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Labour mobilizes support for locked-out Electro-Motive workers
January 2, 2012 - 11:18pm
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Bravo OFL!
Labour Prepares to Bar Scabs from London Plant: More Militant Defence of Good Jobs Could Mean Widespread Labour Unrest in 2012
This is good news!
They should get their asses over to the YRT strike as well!
They should be glad in London North that they have an MP in federal government to fight for workers.
In principle, governments CAN do just about anything. Obviously we are not going to get that from either of the governments in question.
So the question is what can an NDP opposition propose that government would do, which brings us back to governments can do just about anything.... but there are practical limits on what even a government with political will can do.
Either government could flat out bar the closing of a plant. But that would be an empty gesture, since there is no power to make companies invest.
Which leaves the possibility of nationaling the plant. Always a popular call on this board and in a small sector of the NDP. You can scream invective at the rest of us all you want, there is no appetite in the NDP for turning back the clock like that. Not going to happen.
That still leaves a lot of territory where a government can 'legislate the parameters' to the point that, for example in this case, it leaves Catepillar still with the nominal power to not make a serious offer and close the plant when/if the 'offer' is rejected.... but makes it so unattractive for Catepillar that they are hobbled from going that route.
How a government does that is an essentially technical question that depends entirely on the specifics of each case. But there is always a way to do it.
It gets a lot more sticky for an opposition party making proposals- because a lot of the legislative tools that would be used are complex enough to make them difficult to explain on the public stage- and even more difficult to defend against attack.
Even being more difficult for a political party it's still a question of political will.
But for starters, and maybe the biggest single weapon anyway, there is how the governments use labour law. Harper and Raitt are showing how federal powers are used to tilt heavily against unions. The NDP can do the opposite.
Even there, its no slam dunk. If a government even says that it thinks Catepillar is not bargaining in good faith, that has a very material effect on the balance of power. But the opposition party saying what effect the federal government could have even from expressing its opinion, meh.
But I think you do that as a minimum anyway: call attention as loudly as possible to what Catepillar is doing, and that the federal government should discourage them and demand they bargian in good faith.
But I'm not hopeful of this babbysitter federal NDP leadership having the chops to do this- even with the interim leader being politicaly based in the trade union movement.
Good question. Has the ONDP weighed in yet? This reminds me of the Versatile situation 10 years ago in Manitoba:
From Hansard:
Maybe someone closer to the story recalls the precise outcome. This tells part of the story. My understanding is that the plant stayed, but the union was crushed and remains non-union to this day. Again, not sure about this.
End of thread drift!
Its not thread drift at all, as far as the what governments and opposition parties do.
Its a big part of the problem.
Hard enough to get the NDP serious about playing hardball in this. And when [if] we get there- we do not generally discuss the gigantic elephant in the room:
When companies go this hardball route where the plant either closes or the workers take whatever the company wants to give them, part of that is the hard realities of economics in the particular industry. Standing tough does not solve that, it only gives you the opportunity to solve that.
Without the chance to try, you are finished. So fighting for that comes first. But for the unions and for governments/political parties its just a stay of execution.
THIS is definitely thread drift:
Canadian manufacturing and its workers feasted for decades on the low dollar, and REALLY feasted during the years of the 'hyper-low dollar'.
Everybody knew this could not last, and that it was a foundation of sand.
Which is a good thing to keep in mind when people are hyping the lowering of the Canadian dollar: we probably have to do that for starters. But it is always billed as a panacea.
Even with globalization, nations prosper with a high currency, very high wage structures, and higher taxes.
This isnt the place for even beginning that discussion. But it is a good place for a reminder.
I thought it was a good question.
The follow-ups to the possible answer could turn eventually into something snotty. Discussions are like that. But 'snotty' just isnt in the question.
Nor is the question just 'what did the MSM report about what the ONDP says?'
Not to mention that if this is a priority, the ONDP is able to make sure it goes beyond press releases no one reads.
Canada's Unions in 2012: CAW Head Ken Lewenza Bracing for Tough Year
I don't get this reference... "it intends to relocate" seems to refer to Progress Rail - but Electro-Motive is owned by Caterpillar. I'm missing something.
"As a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar, the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines, we are in a unique position to offer the widest range of products and services possible, including the most fuel efficient, environmentally friendly locomotive engines, to railroads in every area of the world."
http://www.progressrail.com/
Aha! That's what I was missing! Capitalism is just too complicated. Thanks, writer.
Ken Lewenza was on P&P about this, made a really strong case for his workers. Evan Solomon kept hammering away at the Conservatives trying to get a commitment from them that Caterpillar will be held to account if they leave. Then an excellent panel on corporate salaries. Conservatives are arguing that Caterpillar's costs are half in the USA than what they are here, and that unions have to deal with that reality. The Con rep refused to discuss whether Caterpillar's profits and CEO salaries are fair when they want to cut worker's salaries in half and take away pensions. Let's all face reality - with the Conservatives in power, we're all fucking doomed.
