Deal struck in Windsor auto parts plant blockade

Deal struck in Windsor auto parts plant blockade


http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/fp/story.html?id=1402042

By Donald McArthur, Canwest News ServiceMarch 18, 2009 5:01 PM

WINDSOR, Ont. — Chrysler should soon be able to remove vital tooling from a pair of auto parts plants after a tentative deal was inked Wednesday with displaced workers, who had been maintaining blockades since the suppliers abruptly closed last week.

The deal was announced from the bed of a Dodge pickup truck by CAW President Ken Lewenza as he addressed a crowd of about 500 gathered for a workers’ rights rally outside Aradco.

“We just struck an agreement not less than two or three minutes ago that we have in writing that provides some support, not all the support, for the membership,” said Mr. Lewenza, eliciting cheers from the crowd.

“But at the end of the day, where we started on Monday and where we’re at today is 10 times further than we ever were and what we’d ever get.”

Workers with Aradco and its sister plant, Aramco, voted 64% Monday to reject an offer from Chrysler that would have provided them with $205,000 — the equivalent of about four weeks vacation pay. Details of the new offer will not be disclosed until they are presented to the workers Thursday morning.

Workers say they are owed about $1.7-million in back pay and vacation pay and severance and termination pay by U.S. based Catalina Precision Products, which owns Aradco and Aramco, but they fear they won’t be paid. The deal with Chrysler would end the blockade and allow the automaker to retrieve tooling from inside the plants, which closed last week when Chrysler cancelled their supply contracts.

About a dozen workers who stormed the shuttered Aradco plant Tuesday night were celebrated as courageous heroes by Mr. Lewenza and other speakers, including Windsor-Tecumseh NDP MP Joe Comartin.

The workers spent the night in the plant and emerged on the roof waving CAW flags as Mr. Lewenza addressed the crowd. One of them carried a cardboard placard reading “Fighting Back Makes A Difference.”

“These guys are heroes,” said Paul Miller, an NDP member of provincial parliament who has introduced a private member’s bill championing the rights of workers.

The workers who overnighted in the plant were relieved the ordeal was over and expressed hope that the publicity surrounding their stand would prompt legislative changes to guarantee workers severance payments in the event of sudden plant closures.

“If it changes the law and protects the Canadian worker, it was well worth it,” said Mike Melo, the CAW plant chair for Aramco. “The law needs to be changed for the Canadian workers so they get paid before anyone else gets paid.”

Windsor Star

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