BY SYLVIE CHARBIN AND AL CAPPE
DURHAM, Ontario - "Scab Hall of Shame," reads the sign by the highway outside Interforest Ltd., located in this town, about 100 miles northwest of Toronto. Since May 24 some 375 men and women, members of Industrial Wood and Allied Workers Union of Canada (IWA) Local 500, have been on strike at this wood veneer plant, one of 19 facilities Interforest owns worldwide.
Strikers told the Militant that in addition to contract demands, it was how they were treated on the job that drove them to strike.
"It all comes down to respect. Every horror story you ever heard about a place was going on in there," said one worker who did not want to give his name. "They think we're monkeys," he said. He was referring to a remark made at a bargaining session by the human resources manager and reported to a union meeting. The manager had said that "you can put any monkey in a pair of coveralls, give him a banana and he'll do anything you want him to do."
The company has carried out speedups and ongoing harassment. Workers are expected to produce about 2,000 sheets of veneer per hour, doing work which involves heavy lifting and operating hazardous equipment such as a slicer with a 20-foot razor sharp knife. The plant is cold and damp in the winter, hot and humid in the summer.
The rising anger against this treatment, felt by both longtime and more recently hired workers, was expressed at the union meeting that rejected the company's first contract offer and voted 93 percent in favor of strike action.
According to striker John Metherel, a key contract issue is the pension plan. The company now contributes a maximum of Can$400 per year to the pension fund (Can$1=US$.67). "There's one guy who's been in the plant for 28 years. He's retiring at the end of August, but he'll only get $526 a year." The workers' average wage is about Can$13.90 an hour. The starting wage is Can$7.15 and it takes a full year to get full rate in the classification.
The union wants the company to increase its contribution to the pension plan by 5 cents per hour in each year of a three-year contract and to raise wages by 35 cents in each of the first two years of the contract and 40 cents in the last. The company has offered three cents for the pension plan in the first and last year only and 25, 25, and 30 cents in wages.
The company has hired scabs and said it intends to resume production. A court injunction issued August 13 limits picketing to eight strikers per gate and sets a limit of 10 minutes on stopping vehicles, and 15 minutes on trucks. Previously, strikers had mobilized to successfully block buses carrying scabs from entering the plant. Two partially filled buses enter the plant each morning carrying management and 25-30 scabs, according to the strikers' estimates.
Company security guards videotape picket line activity, attempt to provoke strikers, and have followed some of them when they leave the line. A worker on the picket line was struck by a scab's vehicle August 23. It was the second such incident.
Workers from the area have visited the picket line, in particular some teachers and nurses. The union is organizing a yard sale and barbecue on Saturday, September 11, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. The event will take place at the picket trailer directly across the road from the plant. Other trade unionists have been invited to participate. For further information, call the picket trailer at (519) 369-3830.
Sylvie Charbin is a member of the International Association of Machinists. Al Cappe is a member of the Canadian Auto Workers.