http://www.windsorstar.com/Business/Workers+rally+outside+occupied+Windsor+plant/1402031/story.html
By Donald McArthur, The Windsor StarMarch 18, 2009
Canadian Auto Workers Union Local 195 President Gerry Farnham, left, and Windsor Police Sgt. Tony Garro converse as a large crowd of CAW supporters and employees block the main entrance of the Aradco Management Ltd. plant in Windsor, Ont. on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they continued to lobby the plants' owners for wages and benefits they claim are owed to them.Photograph by: Jason Kryk, Windosr StarWINDSOR, Ont. — A group of Aradco workers here continued to occupy a shuttered auto-parts plant Wednesday morning as union organizers geared up for an afternoon rally for workers' rights outside the plant.
Canadian Auto Workers President Ken Lewenza is scheduled to speak at the 3:30 p.m. rally.
The workers stormed the plant Tuesday night intent on stopping Chrysler from removing parts and tooling inside. The union was reluctant to divulge numbers, but said "more than a handful" of workers remained inside.
Gerry Farnham, president of CAW Local 195, said at the scene Wednesday the workers plan on occupying the plant until issues surrounding outstanding severance and termination pay are resolved.
"You have workers in there who have never been in trouble with the law. They're scared but they're willing to do this to get what they are entitled to," said Farnham. "They're not coming out until we can get this issue resolved. They are strong and they are resolved."
About 80 workers with Aradco and its sister plant, Aramco, were told not to report to work a week ago Monday after Chrysler terminated its contract with the two suppliers, effectively shuttering the plants.
A lawyer for the U.S.-based company that owns the two plants, Catalina Precision Products, said Chrysler accounted for about 99 per cent of their business.
Workers claim Catalina owes them about $1.7 million in vacation and back pay and severance and termination pay. Workers rejected an offer Monday from Chrysler that would have paid them about $205,000 in vacation and back pay, but no severance.
Acceptance of that deal would have ended the blockade outside Aradco that, according to a Chrysler spokesperson, is threatening production at multiple Chrysler plants in North America. Workers say the tooling inside the plant is their only leverage in the bid to secure their severance monies.
Chrysler obtained an injunction in a Toronto courtroom last week granting it permission to remove parts and tooling from inside the plant. A blockade of about 100 workers, including workers from Windsor's Chrysler Assembly Plant, turned a truck away Tuesday afternoon.
Workers entered the plant a few hours later.
Farnham said the workers are seeking more than the monies they are owed. They are also seeking legislative changes that would enhance unemployment benefits and ensure workers get their severance monies before banks and other creditors in the event of company bankruptcies.
"They feel as though the law isn't working for them," said Farnham. "They are prepared to fight that fight for all workers, union and non union."
Giving the money legally owed to workers would have a more beneficial impact on the local economy than giving the money to banks, added Farnham.
"If it goes to the workers, it will go back into the community and stimulate the local economy," he said.
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