That has to be BS that US costs are anywhere nere half. For one thing, employer contribution to health care- even non-union, dwarfs employer benefit costs in Canada.
Property taxes are way higher in most states. And so on.
Overall operating costs per labour hour input are lower, but nowhere near 50%.
I don't believe anything from the mouth of conservatives.
Caterpillar is a really nasty union busting outfit. I recall when they closed their Brampton plant back around 1989 or so, the workers had to occupy the plant in order to get any kind of severance pay settlement.
Subsequent to that, there was a really long nasty protracted strike at one of Caterpillar's U.S. plants in the US Midwest. The issues were similar to those going on in London right now as I recall.
Upthread, someone mentioned how the (now) high dollar is threatening the manufacturing sector. Well the high dollar is in many ways due to the Canadian dollar becoming a "petro currency"... in other words...the Tar Sands.
So not only are we sacrificing the environment due to the tar sands, we're also hollowing out the manufacturing sector. One more reason to stop further tarsands development.
From a CAW backgrounder:
There are 465 CAW Members at Electro-Motive Diesel
The employer has demanded the following concessions....
• $21 million annually reduction in wages and time off per year.
• $1.5 million dollars per year in benefit cost reductions.
• $6.9 million dollars cut out of Pension and Retiree benefit costs
• $10 million dollars out of the SUB fund.
The savings listed above would be gained by concessions the employer has tabled in the following areas:
• A wage reduction for all classifications. The deepest cut is $18.50 per hour for about 50% of the workforce.
• Elimination of the Defined Benefit Pension Plan
• Elimination of retiree benefits
• Substantial reduction in shift premiums
• Elimination of COLA
• Reduction in overtime compensation
• Elimination of 4 holidays annually
• Elimination of vacation of between 64 and 120 hours of vacation time
• Elimination of survivor income benefits, income maintenance plan, SUB plan, SWW protection, maternity top, retiree medical, retiree life insurance etc...
• 25% co-pay for the cost of premiums of medical, drug, dental, vision, hearing aid coverage
• 25% co-pay at time of purchase of the cost of drugs
• Major reduction in dental and other benefit coverage amounts
• Elimination of protection of skilled trades work
Navistar redux, and a prelude to this year's contract negotiations with the Big Three.
(LONDON, ON) -- The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) today issued a call to workers across Ontario to mobilize for a massive rally in London, Ontario on Saturday, January 21 to oppose Electro-Motive Canada (a subsidiary of U.S. industrial giant Caterpillar Inc.) and its attack on decent paying Canadian jobs.
“We see this fight as being central to the entire labour movement and we are going to dig in our heels and fight Caterpillar with everything we’ve got,” said OFL President Sid Ryan. “Good jobs and retirement security are being threatened by greedy corporations and every level of government. If workers don’t start to fight back, decent jobs will become a thing of the past and the middle class will be decimated.”
Regardless of who wins the NDP leadership, the legacy of 2012 may well be a remnant of organized labour within Canada's manufacturing sector. Can social democracy endure on the strength of public sector unions alone?
McGuinty Sounds Off On Electro-Motive Labour Derailment
Essentially, McGuinty wants both sides to "moderate" their tone, and he'll provide a mediator.
Harper and his cronies are saying this can't be compared to Air Canada intervention, because Electro-Motive is provincial jurisdiction. They also say that they gave no specific grants, loans, etc. to EMD, so there's nothing to threaten to "take back".
The scariest comments come from Yvon Godin:
Thanks a whole lot, Yvon. That's what we need - more back-to-work legislation. In any event, Harper can't legislate anyone, because (as the Cons correctly point out) it's provincial jurisdiction. Thank goodness Godin doesn't know which level of government to ask for intervention.
Well, McGuinty has apparently satisfied the first "demand". As for the "millions in tax breaks", they were changes in tax rules - not specific to EMD, so they can't be "returned".
Maybe a reporter called him before he had his coffee?
Even if they did, Yvon should be well enough prepared to give an autopilot answer on this.
There isnt anything for the federal government to do that fits into the quick answer needed for the situation, but that doesnt excuse him from preparing a better answer than this.
Probably related to the Caucus being rudderless. And in turn, having no real Leader is not easy, but is no excuse for letting things go rudderless.
There is at least this:
"EMD is not bargaining in good faith, and both levels of government need to use the tools available to them to get the employer to play a resonsible role..."
The Fight for Canada Gets Underway Get your *ss to London: Mayor to Harper
NDP Interim leader at Mass Rally YouTube
Nicole Turmel: "..and where is Stephen Harper?"
Does Steve plan on hiding from workers for the next four years?
Great links, thanks Fidel!
Looks like a huge success - estimates of attendance at the rally (which just ended a while ago) ranged as high as 15,000. Though we have much bigger May Day and political demos in Québec, I'm hard pressed to recall a rally this big dealing with a specific labour struggle in recent history.
Congratulations to Ontario workers for their big show of solidarity!
Toronto Star:
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1119295--thousands-turn-out-for-lond...