Leo Gerard said it's “almost a first,” but he was nearly speechless after Steelworkers Local 6500 officials revealed they'd named the large banquet hall in the new Steelworkers Hall after him.

A crush of hundreds of people looked on in the entranceway to the Brady Street building Jan. 26 as Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand and other union officials unveiled a sign which reads “Leo W. Gerard Hall,” beneath which hangs a picture of Gerard.

“I gotta make sure none of the tears show up in the paper,” Gerard, who is a native of Sudbury, joked while speaking to the crowd. “It would ruin my reputation. It's humbling. There's a part of me that's extremely proud, and a part that says I don't deserve this.”

Gerard said he accepted the honour “on behalf of the tens of thousands of people that have been members of Local 6500 who have worked and sacrificed, and some who have even paid with their lives.”

Union members, politicians, community leaders and citizens showed up in droves for the grand opening of the Steelworkers Hall, which replaces the facility on Frood Road which burned down in 2008.

“When you go inside, you'll find it simply breathtaking,” Gerard said, before helping to cut the ribbon on the facility. “It's a gift, in many ways, from Local 6500 to the community. This hall is not seen as just our home. We want this hall to be seen as the community's home that they can come and use.”

Steelworkers international president Leo Gerard and Steelworkers Local 6500 president Rick Bertrand pose during the grand opening of the new Steelworkers Hall in Sudbury Jan. 26. Photo by Heidi Ulrichsen.

Bertrand said it was “altogether too fitting” for Local 6500 to name the new banquet hall after Gerard because of what he's done “not only for the working people in Canada, but the working people around the globe.”

In exchange, Gerard, along with United Steelworkers District 6 director Wayne Fraser and Ken Neumann, United Steelworkers national director for Canada, presented Local 6500 with a dedication plaque for the new hall.

Although losing the old hall was “painful,” and union members will “never forget the memories,” the official opening of the new hall is a new chapter for the union, Bertrand said.

He said he was pleased with the large turnout for the union hall's official opening.

“It just shows that people in the community know the Steelworkers, and we've been a community friend for a long time,” Bertrand said.

The hall was built in an old grocery store building, and features a 500-seat banquet hall, a 150-seat banquet hall, several classrooms and boardrooms, an outside deck, and office space for local Steelworkers employees.

Julien Dionne, the past president of the Steelworkers Order of Active Retirees (SOAR), said he thinks the new hall is “great.”

“I never thought they could rebuild and capture the grandeur of the old hall,” he said. “The way this place is set up, with all of the offices on one side and halls on the other side, it would be great for conferences and conventions. I'm sure the Steelworkers will take advantage of that.”

Lorna Maclean, whose husband is a Local 6500 member, told Northern Life during a tour of the hall's new kitchen she thinks the facility is “beautiful.”

“It's very functional,” she said. “There's lots of different events that could be held here.”

Posted by Heidi Ulrichsen