We can help counter Caterpillar's corporate bullying by joining CAW picket lines and demanding that Canadian politicians hold the corporation accountable.
caw
As labour fights multiply, so too will the victories
The ground shifted for the Canadian labour movement this week. Monday night 4,000 thousand Air Canada workers walked off the job, joining 50,000 CUPW workers already on rotating strikes. CAW and CUPW-two unions that have made breakthrough gains in past struggles-are blocking further stripping of their pension and benefit plans, and are refusing to agree to lower living standards for new workers.
Caterpillar and the Investment Canada Act
There's been some good public debate about the need for changes to the Investment Canada process in light of Caterpillar's incredible actions in London. They showed up uninvited in 2010, took over a long-standing productive profitable plant, demanded money (from workers and government alike), then left -- leaving behind a shuttered plant and a shattered community.
Clearly something needs to change in terms of how the federal government regulates this process: sorting out foreign investments that can add genuine value to our economy, from those which are beneficial to corporate interests and investors but ultimately undermine our capabilities to produce and innovate.
Electro-Motive-CAW talks: Interview with Tim Carrie
It's no secret that people in southwestern Ontario -- Londoners in particular -- are seriously pissed with Caterpillar. In fact, in an unprecedented show of support for labour, both London Mayor Joe Fontana and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty are on record as saying Caterpillar has been unfair to the employees of Electro-Motive.
Thursday afternoon I caught up with the president of CAW Local 27, Tim Carrie, in the lobby of the London Hilton during a break from closure negotiations with Caterpillar.
Meg Borthwick: So Tim, negotiations seem to be progressing ...
EMD locked-out workers speak out on the Day of Action against Caterpillar
These Interviews were conducted on January 21, 2012 on the day of action against Caterpillar organized by the Ontario Federation of Labour in solidarity with the locked-out EMD workers. Up to 7,000 union and activists rallied in Victoria Park, then moved to the lockout at the Caterpillar plant (EMD).
Interviewer: Mick Sweetman
Camera & Editing: Kristyna Balaban
Toronto Media Co-op
What will it take to win the lockout at Electro-Motive Diesel?
LONDON, ONT. - It was a loud and boisterous scene outside the massive Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) factory on Jan. 21 as more than a thousand trade unionists joined the picket line in solidarity with 465 workers who have been locked out by the company for the past three weeks. With a punk rock band blasting music from a makeshift stage by the front gate, hundreds of workers disrupted traffic by crossing back and forth across the road regularly. A lone London police officer pleaded with them to keep things moving. It was the second show of support that day; earlier, an estimated 7,000 workers from across Ontario and the Midwest United States rallied at Victoria Park in downtown London.
January 25, 2012 |
The executive boards of the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions have unanimously approved a process to explore the possibility of creating a new Canadian union
January 23, 2012 |
CAW President Ken Lewenza blasted the greed of corporate executives who have taken advantage of increasingly weaker government rules and regulations under the Harper government and around the globe.
