BY ROBERT SIMMS AND MICK McDONALD
BURLINGTON, Ontario - "Every time we place an ad for the boycott, he can pay for two or three ads to counter us. The only way to stop him is to shut him down," said striker John Sop, referring to Michael McCain, the owner of Maple Leaf Foods. "We need to go talk to other workers, at Shopsey's, at Mr. Grocer, Quality Meats, to tell them they should join us." Sop, a kill floor butcher for 20 years at Maple Leaf and that company's predecessors, was part of a mass meeting here of most of the 900 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1227 held to discuss recent developments in their strike.

The company wants to cut up to Can$9 (Can$1=US$0.68) from workers' wages and benefits. The bosses also want to eliminate seniority and workers' pensions, and make workers pay for any bathroom breaks over a proposed limit of 20 minutes per week. Nine hundred other workers in Edmonton, Alberta, also struck; the company now says it has permanently closed that plant. Maple Leaf workers at two smaller facilities have been locked out by the company.

Maple Leaf is offering a signing bonus of Can$10,000 - $28,000, depending on years of service, if the union accepts these demands. Workers would be free to stay or quit, retaining the money. Many workers view the signing bonus as an insult, and won't accept it as a matter of principle. Others expressed the desire to accept the money and leave, saying they never want to work for McCain again.

Maple Leaf won a court injunction January 23 that limits pickets to 15 per gate, and management has started to move machinery and production out of the plant. Workers at the January 29 meeting were considering they can win their strike in face of these challenges.

On January 23 UFCW officials sent an open letter to the strikers that read, "It has become apparent over the past few months that it is unlikely that Maple Leaf Foods intends to operate its Burlington plant with scab labour... We must change the focus of this dispute from the picket line to increasing public awareness of the boycott against Maple Leaf products." Following the meeting, there were sharp discussions outside on the effectiveness of the boycott that had been called by the union against all Maple Leaf products, how to stop scabs from moving machinery out of the plant, and the provincial labor law that allows companies to legally hire a new workforce after six months and a day of work stoppage due to strike action. "Maple Leaf is dragging us to six months, then he'll kick us out and hire new people for $8 per hour," declared one striker outside the meeting.

Workers at Maple Leaf have started to take the story of their strike to other fighters. On January 28 a bus load of 50 strikers traveled 45 minutes from Burlington to Toronto to participate in an action called by the Canadian Federation of Students to protest tuition hikes by the federal government. The strikers joined 2,000 students in downtown Toronto and handed out boycott leaflets and stickers.

One striker told the Militant that many students who received the leaflet hadn't heard of the strike. Striker Dan Chapman commented, "We have to show solidarity with the students, and remind the banks and the federal government that we're all in the same boat, students, teachers, strikers and we've got to take a stand."

Boss, union tops push `Canadian jobs'
The company has recently gone on the offensive with a "jobs for Canadian workers" media campaign. "Canadian hogs are not going south just for the warmer weather," read a full-page advertisement taken out by Maple Leaf Foods in several capitalist dailies over a number of weeks. The ad complains that Canadian labor costs in wages, benefits, and work rules are too high compared to U.S. packing companies, who supposedly as a result can pay more to Canadian farmers for each pig. According to the ad, 3 million hogs from Canada were sold to U.S. processors last year, which the company claims cost up to 3,500 processing jobs in Canada. "We want the pigs to stay in Canada. We want the jobs to stay in Canada too," the caption reads.

Maple Leaf is trying to pit farmers against the workers, claiming to be unable to give farmers a better price for their hogs because of "labor costs." Striker Michele Guastadisegni, a sanitation worker at Maple Leaf for six years, looked at it differently. "If you're a farmer, you have to look for the best price. McCain doesn't want to pay farmers fairly. I don't blame farmers, I blame the rich people."

Promoting Canadian chauvinism from different angle, many union-produced buttons worn by strikers say, "Shame Michael McCain, this is Canada, not America." The union's boycott flyer says, "We don't think its right that Canadian workers should have their wages and benefits reduced to rock-bottom levels just because that's someone's idea of a `competitive reality.'" Striker Sop echoed this, arguing that "Canadian pork is better than American pork, it's the product that sells."

The record of the last 15 years in the pork industry in Canada shows there is nothing "un-Canadian" about the kind of assault being carried out against workers by Maple Leaf Foods. In 1984 Gainers cut wages at its packinghouse in Edmonton, Alberta -the same plant is now owned by Maple Leaf - from $11.99 to $6.99, and gutted vision and dental benefits. While a collective agreement was still in place, Canada Packers eliminated 500 union jobs in Toronto and opened up two new nonunion plants in Kitchener and Burlington. In the same year, Burns made similar cuts and won a decision from the labor relations board to break from national bargaining and eliminate 500 unionized jobs.

Nevertheless, Canadian pork bosses were unable to match the blows to wages and working conditions of their U.S. competitors in the mid-1980s. Maple Leaf Foods is Canada's largest pork processor. It is trying to retain that position, as well as carve out new space in Asian and South American markets, by forcing through the concessions needed to compete with its rivals to the south.

Many workers stress that other companies are watching closely to see if Maple Leaf is successful in its drive against the union. They warn other workers who visit the picket line that they could be next to face this kind of attack, and explain the need for support and solidarity for this strike. Explained Guastadisegni, "If he [McCain] wins, all the big shots are going to follow him."

Mick McDonald is a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 5338. Vicky Mercier contributed to this article.  
 
 
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