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Topic: Strike at munitions plant in Ingersoll Ontario
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Mick
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2753
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posted 25 March 2005 10:25 PM
I wasn't sure if I should post this in labour, or the peace movement forum. While this might not be a conscious "anti-war" strike, these militant workers are having a greater direct effect on the war machine than any demonstration. quote:
Picket line violence fearedIngersoll's IMT plant is using school buses to carry replacements past pickets. HANK DANISZEWSKI, Free Press Reporter 2005-03-22 03:36:51 A union official is warning of potential picket line violence as a strike at the IMT plant in Ingersoll escalates. The striking workers suffered a setback yesterday when two buses carrying replacement workers entered the metal manufacturing plant. Kelly Hoskin, president of Local 2918 of the United Steelworkers of America, said it is becoming much harder to keep the picket line peaceful. "They are stealing our jobs. We are working people. We are not violent. This owner is driving us to become violent," he said.
Arnold Visser, human resource manager at IMT, confirmed the company is using buses to bring in replacement workers and non-union staff. Visser said some production has resumed but it is well below normal levels. "We are just trying to service our critical accounts at the moment," said Visser. About 130 workers at the plant walked out on March 5 after working without a new contract since last August. Union officials say management is demanding concessions that would amount to a 25-per-cent cut in wages and benefits. Both sides say they are willing to go back to the bargaining table but no talks are scheduled. For the first 10 days of the strike, pickets prevented management attempts to bring in vanloads of replacement workers. Last week, the union agreed to let the vehicles in after 10 minutes after the company threatened to get an injunction. Last week, some vanloads of replacement workers crossed the line but Hoskin said the stakes escalated yesterday when the company moved to larger school buses. "They won't get back to full production. There will be a war if they do." IMT, formerly known as Ingersoll Machine and Tool, manufactures trailer axles and shell casings for munitions companies. In December, James Hacking, a former IMT president, and another partner reached a deal to buy the plant from parent company Ivaco Corp., which went into bankruptcy protection. Hoskin said the union is in the "planning stages" of escalating action with the help of the Oxford Regional Labour Council and London and District Labour Council. "Everyone is just waiting for the call to converge. . . . It's going to be stepped up," said Hoskin. Joe Wilson, president of the London and District Labour Council, said the strike shows the damage done by the former Harris government when it allowed companies to use replacement workers during strikes. He said the labour council is lobbying federal Labour Minister Joe Fontana and provincial Labour Minister Chris Bentley, who both represent London ridings. "All of organized labour takes this very seriously. We have been marching backward in labour legislation," said Wilson.
From: Parkdale! | Registered: Jun 2002
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Jackson_1969
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8595
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posted 26 March 2005 11:23 PM
Here's another example of how labour's power can be mobilized against the war in Iraq. Workers have the power to shut this system down entirely by political strike action... and this power, when it is used, can be the basis of a whole new world.Strikes by US longshoremen against apartheid, and blacking of South Africa bound cargo, were one of the defining moments of the anti-apartheid solidarity movement in the west. ------------- Defending Labor's Right to Protest the War / Op Ed Article in San Francisco Chronicle 16 March, 2005 Wednesday, March 16, 2005 (SF Chronicle) Defending labor's right to protest the war Jack Heyman There's a rising tide of workers' anger against the war in Iraq and the cuts in government programs to pay for it -- in enforcement of worker- safety laws, health care, Social Security, education and jobs. The recent victory of the nurses' union over Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attempt to deny adequate staffing ratios in hospitals shows that labor can turn the tide. Last year, the Port of Oakland -- the fourth largest port in the United States, ratcheting Northern California higher up on the global economic wheel -- handled more than 2 million containers of cargo worth $30 billion. Yet nearby Oakland schools are being closed for lack of funding. And although the surge of trade with China has boosted profits for shippers and jobs for port workers, it's accompanied by an increase in dockworker deaths from unsafe working conditions. Already this year, two longshoremen have died in California ports, according to CalOSHA. The local International Longshore and Warehouse Union will protest the war in Iraq and the deadly cuts it has forced by holding a stop-work meeting, shutting down all Bay Area ports on Saturday, the second anniversary of the Iraq war. It will then lead the labor contingent in the anti-war march in San Francisco under its banner, "An injury to one is an injury to all." The ILWU has a proud history of defending workers' rights, civil rights and civil liberties. Repressive legislation like the Patriot Act and Transportation Security Act shackle everyone by gutting the Bill of Rights. A waterfront saying is "If you don't know your rights, you don't have any. And if you don't use 'em, you lose 'em." The ILWU has always led by example. In 1978, for example, longshore workers in Oakland refused to load bombs for the Pinochet military dictatorship in Chile and later for the bloody Salvadoran junta. The union also waged a relentless campaign against apartheid in South Africa, culminating in a 1984 ship boycott in San Francisco. Nelson