Vol. 72/No. 20      May 19, 2008

“They are trying to attack our pension benefits. We have a right to retire with money in our pocket,” shop steward Craig Wright told the Militant April 28, the second day of the strike.

“This is the first strike to shut the refinery in its 80 years.” said one worker on the picket line. The 1,200 members of the Unite union voted by a 97 percent margin to strike. Sizeable pickets were mounted at the refinery gates. Several hundred people, including family members, also rallied in support of the strike.

Ineos provoked the strike by closing its final salary pension fund to new hires, complaining that workers are now living longer. Strikers said new workers will have to take a pension scheme based on the fluctuations of the stock market.

Like many others on the picket lines, striker Craig Wright said the move was part of establishing a two-tier workforce and maybe the first step toward targeting the pension fund itself.

During the strike the government began shipping oil from Europe to compensate for petrol shortages. Ineos is the United Kingdom’s biggest chemical company. Its rapid expansion has been financed by massive borrowing, according to the Scotsman.

—Pete Clifford

Toronto transit workers walk out
to defend maintenance workers
TORONTO—Some 9,000 transit workers walked off the job just before midnight April 25, after 65 percent voted to reject a tentative contact signed by union leaders a week before. The members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 struck over the proposed contracting out of maintenance jobs.

“I didn’t see anything wrong with the transit side of things, but I had to vote ‘no’ because they’re contracting out the maintenance work,” bus driver Al Evans told the Globe and Mail. “That’s what a union’s all about. You got to look out for your coworkers.”

Transit workers ended their strike after the Ontario Legislature voted to demand they return to work. Toronto mayor David Miller, who accused the union of being “irresponsible” for not giving 48 hours notice, said he would consider declaring the Toronto Transit Commission an essential service, making it illegal for the union to strike.

Initiated by the maintenance workers, the transit workers went on an “illegal” strike in May of 2006. The last legal walkout took place in 1999 and lasted two days.

About 1.4 million people use the transit service each day.

—John Steele  
 
 
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