Thousands of union members marched in the annual Toronto and York Region Labour Day Parade Monday, led by Canada’s newest and largest union for private workers. Leading the pack in red T-shirts were members of Unifor, formed from the weekend merger of the Canadian Auto Workers and Communication, Energy and Paperworkers unions. The new union has a membership of some 300,000. It’s new national president, Jerry Dias,called the march a symbol of hope as the union launches an ambitious campaign to organize workers in non-union jobs. Diaz was elected by 87 per cent of the membership at the union’s founding convention this weekend in Toronto. Members of more than 30 different unions took up 12 blocks in a morning parade peppered with bands, labour flags and banners. The march began downtown and continued along Queen Street West before ending at the Canadian National Exhibition.