HAMILTON, Ontario — Some 1,200 members of United Steelworkers Local 7135 went on strike at National Steel Car here Aug. 12 after rejecting the bosses’ concession contract proposal by 79%. The stakes in the fight are important for workers across North America.
National Steel Car boasts it is “the major North American rail car producer.” The fact is “this is a two-headed snake,” union President Frank Crowder told the Militant on the picket line Sept. 17. “The incentive program makes up 25% of our wages. The company dictates the amounts, the line speed, we have no say. It’s been like that since the company has existed.
The union is seeking the right to file grievances on the incentive program and to participate in time studies on jobs.
“Now they’ve increased the production goals for workers so they’re unattainable. Cleaning up, for example, is no longer counted as part of the job.
“The company walked out of negotiations because they refused to discuss the incentive. So the union hasn’t been able to table wage demands,” Crowder said. “What will an incentive program mean if we can’t go home to our families? And we want to afford to feed our families.”
“The strike is about wages. The work is dangerous. We need job safety,” Ahmat Hisseine, a welder with 15 years seniority, told the Militant. “They offered a wage increase of 7% over three years, an offer that’s spiteful and mean. It shows no respect.”
Many pickets wear union caps honoring fellow workers killed on the job. They know of seven deaths at Steel Car going back to the 1970s.
“Bottom line, the incentive program is killing people here,” striker Steve Bradt said. “I’ve seen guys shaking as they work because they’re nervous about not meeting the goal.”
Crane operator Fraser Cowan was felled by an unlatched crane hook on Sept. 2, 2020. The company had gotten government permission to operate cranes without safety latches, enabling them to speed up production.
Painter Collin Grayley died April 23, 2021. He had been pulled up and folded in half by the machinery.
Welder Quoc Le was crushed to death on June 6, 2022. A few days later union members rallied in front of the plant demanding government action. Le had been tacking a 2,000 pound panel in place without having been given the time to install bracing to secure it.
The company was fined under 600,000 Canadian dollars total ($430,000) for these three workers’ deaths.
Grayley’s widow, Andrea, told the press the fine for her husband’s death “is pocket change for this company. I don’t want National Steel Car to go out of business, but I want to know that those people are going to be able to come home safe after work.”
“I’ve had four instances where I was nearly killed,” said Crowder. “A car nearly crushed me and the boss told me to get back to work! I got mad and that’s how I ended up a union rep.”
No negotiations are currently scheduled.
Bosses: Sacrifice to beat the U.S.
The government and bosses across Canada are using the tariff war with their counterparts in the U.S. to try and convince workers they need to sacrifice. In early September, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his government will invest CA$4.7 billion in Canadian-made passenger rail cars. They “used to be built in the United States,” he said, but now “will be built right here in Thunder Bay at Alstom Canada, by the best workers in the world.”
Similar efforts by capitalist governments worldwide are being made to tell workers that they share common interests with their bosses against rivals elsewhere. They feed into sharpening competition, growing national conflicts and deepening threats of war.
National Steel Car facilities were retooled during both world wars in the 20th century for military production. During the second imperialist world war, the plant was the largest single producer of shells throughout the British Empire and North America.
Build solidarity!
The strikers have won support from local unions, including the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, the Service Employees International Union and the librarians union. Canadian Union of Public Employees representatives brought an ice cream truck down and the Hamilton District Labour Council came with a samosa truck on the afternoon Militant correspondents were on the line.
When Mohammad Mutlaq, a Montreal bakery union member, heard about the fight at National Steel Car, he said, “It should be called National Killer Car. These days if you don’t use your voice, they crush you. I never thought Canada would be like this. The biggest problems are working-class conditions — unhealthy working conditions, exhausting working hours and inadequate health insurance.”
Strike pickets are up 24/7. Join in solidarity at 600 Kenilworth Avenue North, or send messages to frank.crowder@usw7135.ca.