Garment workers settle strike

TORONTO — What was ex-
pected to be ‘‘a long and bitter
strike’* was settled just five days
after the. 1,100 members of the In-
ternational Ladies Garment
Workers Union shut down the ci-
ty’s fashion industry, Sept. 15.

After 49 strike-free years the
employers were forced to
“und stand how strong and mili-
tant the workers really are,”
explained Alexandra Dagg, edu-
cation director for the Ontario di-
vision of the union.

The strike hit the 18 companies
in the Toronto Dress and Sports-
wear Guild just as it was finishing
up its fall season. ‘‘In such a
labor-intensive industry you can
usually get good results from a
strike,’ Dagg said adding that the
Guild was probably taken aback
by the solid stand of the strikers.

‘“‘We were almost 100 per cent
strong; only a half dozen scabs in
18 factories,’ said Dagg.

The union was able to save its
jointly funded pension plan,

which the Guild wanted to scrap.
It also won improvements in
health and sickness benefits.
Wages, the last item of agree-
ment, will be raised 4 and 4 per
cent in the first two years of a
three-year contract. The third
year provides a 35 cent across-
the-board increase. Workers at
the bottom end of the wage scale
will receive 30 cents plus in each
year of the agreement.

The workers accepted the
agreement, Sept. 19 by a 99.9 per
cent vote in favor.

Charity begins at home

Gainers owner Peter Porklington just can’t seem to get away ro
the message that ‘Gainers wieners are made with scabs” W
has daunted him since the strike began at his Edmonton n
packing plant. Last weekend, he was all set to do a favor for hi
friend Mila Mulroney, honorary chair of the Cystic Fibros
Foundation, by lending her his Edmonton Oilers hockey team for
charity performance at the Ottawa Civic Centre. Outside ‘
stadium 50 trade unionists answered the call of the Ottawa
District Labor Council to remind spectators that although th
cause was a good one, Pocklington should show the same ki
compassion for his employees and settle the strike which is
entering its fourth month. : a4

TRIBUNE PHOTOS

Horror stories behind
Pocklington’s lines

Why three people ended up with food poisoning after eating
Gainers ham becomes obvious from this view inside the Edmonton
plant. George Duschamps, was recruited by a scab by Gainers
owner Peter Pocklington. He worked on the line for about a month,
before quitting and joining the 1,100 workers on strike outside. He
was interviewed by striker Gerry Beauchamp on Sept. 14. A short
excerpt from the interview appears below.

How is the plant, the general conditions?

Rough, very rough.

How’s the floors?

Dirty.

Can you tell us anymore about the pork cutting?

Last month I tagged one bin, marked it myself ... we'd done
our-shift, when the shift was over, I put a felt marker like an “X
on one of the tags, and that meat was green color. And yet W
were still told to put it on the line.

So in other words you packed it, it went to the consumer?

Yes, and yet half of them are going with hair on the skin. At

good 40 per cent is going with hair. The supervisors themselves
are picking it off the floor, throwing it back on the line. And the
meat inspectors themselves, which I saw with my own eyes, pick _
the meat up, put it back on the line.
Okay, they put it back on the line. Do they clean it?
No. They put it right on the line.

te ae

There has been no report from the Department of Agriculture |

on the investigation it launched September 17 following the food
poisoning cases and the discovery of three cases of tainted ham in
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The ham marketed under the
brand-name Eversweet, was recalled by the company. Ottawa
has given no response to union demands that the plant be closed
until the strike between Gainers and the union, the United Food
and Commercial Workers, has been settled.

BS ES Oo” SF OF FE LOE”

‘Influx of off-shore producers to Canada ;

In recent months investment in the ~
Canadian auto industry by Korean and

vincial, have accompanied all such
investments. After GM-Suzuki was

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Japanese firms has been in the news,
with large amounts of Canadian govern-
ment funds being readily made available
to these corporations to locate here.

The reasons for such investment are
two-fold: an experienced and productive
workforce and cheaper Canadian dollar.
With today’s Japanese yen up 56 per cent
relative to the U.S. dollar, it’s cheaper
now to produce a car in Canada, which
explains why Honda announced last year
it will double its planned output in Allis-
ton, Ontario, to 80,000 cars a year by
1988.

This off-shore investment has had an
effect on North American auto produc-
ers because, not only are they now facing
Japanese auto plants locating here, but
also now face Japanese auto parts pro-
ducers with eight such companies having
Signed assistance or joint-venture
agreements with Canadian firms.

These include three with Magna Inter-
national and another five or six joint-ven-
ture or investment announcements
expected shortly.

There is also an additional new threat
from Japanese parts producers, 79 of
whom are presently located in the U.S.
with another 300 making plans to enter
the U.S. mainland. Canada’s parts indus-

try, which has fought long: and hard to
catch up with the U.S. parts industry,
now faces this new competition.
Why should Canadian autoworkers
take note of these new investments?
The fact is that when Japanese and
Korean plants begin operations in On-

~ tario and Quebec, they will be introduc-

ing the latest and most sophisticated
technology. That means maximum pro-
duction with a minimum workforce.

This is of concern to all workers, espe-
cially Canadian Auto Workers (CAW)
members at GM Ste. Therese, Quebec,
which has yet to be assigned a new model
for its 4,000-employee assembly plant.

Among the most militant in the auto-
workers’ union, these employees are
working with 1960s technology and have
been told by General Motors to become
more productive or face plant closure.
The plant is one of three GM operates
producing big cars, two being in the U.S.
and one of them scheduled for closure in
1987.

Backgrounder

John Maclennan

GM is trying with limited success to
get all three plants into a bidding race to
see who will surrender the most. In addi-
tion, GM has states, provinces and local
municipalities fighting to keep their
plants open, a tactic employed by each of
the giant auto transnationals.

Here the corporations find the Tories
in Ottawa very agreeable, as seen when
Federal Industry Minister Michel Cote
told the media, Aug. 28: ‘‘Ottawa will
provide whatever incentives it takes to
persuade General Motors to keep open
its threatened car plant at Ste. Therese

Public monies, both federal and pro-

granted $85-million in taxpayers’ money,
its president, Osamu Suzuki said: “It
was our premise that in order to come tO
Canada, government’ assistance was
necessary.’ Ontario’s premier Peterson
called such international competition for
investment “‘ruthless.”’

An example of this was seen when —

Hyundai located in Bromont, Quebec.
Company officials expressed surprise
when practically forced to accept $110-
million in unsolicited federal grants over
three years. So anxious were the feds
that, unlike the GM-Suzuki agreement
which will come under the auto pact
within two years of operation, Hyundai
faces no requirements or commitments
to Canadian content.

Next week: The union’s response, and an-

alternative from the Communists and the
Left. me

JAPANESE CAR PLANTS IN ONTARIO
: Annual auto | Start-up
Company Location Plant cost Jobs production year
SUZUKI-GM INGERSOLL, ONT. - $500 MILLION 2,000 200,000 | 1989
TOYOTA CAMBRIDGE, ONT. $300 MILLION ae 50,000 | 1988 ;
HONDA ALLISTON, ONT. $100 MILLION 300 40,000 | 198

a
pos

6 e PACIFIC TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 1, 1986