Mandela credited the union with inspiring the protest movement that helped topple apartheid. In 1999, union actions demanded freedom for black death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal and joined in solidarity with protesters at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle. During longshore-industry contract negotiations eight months before the invasion of Iraq, several threatening phone calls were made to ILWU President Jim Spinosa from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and White House staff. Using the ruse of "national security," they warned the military would occupy the docks if there were any job actions. Maritime employers then shut down all West Coast ports, locking out workers for 10 days, with no government reprisals. Then, at the prodding of California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Bush, siding with employers, invoked the anti-labor Taft-Hartley Act, and opened the ports and ordered longshore workers back to work as directed by their employers. Two years ago, police opened fire with so-called "less-than-lethal" weapons on peaceful anti-war demonstrators and longshore workers near the Port of Oakland. Scores were injured, some seriously. A state agency, the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center, had falsely warned police that "terrorists" may be demonstrating. Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown never anticipated the outcry that would follow. The bloody police attack was condemned by Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, Jesse Jackson, author Alice Walker, several British members of Parliament and union officials, who represented millions of transport workers internationally. The U.N. Human Rights Commission cited the attack as one of the worst acts of police violence. Still, criminal charges were filed against 24 anti-war protesters and one longshore union official, only to be dropped a year later. Police videos and TV footage refuted the government's case that demonstrators threw objects at police before they opened fire and were blocking terminal gates. The victims of police brutality are suing the Oakland Police Department. The case is scheduled for court in January. (Some victims settled out of court last month.) Brown supported the police attack, though many were shot in the back as they fled. (He is now "law and order" candidate for state attorney general, but in 1997, Brown, the quintessential political chameleon, participated in a labor-solidarity picket line that blocked trucks in the port.) The police "shock and awe" shooting in the Port of Oakland highlights the collusion between government and corporations in repression of civil liberties and workers' rights. Then-Oakland Police Chief Richard Word admitted in a New York Times report that riot-clad police had been deployed at the behest of maritime employers, who acknowledged meeting secretly with police and port commissioners three days before the attack. Last month, the Oakland City Council "scolded" the Oakland Port Commission for yet another secret meeting. Despite adversity posed by employers and the government, the ILWU has persevered in the struggle for justice for all workers. On Saturday, longshore workers are encouraging others to follow their lead in protesting the war and occupation and in defense of civil rights and social gains. Express your view What: Labor rally against the war in Iraq When: 10:30 a.m. rally; noon march, Saturday, March 19 Where: Dolores Park at 18th and Dolores streets, San Francisco; then march to rally at Civic Center. More information: (415) 440-4809; [email protected] Jack Heyman is a longshoreman who was a union official when he was arrested during the 2003 anti-war demonstration at the Port of Oakland. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2005 SF Chronicle
From: Toronto | Registered: Mar 2005
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Mick
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2753
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posted 30 March 2005 11:05 PM
quote: IMT picket line to branch into Woodstock The Ingersoll TimesJENNIFER VANDERMEER - Staff writer Tuesday March 29, 2005 Striking workers at IMT are starting a new campaign to try to get their employer back to the bargaining table. As of yesterday (Tuesday) workers were setting up a secondary picket line at a location in Woodstock where IMT is shipping and receiving product, according to Kelly Hoskin, president of Steelworkers Local 2918. “Standing outside while replacement workers do our jobs is not an option and it is not working,” said Hoskin in announcing this tactical change in the union’s strike method. “All of us just want to get back to the bargaining table and get a fair collective agreement and it’s time we began shifting the focus.” The second picket line will be set up at the warehouse in Woodstock on the corner of Ingersoll Avenue and Winniett Street. Workers are hoping to disrupt shipping and receiving because it is known that truck drivers will not cross a legal picket line. A second tactical move is the beginning of a door-to-door campaign to deliver information leaflets to residents, who have shown a lot of support for the striking workers. “We have been overwhelmed by community support for our situation and our intention now is to appeal to our community to put pressure on the owner from within the town of Ingersoll,” said Hoskin. “I think the people of Ingersoll are appalled by the offer of massive pay, benefits and pension cuts by this profitable employer. It not only doesn’t make any sense to us, but to the community as a whole and I am now requesting the town’s help in resolving this strike.” The leaflets will ask people to send a fax to IMT owner Jim Hacking demanding that he return to the bargaining table and that he get remove imported security and replacement workers. IMT workers have been without a contract since summer of 2004. They had been waiting for the change of ownership at IMT before getting into negotiations. The strike was spurred after the owner asked for cuts to pay and benefits. This strike has been going on since March 5.
