—ON THE PICKET LINE—

Maggie Trowe, Editor

Toronto Teamsters strike
produce company for wages

TORONTO — Twelve members of Teamsters Local 419 set up pickets at the Ontario Food Terminal here at 1 a.m. April 21, slowing down trucks trying to get into the terminal for delivery and pick up. The unionists unload trucks for Fresh Taste Produce, one of the many companies operating inside the terminal. In their fight for a first contract the central issue is wages. While the cost of rent, food and fuel have gone up, they have not had a pay raise in 14 years, strikers told the Militant. Wages range from $14 to $17 per hour (US$11-$13.50).

“The industry standard we’re trying to get is about $20 per hour [US$16],” Local 419 representative Ken Dean told the Militant April 24 in a phone interview.

“One guy has worked here for 18 years and is earning $14.50,” striker Lobsang Tenzin told the Militant. “We’re just fighting to be treated like other people here.” Most of the strikers are Tibetans from India and Nepal. There are over 4,000 Tibetans living in Toronto, many in Parkdale, a workers district not far from the terminal.

“Most of the Tibetans are very newly immigrated to Canada,” Karma Tsetan, a worker at another company in the terminal, told CBC News. “So for them to get a job right away with no Canadian experience is really, really hard.” Many end up working at the terminal.

The Ontario Food Terminal is the largest wholesale fresh fruit and produce terminal in Canada. Over 5,000 businesses buy their produce here, including two of the major supermarket chains.

Strikers said they are getting support from other terminal workers as well as many truckers and others driving in and out. Trucks waiting to get into the market were backed up for blocks.

Local 419 announced May 3 the Fresh Taste workers had ratified their first collective agreement, ending the strike.

— Susan Berman