Who is Alex Silas?
Alex Silas is the new national executive vice-president of the Public Service of Alliance of Canada (PSAC), one of the country’s largest labour unions. Elected this past May, Silas says his long involvement in the labour movement is “not about anything else than fairness for working people.”
What is his background?
Originally from Grand-Barachois, N.B., Silas quickly became involved in local labour activism after attending the Police Foundations program at Collège La Cité.
He became a shop steward when he was a security guard at the Bank of Canada in 2010. He says that helping members better understand collective agreements evolved into organizing direct action with his local, including a health and safety campaign and layoff protections in 2018.
“For the first time in a long time, we really took on the employer,” Silas says. “All that involvement in the local level exposed me to the larger PSAC.”
In 2020, Silas was appointed regional executive vice-president for the National Capital Region, becoming the youngest national board member in the union’s history.
What is he known for in Ottawa?
Recently, Silas has mobilized protests and led picket lines for public servants, including the 2023 national strike involving more than 155,000 workers fighting for a new collective agreement. He also hosted a recent rally for remote work rights, fighting against the federal government’s new hybrid work model.
In an article published by the Ottawa Citizen, he called himself a union “hype man.”
“Protest, rallies, picket lines, there’s a real sense of community that emerges,” Silas says. “It really is about giving your energy to the people that are there, and they give you that energy back. … There’s something powerful about that.”
He is also known for his community activism. He says his work at the national level is informed by his close ties to local organizations like Ottawa ACORN, Justice for Workers, and Horizon Ottawa.
“That link between the labour movement and the community is such an important one,” he says. “The issues impacting communities also impact workers.”
What do others say about him?
PSAC Ottawa regional representative Kenny Kashirahamwe calls Silas a “committed and passionate grassroots union leader.”
Kashirahamwe and Silas worked together on the Young Workers’ Committee. He says Silas’s empathetic and inclusive approach “fosters a supportive environment that empowers those working with him to contribute meaningfully.”
“He is guided by a strong sense of purpose and belief in union values that is contagious to all of those who are lucky to work with him,” Kashirahamwe says.
What is something people do not know about him?
Silas and his partner recently bought a home in Vanier, an area that was important to him when looking for a place to build a life.
“It’s a great community […] a very working-class community, a very diverse community,” he says. “It’s the kind of neighbourhood where people look out for each other.”