From: Parkdale! | Registered: Jun 2002
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Ethical Redneck
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8274
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posted 31 March 2005 05:24 AM
Interesting stuff, folks. The labour forum is fine for this. Although the labour movement has always been historically linked to the peace movement (some exceptions of course, but there always are).I remember in the 1980s, at the peak of the Reagan-Brushed show downs and arms race madness, William Winsinger, then president of the US International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, a major military weapons production union, took tons of flack from the conservative corporate media, for endorsing a freeze on military spending and re-investing that money into commercial and industrial infrastructure development. He was re-elected three more terms until he retired and was considered to be the most popular president in that union's 120-year (at that time) history. What is the latest in these disputes?
From: Deep in the Rockies | Registered: Feb 2005
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Mick
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2753
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posted 05 April 2005 08:17 PM
quote: Mass picket backs IMT workers HANK DANISZEWSKI, Free Press Business Reporter 2005-04-05 02:52:26 INGERSOLL -- Workers at the IMT Corp. plant here marked a month of striking yesterday by inviting a few hundred friends. Union activists from as far away as Tilbury and Kitchener joined a mass picket that took on a party atmosphere, featuring music and an all-day barbecue. But there were some tense moments on the picket line. Arnold Visser, human resources manager at IMT, said union members surrounded four vehicles with company-hired security guards inside and threw rocks at the vehicles. "From what I'm told, they're not driveable," Visser said of the vehicles. He called the tactics "barbaric." Terry Coleman, vice-president of Local 2918 of United Steelworkers of America, representing about 130 unionized IMT workers, said he didn't see any rocks thrown but added that some union activists did "walk around" the vehicles. Kelly Hoskin, president of Local 2918 of the United Steelworkers, said the show of support was a morale booster for the 130 strikers who have been out since March 5, with no new contract talks in sight. "It's hard for us to sit on the picket lines and watch the replacement workers taunt us as they go in and do our jobs." Hoskin said IMT has asked for substantial wage concessions in contract talks, though the company admits it is profitable. The firm manufactures trailer axles and shell casings for munitions companies. Company officials have said they must cut costs to remain competitive. IMT has sent a letter to the union saying it is willing to bargain, Visser said. "If the union spent half as much energy on working with the company . . . as with these tactics, we'd have a collective agreement." The strikers have held up buses and trucks entering the plant for 10 minutes but Hoskin said he expects the company to seek an injunction today that may further limit picket activity. Visser wouldn't say what the company is specifically looking for with the injunction, although it would try to get "all (it) can get." The demand for concessions and the use of replacement workers has caught the attention of other unions and labour councils who turned out in force to support IMT strikers yesterday. CAW locals supplied the food and the music. London and District Labour Council chair Joe Wilson said provincial legislation allowing companies to use replacement workers only prolongs strikes and threatens the labour movement. "They won't try this stuff in large workplaces. They will in a small plant," Wilson said. "That's one reason to be here."
