Benedict, Daniel, 1917-2003 : Daniel Benedict was born September 20, 1917 in New York. He was the only child of Blanche Benedict and Joseph Kaiser. Shortly after his birth, his mother died of the Spanish flu and Daniel was raised by his grandmother. He later took on his mother's maiden name.
At the age of 14, Benedict went to university, where he developed an interest in social activism. Educated in public schools in New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts, he received a Bachelor of Science degree from the College of the City of New York in 1938, and later a Master's degree from the Sorbonne and a doctorate in Economic Science from the University of Grenoble in France. His doctorate thesis, completed in September 1979, was entitled "L'Impact des sociétés multinationales sur un secteur clé des économies: la transformation des métaux." Daniel Benedict spoke English, French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese fluently, and was also able to communicate in several other languages.
From 1938 Mr. Benedict worked as a lathe operator and inspector at General Electric plants in Lynn and Everett, Massachusetts. He was a shop steward with the Independent United Electrical Workers (IUE) at the General Electric aircraft engine factory, Lynn Local 201, later part of the IUE-CIO.
During World War II, Benedict served with the U.S. Air Force, first as a flight engineer on a B-25, and later in Allied liaison work. He was stationed in the Mediterranean. While overseas, Benedict met his wife Micheline Helen Tosi, who was born in Corsica, France, and they were married in 1947. Daniel and Micheline Benedict had three children: Stephen, Francisca and Marie-Blanche. His eldest son Stephen Benedict later became National Director of International Affairs for the Canadian Congress of Labour. Benedict had four grandchildren at the time of his death.
After the Second World War, Benedict worked on his Masters in linguistics at the Sorbonne University in Paris, which was paid for by scholarships from the French government and the U.S. Veterans Bill of Rights. In 1946, after completing his Masters degree, Benedict remained in France to work for CARE, the Cooperative for American Remittances to Everywhere. He advanced successively to the post of Mission Chief in Czechoslovakia and later in France. He was decorated as Chevalier de la Santé Publique by the French Minister of Public Health. He became Western European Director of CARE in 1951.
In 1954, Benedict left CARE and moved to Washington, D.C. to work with Walter Reuther at the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO). In 1956, the Congress of Industrial Organizations merged with the American Federation of Labour, to create the AFL-CIO.
From 1959 to 1961, Mr. Benedict was the Education Director and Assistant General Secretary for the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions' (ICFTU) Interamerican Region (ORIT) in Mexico. In 1961, Mr. Benedict left the ICFTU and moved to Brazil to become the first regional secretary in Latin America and the Caribbean for the International Metalworkers Federation (FITIM). During this time, Daniel Benedict made a significant contribution to the Latin American labour community. He developed education and training programs for Latin American trade leaders and labour unionists on industrial relations, believing that higher education would empower workers to fight for their rights and social justice. He also helped develop strategies for independent trade unions to deal with repressive military regimes.
In 1962 he was promoted and spent the next fourteen years as Assistant General-Secretary of the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) in Geneva, Switzerland, to which Canadian auto, steel, machinist and communications workers' unions were affiliated. At IMF in Geneva he was responsible for work in the aerospace and electrical-electronics industries, relations with unions in Latin America and the Caribbean and Mediterranean countries, and for workers' education.
He worked for the IMF under General-Secretaries Adolphe Graedel (1962-1969), Ivan Norén (1970-1974) and Herman Rebhan (1974-1976). In 1974, Daniel Benedict was a candidate to succeed Norén, but was opposed by Herman Rebhan from the United Automobile Workers.
Mr. Benedict also served as labour member of various United Nations International Labour Organization panels and committees during that time, where he helped secure passage of the ILO's Paid Education Leave (P.E.L.) convention. He chaired the ILO's Workers' Education Panel in 1971, and remained as a counselor on Worker's Education until 1976. Between 1972 and 1974, Mr. Benedict was a member of Joint Working Parties of the ICFTU, ILO and the International Trade Secretaries on Multinational Companies, and in January 1978, he was one of ten members of a United Nations panel of experts on Transnational Corporations.
During his time at IMF, Mr. Benedict worked concurrently on his doctorate in sciences économiques at l'Université de Grénoble, studying the impact of multinational companies on employment and labour relations in the metal industries of Latin America. Benedict resigned from the IMF in March 1977.
In 1976, Benedict immigrated with his family to Canada. He worked as a labour education specialist and a staff training consultant at McMaster University from October 1976 to June 1978. His main responsibility was overseeing trade union staff training. He developed and taught courses for union leaders of the United Steel Workers, International Union of Electrical Workers, and Ontario Public Service Employees, to name a few. He also helped develop extension courses on labour studies in Brantford and Oakville.
From 1978 to 1982 Daniel Benedict was International Representative of the United AutoWorkers' Canadian headquarters, primarily as program director of paid education leave courses. He also represented the UAW on the Education Committee of the Québec Federation of Labour. In 1982, Dan Benedict formally retired from the Canadian Auto Workers, but remained actively involved with the organization during his retirement. He helped organize several overseas cooperative programs with trade unions in Latin America and later to Russia, Eastern Europe and Mongolia, where he was interested in the development of trade unions following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
His teaching of UAW educational courses continued after his retirement, and led to other teaching positions in industrial relations, economics and labour studies at McMaster University, Université du Québec à Montréal, Laval University, York University, Concordia University and Humber College between 1983 and 1986. Through the 1970s and 1980s, Benedict also served as labour spokesperson on the Canadian federal Task Force on Skill Development and Paid Education Leave, was the Canadian member of the United Nations' 'experts' committee' on transnational companies, a member of the Board of Directors of Peace Fund-Canada, and of the Executive committee of Veterans Against Nuclear Arms (VANA-Toronto). He also was involved in trying to start an educational cooperation programme between Canadian and ex-Soviet auto workers' unions.
Benedict co-authored "Learning a Living in Canada" and wrote "Wage Systems and the Metal Unions," and "Worker Participation in Decision-Making in Industry" for the Ontario Ministry of Labour. He also published a number of articles, reports and chapters in books on labour, multinational companies and adult education, including "Good-bye to Homer Martin," Labour/Le Travail, 29 (Spring 1992.) In 1995 the CAW published a book entitled Walter Reuther, 1907-1970: Hopes and Aspirations: In Commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the Death of Walter Reuther, which was based on Daniel Benedict's research. From 1986, Daniel Benedict was researching a book on the history of the autoworkers in Canada, which was never published, but many of his drafts and research notes are included in the collection.
Mr. Benedict was highly involved as a health care activist and an advocate for seniors' rights through the 1990s. Among his various activities, he was co-chair of the Ontario Health Coalition. He was also an executive member of the Ottawa-Carleton Health Coalition. In 1991, Mr. Benedict joined the Ontario Coalition of Senior Citizens Organizations (OCSCO), which lobbies for seniors' rights. He was also a member of the No Name Seniors' Action Network of Ottawa-Carleton. Mr. Benedict acted as the official public spokesperson for OCSCO, attending public demonstrations and marches, making speeches, writing letters to politicians and interacting with the media. He also co-chaired Peacefund-Canada (1986-1989) and was a member of Veterans Against Nuclear Arms (VANA).
In 1989 Daniel Benedict received the Order of Canada.
Daniel Benedict died on 16 September 2003 in Ottawa.
