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TORONTO - "Farmers are suffering now, too. They want to cut our wages, but they're not passing it on to the farmers. They're pocketing it," said Francisco Ormonde as he greeted supporters joining the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 743 picket line at Quality Meat here. Some 950 meatpackers struck two Ontario plants, one in Toronto and the other in nearby Bramalea, December 7. Striker Gilberto Oliveira explained, "They want to cut our benefits and cut wages up to $6 an hour! "Top production wages are Can$17.48 (Can$1=US$0.65). Pickets explain that with the company's proposed six-year contract, average wages would drop to as low as Can$11, overtime would only be paid after 44 hours in a week, and long-term disability insurance eliminated.
A meatpacker who had gone through the four-month strike against Maple Leaf Food in Burlington near Toronto earlier this year was visiting the line. That strike was defeated, and pay rates were drastically cut. He reported that conditions in the Maple Leaf Burlington plant "are pretty bad. For example, if 20 are hired, 5 leave or get fired within a week or so. We process about 1,030 hogs an hour and they want to increase it to 1,250 in the next months. We get 20 minutes a week to go to the washroom." After that the foremen are supposed to dock their pay.
Many strikers echoed Ormonde, who said, "We made a mistake not to go out when Maple Leaf went out. We took a contract extension instead. Now the company tells us they have to compete with Maple Leaf. Maple Leaf said they would create a second shift, create jobs. They said they'd pay the farmers more and keep the hogs from going to the United States. But they're not keeping their promises. "
Harry Ponte, 22, has worked for Quality for just under two years. He said, "I have carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists. Fifteen- to 40-pound hams drop off the line overhead when it's overfilled - that's dangerous." Pickets standing around the fire barrel began showing their work-related injuries and telling of relatives who had died or been injured in the plant over the years.
"We need all the unions to stick together," said Frank Menezes, pointing out the lesson learned from the fact that Quality ran overtime during the Maple Leaf strike.
"This is going to be a long strike," said a striker originally from Poland. "In my country, it takes weeks to be able to pay for a jacket - now it's getting to be the same here!"
Canada: airport workers fight to end wage freeze
RICHMOND, British Columbia-Nearly 200 members jammed the
meeting of International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local
Lodge 764 here November 18. The local represents workers at
Canadian Airlines and United Airlines in British Columbia and the
Yukon. Most came in support of a resolution to end a wage freeze
for some Canadian Airlines workers.
In a contract signed in 1996, the IAM agreed to several concessions to help Canadian Airlines (CAIL) return to profitability. One of these concessions was that all workers hired in Reduced Time Employees (RTE) classifications after April 30, 1996, would not receive any "step" increases for the three- year duration of the contract. In some classifications it takes up to seven step increases to reach top pay. The contract was later extended to Dec. 31, 2000, as part of a bailout of CAIL involving all the unions at CAIL and federal and provincial governments. The extension included a wage reopener for those workers who had their step increases frozen.
The affected workers are in the cleaner, station attendant, laundry worker, janitor, and security officer classifications. Their wages were frozen at Can$9.06 per hour and increased to Can$9.16 per hour with a 1 percent across the board increase in early 1998. Top pay in these jobs ranges from Can$13.84 to Can$18.44 per hour.
Another group of affected workers are "contract groomers." They do the same job as aircraft cleaners but are only allowed to work on aircraft from other airlines that CAIL has cleaning contracts for. They are temporary part-time workers with minimal benefits and wages as low as Can$8.08 per hour.
The resolution proposed this classification be eliminated and the contract groomers become RTE cleaners.
In a leaflet circulated throughout the maintenance hanger and the cabin services, the workers appealed for support from workers already at the full rate of pay and those in classifications not affected by the freeze. More than 125 workers endorsed the leaflet, including several in the skilled trades.
The issue has now been referred to District Lodge 140 to work out the method of negotiations with the company. Many workers have vowed to continue attending union meetings and pursuing this issue until it is resolved.
Boston nursing home strikers celebrate victory
BRIGHTON, Massachusetts -"I'm glad it's over. It was a long,
hard fight, but it was worth it. The union is stronger now,
morale is higher. I think the company will try some tricks with
us back inside, but we're ready for them." This is how Gloria
Filsamie, a veteran worker and union member at the SunRise-owned
Oakwood nursing home here, summed up the 11-week strike of
Service Employees International Union Local 285.
Approximately 150 workers at two homes, in Brighton and Lowell, Massachusetts, struck September 13 against the SunRise Corporation over poor pay, understaffing, and lack of respect by management. Workers also claimed the company's practices made it difficult to provide the patients quality care. The November 25 Boston Herald reported that starting wages will increase from $7.10 an hour to $8.50 in three years, along with a general 12 percent pay raise. SEIU representatives at a November 29 "Welcome back to work" picket reported a new 25-cent night differential in pay, and 50 cents premium pay for weekend work. No union workers were fired during the strike. A third SunRise-owned home in Quincy, which had a separate contract, was also brought into the same expiration date as the other two.
Mitaud Louis, a Haitian worker with 10 years at the Brighton home, said the company was out to bust the union and forced the strike. "The company paid lots of money to have police and security patrol during the strike. The company doesn't want the union." Louis was among the group giving applause and roses to unionists leaving first shift or coming in for the afternoon November 29, their first day back on the job.
Katy LeRougetel, a member of United Steelworkers of America Local 5338, and Gabriel Charbin in Toronto; Larry Johnston, a member of IAM Local Lodge 764 in Vancouver; and M.J. Rahn and Elena Tate in Boston contributed to this column.