From: Parkdale! | Registered: Jun 2002
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Mick
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2753
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posted 06 April 2005 09:04 PM
quote: IMT seeks injunction to halt strike activitiesTwo sides in court yesterday JENNIFER VANDERMEER - Staff writer Tuesday April 05, 2005 The Ingersoll Times — A day after celebrating one month on the picket line, United Steelworkers were in a London court room with their employer, IMT. Tuesday’s court appearance was to have the court hear IMT’s application for a full injunction to limit union activities at the Ingersoll location and any additional sites the company uses. Pickets have been set up at the main location on King Street East since March 5 and at a secondary location in Woodstock for about a week. IMT representative Arnold Visser said the company is seeking to have no pickets at any of the company’s locations. The outcome of the court proceeding was not available before The Times’ press time. Monday’s one-month anniversary celebration saw as many as 250 people at the main picket to show support for the 160 striking employees. Local 2918 President Kelly Hoskin said the main objective was the show of solidarity from other Steelworkers and other unions. “It’s showing our members that we’re not forgotten in the labour movement,” he said. The second objective was to show the owner that the union has support for its strike action from other labour unions. Visser said IMT cancelled the Monday shift out of concern for the safety of those who would be working. He also said security vehicles were damaged and members of the security team were threatened by people at the event. “I don’t know how the union feels this will get us back to the table any quicker,” said Visser. “It will certainly change our attitudes when we do get back to the table.” Hoskin was aware that a group of people had approached the IMT building during the event, but did not know what was said. Visser said with all the different campaigns the union is launching, the one they haven’t started is to get back to the bargaining table. IMT has sent a letter to the union station that the company is more than willing to resume negotiations, but the reply came with pre-conditions to negotiations. Hoskin said there were no pre-conditions. The union has now asked for the employer to provide a definition of the concessions it is seeking. “Negotiation isn’t about standing fast. It’s about moving,” said Hoskin. Visser is prepared to send a letter that includes a short list of dates when the company is available to meet.
From: Parkdale! | Registered: Jun 2002
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Mick
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2753
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posted 06 April 2005 09:09 PM
Here's a letter to the editor from one of the striking workers. quote: Strike has changed things The Ingersoll TimesKirk Plewes - Ingersoll Tuesday March 22, 2005 Mike Tucker’s letter (Pay cut needs trade off guarantee, March 16) raises many interesting points and asks a few questions that need to be answered. I have been employed at IMT for 26 years and can offer some insight. Mr. Tucker asks, will the company offer a guarantee of employment in exchange for the wage rollback ? No. In fact, they want to remove and change layoff provisions. Most of these directly affect long term employees like myself. One such item is departmental seniority. This article would allow the company to lay me off and keep someone who has just walked in the door, with no regard for my skill and ability. What is the company doing with the savings ? I have no idea. They refuse to discuss it. At one time I’d get an answer. Now I’m told to mind my own business. I always thought what the company was doing, was my business. Will the company open the collective agreement when times are better? No. They asked for a five year deal saying they need long term stability. They refuse any suggestions that they feel may improve our status. The proposed contract attacks every facet of my life. Even if by some miracle I could accept the financial cuts, I can’t accept the pension freeze, the elimination of the provision for early retirement, the elimination of our current drug plan, the elimination of cost of living allowance, the elimination of one week’s vacation and the numerous petty rule changes. I am left wondering what kind of deal owner Jim Hacking could have offered had he spent money on us, instead of paying lawyers and the people from AFI International (www.afi-international.com) to video tape us on the picket line. Perhaps the final indication of Mr. Hacking’s total scorn for IMT workers is his hiring of scab labour. He is paying teenagers $11/hour to do my job. Sadder still is the fact that these kids will not be working long. In his zeal to slash and burn, Mr. Hacking has also eliminated most safety regulations. Injuries will unfortunately occur. If this dispute is ever settled, it will have forever changed our worker/management relationship. Maybe with time I can forgive but I will never forget what Mr. Hacking has done to me, my family, co-workers and the Town of Ingersoll.
From: Parkdale! | Registered: Jun 2002
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Mick
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2753
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posted 10 April 2005 10:26 AM
Here's the latest, looks like the strike might be winding down. quote: -------------------------------- More talks raise hope of IMT deal HANK DANISZEWSKI, Free Press Business Reporter 2005-04-10 01:55:42 An agreement to return to the bargaining table has raised hopes for an end to the strike at the IMT plant in Ingersoll. Union and management will meet tomorrow and Tuesday for the first time since 130 workers at the metal machining plant walked out March 5. The company has agreed to stop using replacement workers pending the outcome of the renewed negotiations. The union has agreed to limit the number of pickets at the plant and the amount of time vehicles are held up at the gates. Kelly Hoskin, president of Local 2918 of the United Steelworkers of America, said the agreement should cool tempers and raise hopes on the picket line. "It has a calming effect. It's the use of replacement workers that really starts the anger," he said. Last Monday, hundreds of union activists joined the IMT strikers on the picket line in a show of support Union leaders said the IMT strike is a threat to the labour movement because of the company's demands for substantial wage rollbacks and the use of replacement workers.
