BY GARY KETTNER
LONDON, Ontario-"We've given a new meaning to the phrase `from Paris to London,' " said Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) national president Buzz Hargrove, referring to the strike movement in France. Hargrove spoke to thousands of people from across Ontario at a rally held here December 11 to protest cuts in social services and antilabor legislation adopted by the Conservative provincial government led by premier Mike Harris. The rally was the culmination of a one- day strike and day of protest in this city of 320,000 people midway between Toronto and Detroit.
Braving bitter cold and bone-chilling winds, pickets fanned out to dozens of sites across the city beginning Sunday evening and continuing through the night and early Monday morning. Thousands of the 60,000 unionized workers in the London area participated in the strike.
About 10,000 people joined two marches, which met at the Western fairgrounds for an indoor rally. Busloads of workers and students came from Windsor, Toronto, Hamilton, and many smaller centers in southern Ontario.
Protesters had their own answers to the government's argument that the economic crisis makes the cuts necessary. "The deficit is a created crisis," said Anne Hartman, a student at the University of Western Ontario. "The Royal Bank should be paying the deficit....The banks are making millions of dollars in profits."
Instead of reducing budgets, "the government should worry about employing people," said David Mallott, a lab worker at the London Victoria Hospital.
Among the participants in the marches were several Detroit newspaper strikers. "We are here to show our support for this fight," said striking Newspaper Guild member Kate DeSmet. "You are not alone in this fight. Corporate greed is becoming worldwide. That's why we need worldwide unions."
Marvin Conner, from the Amerindian Center in London, received especially warm applause when he said, "Governments have taken away my people's health care and rights. Now they want to do that to you. We have to stand together to stop the cuts."
Many among the younger demonstrators pointed to the wave of strikes in France as the example to follow. Michel Roy, a student and teaching assistant at York University, said it would take a general strike for at least 16 days to push back the latest cutbacks. Why 16 days? "Because that's how long it's taken for the French workers to force the prime minister to meet with them," he said. "There is no option but to shut down workplaces."
Speakers at the rally included Robert White, president of the Canadian Labor Congress, and Alexa McDonough, leader of the federal New Democratic Party.
The protest was called by the Ontario Federation of Labor at its November 13-17 convention.
"Cross-picketing"
Striking workers shut down most of the large industrial
plants in London and the surrounding area. The picket lines
were organized through a system of "cross-picketing," with
workers from one workplace picketing another location. The
strike was particularly solid at the major plants organized
by the CAW.
About 120 workers, mainly from the CAMI plant, set up picket lines at the Ford Talbotville assembly plant early Monday morning. Ford obtained a court injunction at 3:30 a.m. But the pickets ignored the injunction and police made no attempt to enforce it. None of the 1,200 day shift workers crossed the line. Picket lines were set up again for the start of the afternoon shift. This time, a large police presence forced the pickets to allow supervisors into the plant, but only a handful of workers showed up and the shift was canceled.
The CAMI plant in Ingersoll is jointly owned by General Motors and Suzuki and employs 2,200 workers. Some 300-400 auto workers from CAW locals 200 and 444 at Chrysler and Ford in Windsor set up picket lines at 6 a.m. The CAMI bosses had offered workers a $300 bonus to come into work. But only two workers went in.
3M Manufacturing, where about 1,000 CAW members work, was picketed by Windsor Chrysler workers. Fifty cars lined up to cross the line, but the unionists refused to let them cross, despite the cops' insistence that they be let through. After an hour-and-a-half-long standoff, local CAW officials arrived and urged the pickets to let the cars enter. But workers responded that they hadn't "come all the way from Windsor to let people cross the line. This is a strike!" They held out for another hour before, reluctantly, letting the cars cross.
Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union were off the job and the city bus system was shut down for the day. The Canadian Union of Postal Workers picketed the mail sorting plant, disrupting some postal service.
At the McCormick-Culinar food processing plant, the bosses agreed in advance to union demands to close for the day. Workers at the Kellogg Canada breakfast cereal plant and the Labatt's brewery won similar agreements.
City and provincial government employees organized by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) and OPSEU, and some teachers and hospital workers, joined the strike; most government services were at least partially affected. Three high schools were closed and exams were canceled at the University of Western Ontario and Fenshawe College.
The mobilization was broad despite threats of reprisals from some employers and an intensive media campaign warning of violence and intimidation by "imported" protesters.
Union leaders repeatedly promised that the London protest will be rapidly followed by other days of protest. Unions in a half-dozen cities have already offered to be the next target.