technologie in Trois-Rivières in 1968, after which he worked as an electrical technician for the Iron Ore Company of Canada on the North Shore until 1972. He then joined Bell Canada, where he worked until 1975 as a telecommunications technician.

In 1975, René Roy was instrumental in creating the Technician’s Union of Bell Canada, an affiliate of the Communications and Electrical Workers of Canada (CWC) and the QFL. He subsequently became a union representative of the CWC and was elected its Québec Vice-President in 1979.

In 1987, Mr. Roy was elected Vice-President of the QFL, a position he held for 11 years.

In 1992, following the merger of three unions, he was elected Québec Vice-President of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP-QFL), one of the QFL’s largest private sector unions. In 1995, he was elected as the union’s Québec Executive Vice-President.

A member of the Solidarity Fund QFL board of directors since 1990, Mr. Roy has also been a member of its executive committee since 1998. He is currently President of the Conseil sectoriel - investissements en haute technologie et en biotechnologie.

Mr. Roy also serves on the boards of Emploi-Québec, Université du Québec à Montréal and Investissement Québec.

He lives in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville and is married to Johanne Martel. The couple has one son.