on Strike at St. Marys Cement

As CONTACT went to press, CAW Local 222 members remained on strike at the St. Marys Cement plant in Bowmanville, Ontario as they fight company demands to roll-back their pension plan.

The workers are fighting company demands to change the pension plan from a defined benefit plan with a fixed level of benefits to a defined contribution plan, which could mean lower benefits on retirement.

CAW national representative Keith Osborne said the company wants to take the responsibility of maintaining pension benefits off its books and put it on the backs of workers through a defined contribution plan, which is subject to the whims of markets.

"The workers are determined to fight this roll back in their pensions," said Osborne.

CAW Local 222 President Chris Buckley is urging CAW members to visit the picket line and show their support. "This is an important struggle against company attempts to attack workers pensions."

The picket line is located one block south of Highway 401 on Waverley Road in Bowmanville.

The CAW represents approximately 100 workers at the cement plant. The CAW and company had been in contract talks for months. The workers have been without a contract since Jan. 31.

St. Marys is a major aggregate producer with quarry, gravel and cement operations in Canada and the US.

Contract Maintained for CAW

Members at Aramark

After a strong fightback from CAW, cleaners at a Kitchener, Ontario hospital continue as CAW members even after their work was awarded to a new contractor.

"This is an important victory for this group of workers who displayed solidarity when there was clearly an attempt to win concessions and cutbacks by awarding the new contract to another employer," said CAW Kitchener area director Bill Gibson. 

Contract cleaners Aramark have agreed to maintain staffing and honour the collective agreement covering cleaners at the Grand River Hospital's Freeport site in Kitchener, Ontario.

Aramark won the renewal contract for cleaning at the facility from Sodexo, the previous contract service, after it was put up for tender four months ago. CAW Local 1106 represents 65 full-time and part-time workers at the facility.

"The CAW applied significant pressure to ensure the new employer accepted the workers and the collective agreement," Gibson said. "Fighting back makes a difference."

The contract expires in June 2012.

Strike Over at Debro Steel

After 14 weeks on the picket line, CAW Local 252 members who work at Debro Steel in Brampton, Ontario are back at work with a new contract that rejects company demands for concessions.

The workers voted 69 per cent in favour of a new three-year agreement that provides wage and pension increases.

In addition, the new agreement ensures workers are paid overtime after eight hours instead of after 40 hours, a concession demand strongly opposed by the membership.

CAW national representative Sukhvinder Johl said the approximately 50 CAW members built strong unity during the strike and the membership insisted that all workers returned to work on the same day - March 8.

"Our membership built strong bonds of solidarity during this long and bitter dispute," said Johl.

CAW Local 252 President Abbot Harvey thanked CAW locals in the GTA for helping out with picket line support as well as locals from across Canada who provided financial support. "This is a strong victory for this small group of workers, who truly appreciated the solidarity shown during this dispute," Harvey said.

"This again shows that fighting back makes a difference."