From: Parkdale! | Registered: Jun 2002
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Mick
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2753
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posted 01 May 2005 02:37 PM
Thanks for the update, I was wondering what was happening. I haven't been able to find news on the strike lately.The injunction sucks. Not a huge suprise from the capitalist courts, but a major limitation and blow to the strikers and the working class in general. Any suggestions on helping the striking workers at this point? Are non-union supporters also barred from solidarity pickets by the injuction? How is the strike fund, do workers need fundraising to help get them through this strike? What about the secondary pickets that were set up at the truck depots in woodstock, does the injunction cover them too? Any information if there's a third-party (ie a temp agency) providing the scab labour that could be targeted? Any other ideas? In solidarity, Mick
From: Parkdale! | Registered: Jun 2002
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Mr. Magoo
guilty-pleasure
Babbler # 3469
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posted 04 May 2005 02:15 PM
quote: Here's another example of how labour's power can be mobilized against the war in Iraq. Workers have the power to shut this system down entirely by political strike action... and this power, when it is used, can be the basis of a whole new world.
If an agreement is reached, isn't it going to be business as usual (ie: making munitions)? Does it really seem reasonable to imagine that if the workers went on strike "forever" that no new munitions would get made and therefore peace would break out as soon as the existing stock of munitions is used up?
From: ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø, | Registered: Dec 2002
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hamgran
recent-rabble-rouser
Babbler # 9075
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posted 04 May 2005 02:35 PM
No, it isn'treasonable to imagine that if the workers went on strike "forever" that peace would break out as a result. One little plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, hiring 137 workers, that only make the munition casings (as well as axles and OEM products), is hardly going to be responsible for that. And solving the war problem needs to be addressed from the other end - addressing it from the munitions-making end is, at best, a band-aid solution. The issue here is the blatant union-busting tactics that are happening right in front of us, right now, right here in Ontario.Here is an article from Tuesday's Woodstock Sentinel-Review: ____________________________________ SCAB LABOUR COSTS US ALL Greg Anderson CAW Local 1001 - St. Thomas So you don't think scab labour affects you? Think again. The ongoing strike in Ingersoll between IMT and its employees is a perfect example of how the use of replacement workers negatively affects the community, the worker, the police and the taxpayer. This employer's demands for concessions, scrapping of seniority provisions and attack on the employees' pension plan is being funded by you and me, the taxpayer. From the very beginning of this strike, the employer had no intention of bargaining in good faith, but chose rather to use replacement workers and try to "starve" its employees into a concessionary deal. The use of one van of replacement workers has now turned into three buses and two shifts of scabs with no end in sight. Why would the employer bother bargaining when he can just use replacement workers? IMT has successfully orchestrated this attack through the courts, utilizing archaic type anti-union legislation (allowing of replacement workers) to its advantage through court orders (eliminating picketers) and in essence, completely stripping the workers of any chance of bargaining a fair and equitable contract. This action by IMT has not come without a cost. Obviously employees, some with over 25 years service, are not going to sit idly by and watch their jobs be "stolen" by replacement workers and violence has been a result. The Oxford OPP have been placed in a difficult position of acting as somewhat of an extension of IMT's security force, trying to enforce the court orders, protecting the replacement workers and providing security for the security guards. Last Friday two individuals were arrested, (one with significant years' service with the company) during a standoff that included roughly 40 OPP officers, a tactical unit, an ambulance (as a result of pepper spray usage) and the closure of King Street. Who is paying for all of this police presence, emergency medical care and inconvenience? Is IMT? No, it is you and me, the taxpayer. Now is the time to reinstate anti-scab legislation, let the employer and employees bargain freely and fairly on a level playing field. Stop allowing taxpayer money and resources from being used by greed-driven corporations. __________________________
From: Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada | Registered: May 2005
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