News & Events Archived Newsletters CONTACT 2007 February 23, 2007Chocolate Capital Fights Back
The water tower in Smiths Falls proclaims the town as the 'Chocolate Capital of Ontario,' but on February 22 workers were told that the Hershey plant will be closed within the year. Hershey is building a new facility in Monterey, Mexico.
CAW Local 462 represents 430 members at the plant which opened in 1963, the first Hershey plant outside of Pennsylvania.
The CAW, politicians, individual residents and local businesses are working together in an effort to convince Hershey to change its decision. The first community event will be a rally at the plant Saturday, February 24.
The closure of the town's largest employer will have a devastating social impact on Smiths Falls and the surrounding area.
The Hershey announcement comes on the heels of a lot of other bad news for Smiths Falls - the community has already lost its largest public sector employer, there are ongoing layoffs at other employers and a growing 'uncertainty' has gripped the area's remaining manufacturers.
CAW Supports Strikers at FirstOntario
A bargaining unit of 70 women and one man in Hamilton, Ontario have been on strike for four months - ironically the Canadian Office & Professional Employees union members are on strike against FirstOntario - a credit union which was started by unions to protect their members from the banks.
Times have changed though and their employer is now run by management who come from the banking sector and who are demanding major concessions, including demands to give up sick days and retirement benefits as well as job security - despite boasting recently of record profits.
Management has even taken the unprecedented step of cancelling the annual meeting of the credit union - many of FirstOntario's members are union members.
It is cold on the picket line in Hamilton but these women are determined to win. Show them your support. They are making history in the financial services sector and you can help them do it. Log on to the Labour Start web site and sign their petition: www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=190
$10 Minimum Wage Campaign Gains Momentum
CAW President Buzz Hargrove weighed in on the side of NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo's private member's bill calling for a $10.00 minimum wage in Ontario. Hargrove sent a 10-page brief supporting DiNovo's Bill 150 to the Ontario legislative committee examining the legislation.
The CAW brief backs a $10 per hour minimum wage, with indexing. The CAW calls for adequate Labour Ministry inspections to effectively enforce the minimum wage in workplaces where employers are increasingly using part-time, temporary, and temp agency workers. The CAW brief also backs an end to the claw-back of the federal baby bonus supplement from Ontario's poorest children. As well, Hargrove drew attention to the need to increase social assistance rates.
Supporters of the $10 minimum wage can go online to www.labourcouncil.ca or www.amillionreasons.ca and email Ontario Premier McGuinty to press him to pass Bill 150.
CAW New Technology Conference
The CAW's New Technology Conference is scheduled for April 24 to 26 at the CAW Family Education Centre in Port Elgin, Ontario. The conference theme is Technological Change and the Skilled Trades - Shaping the Future.
The registration deadline is March 16, 2007. The conference is geared toward skilled trades workers, however the conference is also applicable to local union presidents, plant chairpersons, skilled trades representatives, CAW Skilled Trades Council delegates and workplace New Technology Committees (one person per committee). For more information contact CAW National Skilled Trades Director Colin Heslop at 1-800-268-5763 ext 487.
CAW Pride Conference
The CAW Pride Conference will take place at the CAW's Port Elgin, Ontario Family Education Centre from April 20-22 this year.
The theme of the conference is "Creating Safer Workplaces." In addition to sending lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender activists and leadership, local unions are encouraged to also send an ally from the leadership. Together we'll strategize on making workplace changes that are necessary for the safety and integrity of our LGBT members.
The deadline for registration is March 28. For more information contact the CAW Human Rights Department at 1-800-268-5763 ext 479.
New Members Join the CAW Family
Members of the Canadian Racetrack Workers Union have voted by a 75 per cent margin to join the CAW.
The 600 new members work at Woodbine, Mohawk and various betting facilities across the Greater Toronto Area, working as pari-mutual clerks, terminal operators, ticket sellers and host/hostesses. The addition of this group increases the CAW's presence in the growing gaming sector.
Twenty workers at the Canadian Mental Health Association Grand River Branch in Waterloo, Ontario have also voted overwhelmingly to be part of the CAW family.
Anti-Scab Bill Needs Your Help
The committee hearings on Bill C-257 are now complete. The business community used the time to try to push back on anti-scab legislation. The Bill, with amendments covering essential services, is now heading back to Parliament for Third Reading. It will be reviewed on February 28 and on March 2, with a vote scheduled for March 21.
You can help make it a first-day-of-spring to remember! There is time for a last minute push. MPs will be back in their ridings from March 4 to March 18 - call your MP and encourage him or her to support the Bill. For more information, go to the Canadian Labour Congress web site at: www.canadianlabour.ca/index.php/antiscab_legislation
New Aerospace Agreements
CAW Locals 112 and 673 members at L-3 SPAR Aerospace in Mississauga, Ontario and MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates (MDA) in Brampton, have ratified new collective agreements.
"The L-3 SPAR agreement is a one-year term which helps the company position itself to attract new work to the facility and at the same time maintains our union's principals of no concessions in the areas of wages, benefits and pensions," said Local 112 president Roland Kiehne.
"At a time when we are facing some real challenges in the Space sector of our industry, we made progress in all the key areas for our members at MDA," added Kiehne.
The new three-year agreement at MDA includes wage increases in each year of the contract, improvements to post-retirement health benefits and a signing bonus.
CAW members at SPAR and MDA have worked on components of the Canada Space Arm and the Hubble satellite.
